Not going to argue with the larger point you're making, but to nitpick:
> Car payment - $300
Is way too high. I know it's "common", but it's also entirely unnecessary to pay that much. If I add up the cost of owning a car (purchase price + maintenance, but not gas), it has never been that high for any of the cars I've owned in the last 20 years. Not even close.
Buy old reliable cars. Even if one of them ends up being a bad deal you'll easily average out to less than $300/mo.
> Health insurance - $500
If your income is $40K/year, you'll pay less than that (if you're single).
> Rent - $1200
Assumption would be that you've paid for the place. Otherwise, this number is highly variable.
> Taxes - $5000/year.
I doubt it. Will highly depend on the state. You have various deductions, etc that will bring your MAGI down quite significantly.
I lived on the equivalent of today's $32K/year for many years very comfortably. Had hobbies, bought pricey electronics, and traveled cross country often - always staying at motels (so not camping or sleeping in the car).
> I'm not making any of that up. That's real. Why don't you talk to people instead of pretending like $40k is enough to be "satisfied"?
As noted above, I lived on less for years. I didn't even try to be frugal. I won't claim everyone will have it as easy as me, but I can assure you that I was not an extreme outlier. I hung around those with similar income, and their experiences matched mine.