#this puts Johnny as the second poorest after Buster in sing 1 and the second after Nooshy in Sing 2

[hoperays-song]

Why The Gang Became Robbers

CW: Discussions of Poverty and Money

So, it’s somewhat theorized that the gang started stealing because of financial reasons. There’s actually some allusions to this in the movie itself, with them planning to stop stealing after the heist they were eventually caught for, them seeming to live in the shop, Johnny’s clothes seeming to be hand-me-downs (his dad’s jacket, a shirt that’s a few sizes too big with worn out sleeves, well worn-too large jeans), and mostly using walkie talkies instead of their phones (data is expensive). I started to wonder how deep in debt they actually were sooo... I did some calculations.

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Disclaimer: All of these were based of the average costs of everything in the state of California (Calatonia is based on LA and San Francisco). There were some generosity here in debt calculations including giving them a good credit score when they applied for the loan and assuming they had only been in the states 7 years. Oh and that they had a bit money when they came to the US.

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Debts

The Garage Itself

Building Price: $2,250,00

Down Payment (20%): $450,000

30-Year Fixed Loan Plan with Interest of 5.395%

Credit Score (I’m trying to help them out here): 729

Annual Property Tax: $28,125

Annual Home Insurance: $7,875

Monthly Payment: $13,102

Annual Total Building Payments: $193,224

Plus Other Expenses (calculated from average 2 person household costs)

Food, Water, Electricity: $24,475.8

Health Insurance: $0

Car Insurance: $0

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Now, the total mortgage would be around 4.62708 million when calculating in 7 years of interest rates. And if we look at the average yearly income of a mechanic in California... 

Yeah, Marcus is only taking home around $16,958 dollars per year, and that’s being generous with both rates and overtime. So, without even factoring in the debt, as well as assuming that Stan and Barry are not included in their household income, the Taylor family is almost $2,000 dollars below the Californian poverty line.

Now, let’s take a look at their plan here. We know that the gold shipment they were planning on stealing in Sing 1 was around 25 million dollars worth. Well, that would clearly pay off their entire mortgage, as well as probably help Stan and Barry with whatever financial issues they might be facing. It would also give them a good cushion for a few years going forward, preventing them from going into debt easily again.

With the seven years of payments totaling $599,844, and assuming that they have stolen at least $2.163,677 to pay towards the debt before, in Sing 1, they only owe a much more reasonable $1,863,559.

And while that is still a lot, if a rich person, say an old musical theatre star, wanted to guarantee that the performers at their old theatre troupe wouldn’t be falling onto a bad path, they could pay that off much easier than the full mortgage.

So, in conclusion, Johnny and his family, stolen money included in this, are still some of the poorest characters in all of Sing. They probably didn’t want to steal in the first place either, judging by how they were planning on stopping after the flubbed heist anyway. They were just desperate. they needed money, and clearly the garage plus whatever side jobs Johnny could have potentially had were not enough. 

I believe that the main reason we don’t see them still stealing in Sing 2 is that their debts were paid off, more than likely by Nana Noodleman as she’s the only one with that amount of money lying around. This allowed them to begin working again without a immediate threat of debt, and with the money Johnny’s bringing in from the theatre, the family is probably in a bit better shape.