$1000 a month property taxes.
$2000 a month health insurance premiums.
$1000 a month car payments.
$1000 a month food bill.
That's not uncommon in the bay area for a developer with two or three kids. $132k without even getting started.
Suddenly his $150k developer income is cut to 60% of what it was before, $90k. Except wait it's not there's a "cap" so he's pulling in a massive $62k. With $132 in basic expenses.
This is no problem and terribly generous as you see it.
And is he paying $24,000 per year in premiums?
This example is someone obviously living beyond their means, so of course they're going to get into trouble.
This is recipe for disaster. I do understand that CA is expensive, but "living paycheck to paycheck" is an accident waiting to happen. This time it is CV. Next time it could be something else. Unless a family has enough on the side to live off no (new) income for 6 months, then sweat and stress sets in.
I hope everyone, everywhere will ride this CV out as unscathed as possible. But with budget like that, it's very "challenging".