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This is absurd. Many of there expenses reflect nothing more than lifestyle inflation. There is nothing suprising about being able to find things to spend your w

This is absurd. Many of there expenses reflect nothing more than lifestyle inflation. There is nothing suprising about being able to find things to spend your whole paycheck on. I was going to list my thoughts line by line but there isn't any deep social or philosophical insight to be gained here. Having expensive taste (a monthly budget of $2100 on food, $500 on clothes, etc) will drain a paycheck of almost any size. These are just self imposed taxes and society has no obligation to make these preferences more affordable. If anything else can be said - and this may mostly just be personal preferences reinforced by learned frugality, but I am very skeptical of expensive tastes having 'real' merit wether practical (durability, construction, etc) or aestetic (pleasing to the eye, makes some social/political/economic commentary, etc). I don't have the philosophical background to frame my issue with this kind of lifestyle, but I have a hard time believing it's compatible with introspection and contemplation on one's self and society as a whole. I have always seen economic prosperity as the means move beyond material desire and focus more on producing something that has personal and/or lasting value.

temp28179 8y ago
I don't think this should be surprising. How much you make has little to do with whether you live paycheck-to-paycheck. You can have a lot of expenses on non-discretionary things. I don't think it's healthy as a society to be thinking of having kids as "lifestyle inflation." To me, it speaks more to the real crisis of urban centers like SF that have become so inhospitable to raising families due to terrible exclusionary housing policies that have crowded out middle income/upper middle income families.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Many of there expenses reflect nothing more than lifestyle inflation If your expenses don't reflect mostly “lifestyle inflation” but only strictly necessity in the modern first world, you’re either underclass or a voluntary ascetic; even the general working class (much less the middle or capitalist class) has that feature.
rasz 8y ago
You can TLDR whole article to a meme tweet https://twitter.com/dril/status/384408932061417472 https://twitter.com/dril/status/384408932061417472 "Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Candles $3,600 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying"

temp28179 8y ago

I don't think this should be surprising. How much you make has little to do with whether you live paycheck-to-paycheck. You can have a lot of expenses on non-discretionary things. I don't think it's healthy as a society to be thinking of having kids as "lifestyle inflation." To me, it speaks more to the real crisis of urban centers like SF that have become so inhospitable to raising families due to terrible exclusionary housing policies that have crowded out middle income/upper middle income families.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Many of there expenses reflect nothing more than lifestyle inflation If your expenses don't reflect mostly “lifestyle inflation” but only strictly necessity in the modern first world, you’re either underclass or a voluntary ascetic; even the general working class (much less the middle or capitalist class) has that feature.

rasz 8y ago

You can TLDR whole article to a meme tweet https://twitter.com/dril/status/384408932061417472 https://twitter.com/dril/status/384408932061417472 "Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Candles $3,600 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying"