The point is that you aren't more fortunate with a nominally higher salary if your baseline (not luxury) costs consume it all. I'm doing about the same as anyone else who can barely afford to rent a studio and can't afford to have a car or travel.

Someone with a third of my salary gets a house, a car, and more disposable income which goes further. The one area where I'm really blowing them out of the water is my $5/mo health insurance that makes all care effectively free. That's a function of the company, though, not the salary. Our much lower paid, lower skilled workers in satellite offices get the same benefits package.