70K plus full benefits is perfectly liveable for LA. Teachers with more years under their belt are clearing $100K.

Source: I live in LA

We just need Greenland's melting ice to fuck up the Gulf Stream a bit more, and Europe will get a lot cooler very quickly.

Nice summary

With regards to point #4 and banking in particular, lending money was forbidden for Christians for a long time, so Jewish people were actually integral for nation states to operate. In places like medieval London, this would lead to the crown becoming heavily indebted to Jewish lenders, facing possible insolvency, and resorting to banishment of their Jewish populations under one pretense or another - in some cases with the local governments actually sowing discord between Christians (neighbors who also owed large sums of money) and Jewish people to put pressure on them.