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one of my main gripes of the boring route to wealth is that it's so disincentivized in our society. By saving money you miss out on the present opportunities of

one of my main gripes of the boring route to wealth is that it's so disincentivized in our society. By saving money you miss out on the present opportunities of consumption, but in many ways we subsidize those who choose present over long term choices. Ex: if you choose to work overtime to save for your future (above 401k money), you pay a greater marginal tax rate on those earnings... Ex2: there are many programs that come in times of disaster to support those who did not have any foresight to be prepared. Those who took present opportunities are subsidized in their lack of foresight, while those with foresight are denied the same resources. It's an inversion of logic because above average intelligence will never be understood by the democratic masses, therefore the best a politician can do is reward average behavior.

j_walter 5y ago
This is a frustration for those who see themselves as planning for the future. The obvious renter vs. landlord issue going on right now is a huge talking point. Many renters haven't paid for over a year because they were "protected" even though many of them didn't stop working and even if they did they got unemployment benefits that more than made up their income. Landlords are not oblivious to this fact and are frustrated at having to subsidize the renters...but the government is rewarding it because "think of the poor people". Example: https://www.yahoo.com/news/evicted-despite-federal-moratorium-not-121812674.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/evicted-despite-federal-moratoriu... >Dejonae King, 33, held back tears after she lost her eviction appeal. King was laid off from Walgreens and has been without a job for most of the pandemic. She had not paid the $253 weekly rent on her one-bedroom apartment since July 2020. So where did her unemployment money go? $600/week extra initially and now "only" $300/week extra. She is $14K overdue in rent...and seems surprised that she will eventually be kicked out.
- maerF0x0 5y ago
  And a big part of my point is that baseline responsibility is to have 6 months of money in the bank. Those who are financiall responsible and sat on 6months money instead of getting a $1000 iphone or a instagrammable moment still paid their rent. But those who were marginally able to save that money up, but chose instead to burden themselves with one time or recurring costs? Those irresponsible people got say they couldnt pay their rent and someone else had to bear the burden for their irresponsibility in the past. Now here's the kicker that I am really confounded by -- irresponsible people are by far the majority, and democracies are (basically) majority rules. So how can the government do anything but continue to create rules that create an optimal experience for irresponsible people, meaning the responsible ones are incentivized to being irresponsible too.

j_walter 5y ago

This is a frustration for those who see themselves as planning for the future. The obvious renter vs. landlord issue going on right now is a huge talking point. Many renters haven't paid for over a year because they were "protected" even though many of them didn't stop working and even if they did they got unemployment benefits that more than made up their income. Landlords are not oblivious to this fact and are frustrated at having to subsidize the renters...but the government is rewarding it because "think of the poor people". Example: https://www.yahoo.com/news/evicted-despite-federal-moratorium-not-121812674.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/evicted-despite-federal-moratoriu... >Dejonae King, 33, held back tears after she lost her eviction appeal. King was laid off from Walgreens and has been without a job for most of the pandemic. She had not paid the $253 weekly rent on her one-bedroom apartment since July 2020. So where did her unemployment money go? $600/week extra initially and now "only" $300/week extra. She is $14K overdue in rent...and seems surprised that she will eventually be kicked out.

maerF0x0 5y ago
And a big part of my point is that baseline responsibility is to have 6 months of money in the bank. Those who are financiall responsible and sat on 6months money instead of getting a $1000 iphone or a instagrammable moment still paid their rent. But those who were marginally able to save that money up, but chose instead to burden themselves with one time or recurring costs? Those irresponsible people got say they couldnt pay their rent and someone else had to bear the burden for their irresponsibility in the past. Now here's the kicker that I am really confounded by -- irresponsible people are by far the majority, and democracies are (basically) majority rules. So how can the government do anything but continue to create rules that create an optimal experience for irresponsible people, meaning the responsible ones are incentivized to being irresponsible too.