5 ms·

TIL I'm a "god". Apparently the quiet type, because I don't make the comments the author is referring to. looks around It sure doesn't feel like heaven around

TIL I'm a "god". Apparently the quiet type, because I don't make the comments the author is referring to. looks around It sure doesn't feel like heaven around here... In fact, it's been a bit hot, recently...

pwinnski 6y ago
...I don't make the comments the author is referring to And yet here we are.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- ggghhhfff 6y ago
  Indeed
- happytoexplain 6y ago
  That's a little unfair. The parent is making a meta comment.
  - pwinnski 6y ago
    You are absolutely right. It was unfair, and I am sorry, spacedcowboy!
titanomachy 6y ago
Being in the global 0.1% or whatever doesn't necessarily make you feel rich or privileged, if you live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and have similar wealth to most people you know. You still end up competing hard for things that are limited in your locality: desirable housing, prestigious opportunities, a desirable partner, the best schools for your kids. Traveling can help build perspective. Maybe someday moving somewhere less competitive.
- oftenwrong 6y ago
  It's hard to keep a realistic perspective from inside that bubble. I often wish for things I don't have, including more money, and I often find myself thinking "it's not fair". However, I have a better life than most people in the world by a large margin. I could be poor, disabled, etc, but I'm not. People are starving, dying, and suffering. If anything is unfair, it is how easy I have it. I really have no right to complain, but I still complain to myself internally.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  >Maybe someday moving somewhere less competitive. The last think Nowhereville Arkansas needs is bay area monopoly money turning their economy upside down.
  - titanomachy 6y ago
    Well it won't work if everyone goes to the same place. Most places can tolerate (and maybe even benefit from) a small influx of wealthy outsiders. I think it's somewhat common for people to move back to where they came from if they get tired of big-city life.
  - butbutemails2 6y ago
    Spokane, Arkansas benefitted tremendously in 2018 from a community of Bay Area programmers settling there. It boosted their local GDP by 147% and increased school funding by $4.5million[1] 1. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt7bzxurJ1I https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt7bzxurJ1I
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  I remember reading recently that the billionaire head of Goldman Sachs doesn't think he is rich, just well off. It turns out there are ten people living in the same apartment building as him that are wealthier. I suspect it's a fairly easy trap to fall into.
- spacedcowboy 6y ago
  I realise this is an "old thread" now, but I only just got back to it. FWIW, I've travelled more than most - maybe living in a dozen or so countries in the last 50 years or so. I started out as a docker's brat in the (at the time) slums of Liverpool, in the north west of England. I was the first kid in our family to ever stay at school past 16 and not just "go and get a job"... Getting to where I am hasn't exactly been a walk in the park, but I've made good choices, and been lucky, in about equal parts. Regardless of all that, your point is well made - in comparison to others not living in a HCOL area, I'm very well off - I could afford to buy my parents a house for their old age, for example, instead of them renting until they die. My point, though, was exactly your own. Being (in the words of the article) "a god", is only really the perspective from the outside. From where I sit, I have a middling house in a middling part of the Bay Area. The job is well-paid, but the expenses are still very high - I still budget month-to-month, and I still worry about my kid going to school and all the other concerns that your average family has. The overall strategy is to build up the financial equity and then leave the area, to retire somewhere cheaper and nicer, of which there are legion. I reckon I've got about 5-8 years left before that's a genuine option, which ties in well with the kid going to college (assuming he does). Then I'm out.

pwinnski 6y ago

...I don't make the comments the author is referring to And yet here we are.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ggghhhfff 6y ago
Indeed
happytoexplain 6y ago
That's a little unfair. The parent is making a meta comment.
- pwinnski 6y ago
  You are absolutely right. It was unfair, and I am sorry, spacedcowboy!

titanomachy 6y ago

Being in the global 0.1% or whatever doesn't necessarily make you feel rich or privileged, if you live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and have similar wealth to most people you know. You still end up competing hard for things that are limited in your locality: desirable housing, prestigious opportunities, a desirable partner, the best schools for your kids. Traveling can help build perspective. Maybe someday moving somewhere less competitive.

oftenwrong 6y ago
It's hard to keep a realistic perspective from inside that bubble. I often wish for things I don't have, including more money, and I often find myself thinking "it's not fair". However, I have a better life than most people in the world by a large margin. I could be poor, disabled, etc, but I'm not. People are starving, dying, and suffering. If anything is unfair, it is how easy I have it. I really have no right to complain, but I still complain to myself internally.
throwaway0a5e 6y ago
>Maybe someday moving somewhere less competitive. The last think Nowhereville Arkansas needs is bay area monopoly money turning their economy upside down.
- titanomachy 6y ago
  Well it won't work if everyone goes to the same place. Most places can tolerate (and maybe even benefit from) a small influx of wealthy outsiders. I think it's somewhat common for people to move back to where they came from if they get tired of big-city life.
- butbutemails2 6y ago
  Spokane, Arkansas benefitted tremendously in 2018 from a community of Bay Area programmers settling there. It boosted their local GDP by 147% and increased school funding by $4.5million[1] 1. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt7bzxurJ1I https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt7bzxurJ1I
tonyedgecombe 6y ago
I remember reading recently that the billionaire head of Goldman Sachs doesn't think he is rich, just well off. It turns out there are ten people living in the same apartment building as him that are wealthier. I suspect it's a fairly easy trap to fall into.
spacedcowboy 6y ago
I realise this is an "old thread" now, but I only just got back to it. FWIW, I've travelled more than most - maybe living in a dozen or so countries in the last 50 years or so. I started out as a docker's brat in the (at the time) slums of Liverpool, in the north west of England. I was the first kid in our family to ever stay at school past 16 and not just "go and get a job"... Getting to where I am hasn't exactly been a walk in the park, but I've made good choices, and been lucky, in about equal parts. Regardless of all that, your point is well made - in comparison to others not living in a HCOL area, I'm very well off - I could afford to buy my parents a house for their old age, for example, instead of them renting until they die. My point, though, was exactly your own. Being (in the words of the article) "a god", is only really the perspective from the outside. From where I sit, I have a middling house in a middling part of the Bay Area. The job is well-paid, but the expenses are still very high - I still budget month-to-month, and I still worry about my kid going to school and all the other concerns that your average family has. The overall strategy is to build up the financial equity and then leave the area, to retire somewhere cheaper and nicer, of which there are legion. I reckon I've got about 5-8 years left before that's a genuine option, which ties in well with the kid going to college (assuming he does). Then I'm out.