Like ever? I feel like it’s almost guaranteed the more money the worse you become. I know this isn’t very dialectic but it’s true.
I worked in some of the fanciest tech companies for a long time, so I met people making up to $400k/year who were pretty cool. The cool ones tend to quit very quickly though, since that much money rapidly pays for a nice house and a retirement, and people who want more than that are messed up.
I don't think I ever met anyone who wasn't a psycho above that line. Often amiable psychos, who you could have a normal conversation with. But something has to be pretty deeply wrong with you if you're making $1m/year and you're not retiring immediately. And you don't even get to that point unless you worked through years of a lesser shitload of money (should've retired already), have some sort of nepotism connection (ie raised into moneyed psychopath culture), or are just a transparently cutthroat monster.
(These are all wages from working, btw. I have no doubt that the cutoff is lower for people living off other people's labor.)
there's an inflection point at which the acquisition of money supercedes any alleged moral goodness. Idk what that point is, but I'd wager it's sub 100kpa
I make more than that. I wish we all were, and that's why I'm here.
and now to backflip on my original comment, I'd wager it's more to do with the intention of acquisition. If you're already making enough to live comfortably and then some, putting any further energy into earning more is taking away from your ability to assist others.
Also give me money pls
yeah I make way less than 100k and I've already hit the point where I have no push to strive for more money, beyond just like, asking for raises commensurate to outpace inflation and my increasing experience/responsibilities, and even that I'm not that good about. I'd probably try harder for more if I had aspirations to buy a big house, or if I had a partner and kids to support or whatever, but nah
I mean the aus poverty line sits at like $25kpa. That's more than what I earned as a teen/young adult, and it's not nearly enough to live on independently.
I'd love to have the security of owning my own home one day, and splitting expenses with a loved one, but boy howdy is that getting more and more unattainable or what.
yeah honestly I'd also still like something more stable than renting, so I guess owning a condo or something is probably still a goal, and ofc so is finding a life partner or something, but I'm in no hurry for either rn, I can barely keep the rest of my life from falling apart, I don't need more responsibility
I make like 25k a year and still find ways to give to others less fortunate. I put in $500 of my own money to the fundraiser we had featured, I frequently buy groceries for people that need help, or bring food to unhoused folks even when I am not doing stuff like working at the local FnB free kitchen.
I hit that point about a decade ago. It was a fantastic feeling after a lifetime of empty bellies and living paycheque to paycheque. Now I have dependents, and being trans is seriously a lot more expensive than I thought it would be (not to mention inflation and housing costs skyrocketing). I'm in no danger of starving anymore, but I kind of miss making less money and having less responsibility.
No need to backflip. That user was in one of the “stop using racist slurs for customising cars” sticking up for racism. And that they’re sad they can’t use slurs on hexbear but will continue to do so in real life. Car-brained bigot. “What would Karl do” is apparently “glorify car culture and use anti-Asian slurs”.
and now to frontflip on my previous comment, my original 100k estimate still stands
I did not deliberately misgender you, I'm old and from california where terms like guy and dude are often used in a non-gendered way. Also "I have an asian friend" is a hell of a way to deflect from the fact that the term rice wrt cars and ESPECIALLY Linux OS customization has explicitly racist origins.
I didn't. Please stop going offtopic in random threads just to harass me.
You’re literally doing it in this thread.
https://hexbear.net/comment/3961310
“Harassment is when I reply to someone online and they reply back.”
Stop being racist.
Last month I touched grass in three different states while doing work to build an organization with the aim of restoring indigenous sovereignty. Please tell me more about this.
Oh hey it's the "I should be able to use racist terms from 90s car culture" guy
Would be nice if pronoun tags were more prevalent across the fediverse.
sub 100kpa
Weirdly enough, this happens to be the pressure at sea level too. Go too far below, and it becomes harder to breathe.
how much is tons
honestly like, not really, but idk, plenty of well-compensated office drones are nice, if not very imaginative people.
