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Why do you care what someone else does with their money? This should only bother you if the economy is a zero sum game. It’s not.
by vimy 6y ago
Why do you care what someone else does with their money?
This should only bother you if the economy is a zero sum game. It’s not.
- fallingfrog 6y agoIt is a zero sum game over short timescales. Over long timescales the situation is actually worse since the more money you have, the more you can make. So whoever starts with a small advantage ends up with a huge advantage, and whoever starts out behind might fall into poverty and end up with nothing. Wealth redistribution of various kinds- governmental and otherwise- is all that keeps the system stable at all.
- zemvpferreira 6y agoYou're right, it bothers me more than it should, maybe as an allergic reaction. I want to inoculate myself against this behaviour. I've never berated anyone for spending their money, mind you, and hopefully I never do. But I can feel the pull of this behaviour on aggregate. I get snide comments half the times I go surfing on my car or my board from people wit literally ten times less yearly income than me who blow it all on leasing new Mercedes station wagons every 3 years. Going to dinner with some friends feels like a game of who can blow the most money nonchalantly. No thanks. I don't how your part of the world is, but living in Lisbon in your mid-30s you can feel how people are spreading themselves thin financially to keep up with the Joneses. I've started taking a public posture against it because I feel someone has to. I've seen this movie play out and it ended with a lot of people giving their homes back to the bank.
- adamnemecek 6y agoThe economy is a sum of its parts. Like the money could be spent in ways that are more impactful.
- nec4b 6y agoAnd you know how to spend it better, right? Just not enough to earn it yourself.
- adamnemecek 6y agoWhy do you think I don’t know how to earn it myself?
- commandlinefan 6y agoIn fact, if the people with money are spending it, that’s GOOD for the economy and benefits you and I more than if they’re just sitting on it.