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> Companies prefer hiring employees who have families, and mortgages to service, and who faithfully trot along on the consumerism treadmill. As Nassim Taleb poi

by Tade0 6y ago

> Companies prefer hiring employees who have families, and mortgages to service, and who faithfully trot along on the consumerism treadmill. As Nassim Taleb points out, it’s the only way you can legally ‘own’ a person today. I discussed this the other day with a friend of mine who already has years' worth of fuck you money(I have months at best). We were complaining that the worst people to work with are those who can't afford to lose employment(usually due to their financial situation), because over time they gradually evolve into these yes-men who will do anything to save their ass - even if it means making everyone else's job harder in the process. All intelligent, talented people. It's just that they've been conned into living a lifestyle which shepherds them into such a position. I've been putting off getting a mortgage because I don't want to join this crowd, but real estate prices are not getting any lower, so I might end up with one soon anyway. And to think I'm actually in the privileged, 30% group of those who can afford any housing.

mempko 6y ago
If everyone tried to have Fuck-You Money, nobody would. Why? Paradox of Thrift. The only reason this person can have Fuck-You Money is because other people aren't frugal. One person's savings is another person's lost income. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_thrift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_thrift
- orwin 6y ago
  Yes, accountability is a 0-sum game. One man's debt is another's saving, all that jazz (well, except when a default happen, and in this case money is created, but in EU more than 90% of savings + circulating money is from debt and would'nt be surprised if this is more than that in the US). That's why states and companies should be as indebted as possible as long as it doesn't endanger them.
- Tade0 6y ago
  Actually, he worked two jobs (in IT at that) for a year. Two annual engineer salaries make for a nice cushion. Few people can pull this off though.
hawk_ 6y ago
> because I don't want to join this crowd, I didn't want to join this crowd and valued my freedom much more. I saved up some money in high COL location while paying rent and moved to a low COL (another continent) Not for everyone but is feasible for some.
- Tade0 6y ago
  I did this on a smaller scale - moved cities, but retained my income level - apartments are 20% cheaper here, but that only bought me some time, because real estate appreciates at a rate of 8-10%.
oramit 6y ago
It's really underappreciated how the health care and retirement systems in the United States cause people to stay in shitty jobs. Sure, these are expensive programs to run but there is a huge benefit to larger companies. Employees are desperately afraid of losing their benefits - mostly health care - so they will put up with low wage growth, bad bosses, bad conditions, just to keep what they have. People generally value stability, especially once they have a family, and this is not so subtly taken advantage of at every turn. Besides making individuals captive to their jobs I also think it really hurts our economy. Big corporations have the money to pay for these programs but small companies do not which really hurts them when looking for employees. My personal bugaboo is that the lack of wage growth and economic dynamism the past few decades is heavily influenced by this. TLDR: making big corporations the only reliable place to get good health care and retirement benefits in the United States is a massive policy failure.
gamblor956 6y ago
We were complaining that the worst people to work with are those who can't afford to lose employment(usually due to their financial situation), because over time they gradually evolve into these yes-men who will do anything to save their ass - even if it means making everyone else's job harder in the process. That was me, at a previous job. I eventually was able to bring myself to quit. I made a lot less for a few years but was much happier and realigned my career track for jobs that are more amenable to life.
- Tade0 6y ago
  A very good life choice that was. I know a few people who eventually had to seek help due to the soul-crushing nature of their line of work. And it's funny really when you think about it - we make good money, which in turn lets us lead a certain lifestyle - an enviable position for most. And yet we can't be happy, because we're deprived of meaning, and apparently this is such a basic need that you simply can't stay healthy without it. Today I spent three hours digging a virtual canal with my friends, so that we could shorten the route our virtual viking ship would have to take to bring some virtual minerals back to our virtual base. It all felt so much more real and meaningful than what I do for a living.

by Tade0 6y ago

mempko 6y ago

If everyone tried to have Fuck-You Money, nobody would. Why? Paradox of Thrift. The only reason this person can have Fuck-You Money is because other people aren't frugal. One person's savings is another person's lost income. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_thrift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_thrift

orwin 6y ago
Yes, accountability is a 0-sum game. One man's debt is another's saving, all that jazz (well, except when a default happen, and in this case money is created, but in EU more than 90% of savings + circulating money is from debt and would'nt be surprised if this is more than that in the US). That's why states and companies should be as indebted as possible as long as it doesn't endanger them.
Tade0 6y ago
Actually, he worked two jobs (in IT at that) for a year. Two annual engineer salaries make for a nice cushion. Few people can pull this off though.

hawk_ 6y ago

> because I don't want to join this crowd, I didn't want to join this crowd and valued my freedom much more. I saved up some money in high COL location while paying rent and moved to a low COL (another continent) Not for everyone but is feasible for some.

Tade0 6y ago
I did this on a smaller scale - moved cities, but retained my income level - apartments are 20% cheaper here, but that only bought me some time, because real estate appreciates at a rate of 8-10%.

oramit 6y ago

It's really underappreciated how the health care and retirement systems in the United States cause people to stay in shitty jobs. Sure, these are expensive programs to run but there is a huge benefit to larger companies. Employees are desperately afraid of losing their benefits - mostly health care - so they will put up with low wage growth, bad bosses, bad conditions, just to keep what they have. People generally value stability, especially once they have a family, and this is not so subtly taken advantage of at every turn. Besides making individuals captive to their jobs I also think it really hurts our economy. Big corporations have the money to pay for these programs but small companies do not which really hurts them when looking for employees. My personal bugaboo is that the lack of wage growth and economic dynamism the past few decades is heavily influenced by this. TLDR: making big corporations the only reliable place to get good health care and retirement benefits in the United States is a massive policy failure.

gamblor956 6y ago

We were complaining that the worst people to work with are those who can't afford to lose employment(usually due to their financial situation), because over time they gradually evolve into these yes-men who will do anything to save their ass - even if it means making everyone else's job harder in the process. That was me, at a previous job. I eventually was able to bring myself to quit. I made a lot less for a few years but was much happier and realigned my career track for jobs that are more amenable to life.

Tade0 6y ago
A very good life choice that was. I know a few people who eventually had to seek help due to the soul-crushing nature of their line of work. And it's funny really when you think about it - we make good money, which in turn lets us lead a certain lifestyle - an enviable position for most. And yet we can't be happy, because we're deprived of meaning, and apparently this is such a basic need that you simply can't stay healthy without it. Today I spent three hours digging a virtual canal with my friends, so that we could shorten the route our virtual viking ship would have to take to bring some virtual minerals back to our virtual base. It all felt so much more real and meaningful than what I do for a living.