Live in a house with more bedrooms than people who live there. Minus an office or guest room
I was about to say I don't really know anyone like that particularly closely but on second thought... That's literally my brother.
Pretty sure there's a surplus of rooms in that house even if you give each occupant a whole other bedroom for an office. He's not a bad person necessarily but I don't really think I'd say he's a good person either. Politically very mediocre, barely above the bar of my outright contempt (which is far lower than it should be), interpersonally fine I guess.
Maybe they're gonna have kids soon idk, still would be kind of a lot of house.
I vaguely knew another guy with a huge house out in the sticks but idk how many bedrooms and it was presumably a lot more full before he got divorced. Don't think he's a great guy either
🤔 ok so my whole extended family which lives in a single large house but we communally pool resources
You are literally a kulak. I wear a dirty ushanka at all times, do not shave, and only take cold sponge baths because hot running water is bourgeoisie decadence. Every day at exactly noon I have the same meal of an expired Maoist MRE I store in a pit covered in old issues of a revolutionary newspaper. I sleep in a bed made of flags from every failed revolution so that they are never forgotten. In the evenings I stare at a picture of vodka by candlelight, but I do not allow myself to drink because there is nothing to celebrate.
Once or twice. But as a whole, not really. I used to go in and out of rich peoples houses for work. 99.9(99999)% of them were absolutely insufferable.
Tangent: I do ok financially and have the typical suburban life. Sometimes I have maintenance or service folks come out. They're always shocked when I offer them coffee, talk about working class struggles (light stuff, like being pro union), and I don't get mad when they give me a bill.
On more than one occasion I've been told we're the favorite family in the neighborhood.
I used to go in and out of rich peoples houses for work. 99.9(99999)% of them were absolutely insufferable.
what were they like?
If they're socialite rich, probably trying to molest everyone who walks through the door and abuse everybody for fun. If they're McMansion rich, then it's probably just being karens and being entitled to everything
Yes, but almost never one that wasn't legit poor for at least a year or more sometime earlier in their lives.
I do think they're exceptions though, and I've met plenty of shitheads.
Context is important since I think even the poorest Americans are still globally in the top 3% income-wise.
Yes, I know a great guy making 120k+ a year who is a strong communist from a working class background who made his wealth through lucking out and being really good in his field. (coding)
He donates like half his income to local socialist orgs like renters unions, is active politically at orgs and protests and is an ally.
Every other rich person ive met though throw them off the bridge.
I wouldnt write them all of entirely but I would be biased to wealth; we do need our own engels though so its best to filter them heavily.
That's because where you live probably has a certain type of wealth breakdown, especially if it's small town America (making assumptions sorry)
But if the breakdown is like this, there's a thousand people in town. 999 make exactly the median American salary, 54k a year, and 1 guy owns a used car dealership and a liquor store. This guy makes a million a year.
So now you're 120k a year is great, you're doing well above average and you are in the top 1% of your area but it's more of a reflection of how unbalanced the wealth is. In many parts of the USA you are not buying land with this much.
That’s because where you live probably has a certain type of wealth breakdown, especially if it’s small town America (making assumptions sorry)
I live in the most expensive city in my country, its more just the average wage is 20k and the average rent is 1k+ a month, in these circumstances making 120k a year (especially when housing is about avg 80-150k) puts you at a massive advantage; by my metrics they are wealthy as they make 5-6x my salary.
It’s really not though lol 120K on either of the coasts is enough to be comfortable and get by, but it’s nowhere enough to be living like a king.
Its a hyper annoying conversation to have online because everyone apparently lives off 5 dollars a day somewhere in eastern europe. Or, online spaces skew young so you're talking to an american teenager who has never thought about stuff like childcare, you know?
I don't know what you're on about. I would live like a king on 120k.
Like a king? If you're in any of the decent cities in America you're paying rent.
