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NY here. It doesn't have to be a binary, but it often is. I think it's just the way human brains are wired. Things don't have to be logical or make sense to

NY here. It doesn't have to be a binary, but it often is. I think it's just the way human brains are wired. Things don't have to be logical or make sense to be the way they are. Some of my loudest most activist friends/coworkers/neighbors/acquaintances are actually not really that kind at a personal level, especially to strangers. They can be very showy about the issues they support or make dramatic gift giving gestures for small occasions. They also act like building staff & delivery men are non-humans who don't exist. It's a weird dichotomy, but its real, not some invention of the author. I think theres a dimension of more activist class being in a political socioeconomic bubble. There's something to be said of the grounding effects of working a 9-5 job and interacting with lots of flavors of people. It's a similar dynamic to the growth vs scarcity mindset. Some people are really good at making more money. Some people are really good at pinching every penny. It is a very rare creature to actually be great at both. Almost everyone I know, myself included, I can box into A or B pretty easily. There's no reason you can't be both and if you were it would be a super power.. but very few are!

throwawaygh 5y ago
> Some people are really good at making more money. Some people are really good at pinching every penny. It is a very rare creature to actually be great at both. Almost everyone I know, myself included, I can box into A or B pretty easily. There's no reason you can't be both and if you were it would be a super power.. but very few are! There is a reason: time. Making a lot of money usually means either long days (exhausting) or high-intensity days (also exhausting). Pinching pennies is quite easy when your strict 9-5 work day is mostly filled with low stress tasks. But when you're exhausted at the end of the day (or simply do not have time), it's much more difficult to turn down opportunities to trade time for money. In the extreme, I'm reminded of a friend who lives on $25K/yr or so of passive income. He scoffs at things like dishwashing machines and thinks people should treat housework like a form of meditation. Dirty dishes are in all earnestness a relief from his unrelenting boredom, while for me they are one more thing standing in the way of getting 8 hours of sleep :) (My favorite example of this is the "stretched thin on 500K/yr" meme. Some of the examples are extravagant and silly (nice cars, lots of vacations) but others actually make perfect sense if you assume both earners are in high-stress+long-hour careers (childcare, newer cars, more expensive vacations). If both parents are working 70 hour weeks then it makes sense that you're going to end up spending a ton on activities for your kids, over-paying to make the most of the little time you get together, and paying a premium to avoid time-consuming issues like a car breaking down.)
- steveBK123 5y ago
  Time is a factor but not completely. It still seems to be a subconscious decision, and maybe something to do with your childhood upbringing. I see people in the same companies on the same teams who fit into A or B despite doing ostensibly the same job. Now time is finite, and arguably personA decided to send time on income maximization which takes away from time they can spend on penny pinching. While personB has done the inverse. Arguably you could split your time 50/50 or 70/30, but I've seen almost no one do it.
  - throwawaygh 5y ago
    It's also possible that the extremes are actually the two global optima. But I agree that personal temperament and perhaps upbringing has a lot to do with it.

throwawaygh 5y ago

> Some people are really good at making more money. Some people are really good at pinching every penny. It is a very rare creature to actually be great at both. Almost everyone I know, myself included, I can box into A or B pretty easily. There's no reason you can't be both and if you were it would be a super power.. but very few are! There is a reason: time. Making a lot of money usually means either long days (exhausting) or high-intensity days (also exhausting). Pinching pennies is quite easy when your strict 9-5 work day is mostly filled with low stress tasks. But when you're exhausted at the end of the day (or simply do not have time), it's much more difficult to turn down opportunities to trade time for money. In the extreme, I'm reminded of a friend who lives on $25K/yr or so of passive income. He scoffs at things like dishwashing machines and thinks people should treat housework like a form of meditation. Dirty dishes are in all earnestness a relief from his unrelenting boredom, while for me they are one more thing standing in the way of getting 8 hours of sleep :) (My favorite example of this is the "stretched thin on 500K/yr" meme. Some of the examples are extravagant and silly (nice cars, lots of vacations) but others actually make perfect sense if you assume both earners are in high-stress+long-hour careers (childcare, newer cars, more expensive vacations). If both parents are working 70 hour weeks then it makes sense that you're going to end up spending a ton on activities for your kids, over-paying to make the most of the little time you get together, and paying a premium to avoid time-consuming issues like a car breaking down.)

steveBK123 5y ago
Time is a factor but not completely. It still seems to be a subconscious decision, and maybe something to do with your childhood upbringing. I see people in the same companies on the same teams who fit into A or B despite doing ostensibly the same job. Now time is finite, and arguably personA decided to send time on income maximization which takes away from time they can spend on penny pinching. While personB has done the inverse. Arguably you could split your time 50/50 or 70/30, but I've seen almost no one do it.
- throwawaygh 5y ago
  It's also possible that the extremes are actually the two global optima. But I agree that personal temperament and perhaps upbringing has a lot to do with it.