The cover story of the NY Times today discusses how in Silicon Valley, a couple million dollars just isn’t enough for some people.

“A few million doesn’t go as far as it used to.” states Hal Steger, a marketing executive worth $3.5 million.

Excuse me if I don’t shed a tear for these whiny millionaires that are in the top 1% income bracket of Americans.

The cost of living in the silicon valley area is significantly more then the Midwest, second only to Manhattan. Houses start around $750k for a simple ranch. However, its the attitude of these people that they need to live like the people around them that causes problems.

No one knows for certain how many single-digit millionaires live in Silicon Valley. Certainly their numbers reach into the tens of thousands, say those who work with the area’s engineers and entrepreneurs….

But many such accomplished and ambitious members of the digital elite still do not think of themselves as particularly fortunate, in part because they are surrounded by people with more wealth; often a lot more…

Mr. Kremen estimated his net worth at $10 million. That puts him firmly in the top half of 1 percent among Americans, according to wealth data from the Federal Reserve, but barely in the top echelons in affluent towns like Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton. So he logs 60- to 80-hour workweeks because, he said, he does not think he has nearly enough money to ease up.

My current roommate is moving to the Silicon Valley area this week to start law school at Stanford. I plan to spend some time there after graduation as I intend to focus on technology writing. With this in mind, if I manage to make a couple million while there, I would have enough to live comfortably the rest of my life.

With $3.5 million dollars, the worth of Mr. Steger, an average person could put $2 million in a simple savings account and collect over $120,000 a year by doing absolutely nothing. This is more then enough to live in most of the country.

Maybe it is a case of “keeping up with the Jones’s” that make life difficult for the millionaires of Silicon Valley. If people just worried about how they lived their own life and not how others live, it’s possible they would be happy.

Until they figure that out, they shouldn’t expect any sympathy from the average American that has to struggle and fight for every dime. I’m sure the average Wal-Mart employee would love to have that problem.

Read the article.