I'm paying rent now, not in the U.S. but in a major metropolitan city that easily stands with the likes of New York and L.A., and I make a fraction of 120k. Less than half, less than a third. So, yes, I would live like a king. Americans pretending that that isn't a fuckton of money are delusional.
I mean if you're not American then it's a different amount of money, functionally. If I get injured and spend your salary on a doctor's visit Im not feeling very royal. You don't have to call people delusional, congratulations on not living in hell country I guess. Happy for you, my dude.
Uhhhh? I don't live in the U.S. but I still live in hell, it's hell nearly everywhere, most of my paycheck still goes to rent. 120k is still 120k, and whether it's dollars, euros, or pounds, it's still a ridiculous amount of money. Delusional is the only appropriate word for someone claiming that isn't wealthy, I genuinely cannot fathom the thought.
Part of the way some end up making that money is through college which can set you up with substantial debt. I know many people who get degrees also make significantly less than that and why I don't think anyone making 120k could really say they're "poor" but they could also be living paycheck to paycheck based on monthly rent, loans, and car/transportation in the wrong city
lol so many offended people trying to disagree with you here
even 100k in SF, LA, NYC is a truckload of money
I’m America, most of that 120K goes towards taxes to the military industrial complex and to subsidize private corporations
Yes, meanwhile in other countries we pay no taxes. Americans are baffling.
At least some of your taxes go towards your healthcare or funding education
lol same I take home 27k (I live in the US). It's really funny to be how subjective "rich" is to people. To be clear I don't necessarily think that 100k is "rich", but very well to do. I will likely never make that much money in my lifetime. My dream even is to make like 60k.
Any person I've met who was born into money, been well off their entire lives... even if polite, well meaning, they can be so out of touch, condescending. Meanwhile people I've met who've known poverty, hardship, struggle.... way more down to earth, non-judgmental, willing to share what little they have
depends on the job they do. If it's something egotistical like programmer or engineer, no. If it's something like a medical worker, maybe, but I also know some who have a lot of money and are reactionary because the medical field is dogshit and they hate the wrong people.
And while I didn't meet him, the Castro family is mostly based. Raul and Fidel gave away their large family estate to ordinary Cubans to live and work in after the revolution, and their sister became so pissed off that she defected to the US and worked for the CIA against them.
No I’ve met some who were libs though. They inherited their money. Their politics were just left of liberal but they were nice enough. Kind of naieve i would say about the brutality of the real world.
Then there’s the people who made it somehow (luck and privilege) and they are almost universally assholes. That’s how they did it! But i meet a tech person who was rich AF and they are actually a chill liberal nice enough person. But they got rich quick and young and just being very lucky.
i used to work for/around 1% types. like trust fund and $100,000,000+ USD net worth from birth types. they were all absolutely terrible people, except one. one was basically OK/friendly, except extremely naive. still relatively young. when they decided to marry, they literally married the one person who had more wealth... some massive property scion whose family owned more than half the county and had some nepo gig as an insurance exec. so maybe the ignorance was an act, but i was sold at the time. i was young too i guess.
i saw a billionaire once. massive metro developer. complete asshole. hideous in appearance and manner. treated everyone, including "business partners" like game board pieces. i worked for a guy who was trying to suckle at his teats on a quasi grift. i thought it was one of those "smart, but not for me" type of situations. but my boss apparently started believing his own hype and spun out of control. i separated from him somewhere in there. so did his extremely clever wife. i dunno if he has actual friends anymore, but he sure knows a lot of shady billionaires and is still always into something with them. when former colleagues send me screenshots from social media, it all looks so hollow and pointless. and literally culty.
Wouldn't say tons of money or good precisely but I knew a music producer/drug dealer who was a pretty decent person
It strips you of empathy so it’s hard to see how someone with a lot of money could ever be a good person. Homelessness wouldn’t exist otherwise.
you wanna fall in love to split the cost of living?
