It does not cost 20% of a FANG salary to commute even if you are doing in in a Hummer you bought off military overstock .com.

i think they're talking about the dilution of your hourly wage, if you consider the travel time to be work

On top of that, lots of companies hiring remotely.

True, if you assume time is perfectly fungible into money. For most of us it’s not.

You can also consider this in terms of work. Being forced into the office increases work by 20% without a commensurate raise.

unless you spend a less time in the office than you would at home

Sure, but "pay cut" has a specific meaning, and that's not it.

When I roll on to a new project and it is more/less work than my previous one, I don't think of it as a pay increase or decrease.

Definitely true normally but we’re in this weird world where a ton of people got to try a previously unavailable or unemphasized option. Full-time remote work used to be a bit unusual but a couple of years was enough for a lot of people to get used to the idea and now it feels like a cut to go back, even if they were used to being in the office in February 2020.

No, but commuting has other expenses: beyond the obvious cost of cars that often includes eating out more (often at pricier locations), extended childcare, wardrobe expenses, etc.

No, a FAANG employee probably isn’t suffering (although consider the pay outside of the prestige jobs) but everyone just got a multi-year reminder of those indirect costs.