5 ms·

You’d rather be collecting welfare than making $150k?

by jolux 5y ago

internetslave 5y ago
It’s getting to that point, absolutely. You live one time, and are spending it paying for others. This is out of control
- spamizbad 5y ago
  As someone who lived on poverty wages and now makes significantly more: No, you do not.
- jolux 5y ago
  You should try it some time. It’s not fun.
- swozey 5y ago
  Yeah we all think this, jumping out of tech and buying a transam and taking a relaxing job and smoking pot when our wives aren't around. Anyway, remind yourself of how you couldn't afford that $80-150/mo gym/class. How you didn't go on a real vacation for years because it took 8mo+ to save up for one. How you probably drove a car that constantly broke down because you couldn't get a loan on something decent. How you had to save money from your $6/hr job to eat Burger King on your lunch break across the street. How a huge chunk of your income went into driving yourself to work (gas/maintenance). How you couldn't afford a place without 3-4 roommates. How you went for years without buying a set of 4 tires, instead buying 1 used tire to replace your bald tire before the police/rain gets you. I'll take the 150k stresses over my previous $6-12/hr stresses where I felt like I was spinning tires and never, ever going to get out of that.
- TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
  You're spending a portion of what you make to stabilize society and prevent poverty-driven riots across the country during a global pandemic. There's nothing out of control about it
  - internetslave 5y ago
    Poverty driven riots encouraged and caused by one political party.
- dannyr 5y ago
  Are you a parody account? You would choose welfare over a $150K salary?
- khalilravanna 5y ago
  What’s wrong with paying money so others can live? I see a lot of life as chance. I’m lucky that I grew up upper middle class with parents who paid for college. Now I got a cushy job as a software engineer. I could have just as easily been born to a family with 0 wealth and had to start working at a young age and do that until I died. Why shouldn’t we have a safety net to at least cushion the blow of getting a bad dice roll at birth?
  - reedjosh 5y ago
    > What’s wrong with paying money so others can live? Nothing if it's voluntary. > I grew up upper middle class with parents who paid for college. I didn't. > I could have just as easily been born to a family with 0 wealth and had to start working at a young age and do that until I died. I was and would likely not end up dead with 0 wealth if I can manage to keep some of what I'm now generating.
    - jameshart 5y ago
      I have bad news for you: dead people can’t keep their wealth.
      - reedjosh 5y ago
        Dead people's families can. The parent poster talked about being `lucky` in that his parents could pay for his college. I want my kids to be `lucky` enough to afford housing and _if they really want_ college.
    - swozey 5y ago
      I grew up poor, was homeless at 16 for a year while still trying to go to HS, eventually had to drop out and climb up the career ladder with no formal education, now make well into 6 figures and I'm more than happy to help people NOT have to go through my situation. You should be as well. I am beyond lucky that I dug myself out of that hole and I know other people will not have my luck. If I didn't start programming as a kid because my school got computers early I would probably be in retail still. And evidently your luck, as well.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > It’s getting to that point, absolutely I'm guessing you’ve never lived on welfare. Having done that and had a.personal income that, while short of $150K, is a sizable fraction of it (and been everywhere in between), increasing real income has involved a monotonically increasing quality of life. I’m definitely into the range, even short of $150K, where the marginal difference from each additional $ of income is much smaller than at lower levels, but it is still not negative.

You’d rather be collecting welfare than making $150k?

by jolux 5y ago

You’d rather be collecting welfare than making $150k?

It’s getting to that point, absolutely. You live one time, and are spending it paying for others. This is out of control

spamizbad 5y ago
As someone who lived on poverty wages and now makes significantly more: No, you do not.
jolux 5y ago
You should try it some time. It’s not fun.
swozey 5y ago
Yeah we all think this, jumping out of tech and buying a transam and taking a relaxing job and smoking pot when our wives aren't around. Anyway, remind yourself of how you couldn't afford that $80-150/mo gym/class. How you didn't go on a real vacation for years because it took 8mo+ to save up for one. How you probably drove a car that constantly broke down because you couldn't get a loan on something decent. How you had to save money from your $6/hr job to eat Burger King on your lunch break across the street. How a huge chunk of your income went into driving yourself to work (gas/maintenance). How you couldn't afford a place without 3-4 roommates. How you went for years without buying a set of 4 tires, instead buying 1 used tire to replace your bald tire before the police/rain gets you. I'll take the 150k stresses over my previous $6-12/hr stresses where I felt like I was spinning tires and never, ever going to get out of that.
TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
You're spending a portion of what you make to stabilize society and prevent poverty-driven riots across the country during a global pandemic. There's nothing out of control about it
- internetslave 5y ago
  Poverty driven riots encouraged and caused by one political party.
dannyr 5y ago
Are you a parody account? You would choose welfare over a $150K salary?
khalilravanna 5y ago
What’s wrong with paying money so others can live? I see a lot of life as chance. I’m lucky that I grew up upper middle class with parents who paid for college. Now I got a cushy job as a software engineer. I could have just as easily been born to a family with 0 wealth and had to start working at a young age and do that until I died. Why shouldn’t we have a safety net to at least cushion the blow of getting a bad dice roll at birth?
- reedjosh 5y ago
  > What’s wrong with paying money so others can live? Nothing if it's voluntary. > I grew up upper middle class with parents who paid for college. I didn't. > I could have just as easily been born to a family with 0 wealth and had to start working at a young age and do that until I died. I was and would likely not end up dead with 0 wealth if I can manage to keep some of what I'm now generating.
  - jameshart 5y ago
    I have bad news for you: dead people can’t keep their wealth.
    - reedjosh 5y ago
      Dead people's families can. The parent poster talked about being `lucky` in that his parents could pay for his college. I want my kids to be `lucky` enough to afford housing and _if they really want_ college.
  - swozey 5y ago
    I grew up poor, was homeless at 16 for a year while still trying to go to HS, eventually had to drop out and climb up the career ladder with no formal education, now make well into 6 figures and I'm more than happy to help people NOT have to go through my situation. You should be as well. I am beyond lucky that I dug myself out of that hole and I know other people will not have my luck. If I didn't start programming as a kid because my school got computers early I would probably be in retail still. And evidently your luck, as well.
dragonwriter 5y ago
> It’s getting to that point, absolutely I'm guessing you’ve never lived on welfare. Having done that and had a.personal income that, while short of $150K, is a sizable fraction of it (and been everywhere in between), increasing real income has involved a monotonically increasing quality of life. I’m definitely into the range, even short of $150K, where the marginal difference from each additional $ of income is much smaller than at lower levels, but it is still not negative.