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The best minds in the world go into Wall Street or working for silicon valley selling ads. And those are the lucky ones. The rest get paid meagerly while infl

The best minds in the world go into Wall Street or working for silicon valley selling ads. And those are the lucky ones. The rest get paid meagerly while inflation and rent gobbles up any earnings they have so they work numerous jobs to scrape by. Most of the country lives paycheck to paycheck. I love your idealism but I think most people would be happy to see everything collapse at this point.

tomuli38 4y ago
Or actual taxation of the wealthy, universal health care, and housing policy change.
- bojangleslover 4y ago
  The top 10% of taxpayers pay 70% of the tax. That we do not tax the wealthy is simply false. Whether we should tax them more is a separate issue.
  - tomuli38 4y ago
    "They we're technically taxed" is just pedantry. What is the effective tax rate compared to the 1950s-1970s when the economy actually worked for the middle class?
jshzglr 4y ago
I disagree. From my experience our best minds tend to work on the most important problems. And in America most people living paycheck to paycheck are doing so by choice, so that’s really more of a cultural problem as opposed to economic.
- aaomidi 4y ago
  You could disagree but “people are living paycheck to paycheck by choice” makes everything else you say sound as wrong as your disagreement.
- edmcnulty101 4y ago
  > living paycheck to paycheck by choice Hmmmmmmm > From my experience the best minds tend to work on important problems My experience is that you're incorrect.
dzikimarian 4y ago
That's borderline negative view. I never sold an ad in my life, yet I have pretty good life, very very far from the need for a second job. I assume most of people here are in similar spot. What I see is tons of people living the same template: pick secure, well paid job, no matter how meaningless. Even when they take a risk to spin some startup, very often goal is to sell off and retire, with little interest in what they actually do. Then these people get depressed and complain how life is bleak, capitalism cruel and everything should collapse.
- edmcnulty101 4y ago
  What percentage of the population do you think lives like you do? Personal experiences is anecdotal. There's hard stat's that say that a majority of this country does not live like you do.
  - dzikimarian 4y ago
    I never said that, there aren't people with bigger issues than mine. Sure there are. I argue that you don't have to go to silicon Valley or wall street to have decent life, which was stated by OP. Btw I'm not from USA and reading HN recently, I'm kinda happy about it, because it seems only options on your side are: starving, prisoner of job, sell-off with guilt trips/existential crisis, demoralized billionaire. Is there anyone left in the US, who simply enjoys life as it is? I obviously dramatize here a bit, but literally a few comments earlier someone wrote to me, that, he/she didn't consent to be alive. Really dystopian thread.
    - edmcnulty101 4y ago
      The world is a borderline negative place. I just read an article about journalists being beheaded in some country. I notice financially privileged people tend to advocate for a 'dont worry be happy' 'everythings going to be alright' mode of living life because theyre shielded from the brutality of the world by their money or their families money. It's the same reason financially privileged people never admit that they had help from their family and always claim that they made their money themselves. Because they're completely unaware of what it really takes to make it in life without any help from anyone and I suspect feel a little guilty how easy their life has been compared to others and want to connect with, and associate with people who actually made it on their own. If you have ever been poor or financially struggling, you would realize 'don't worry be happy' is not a functional way of living life if you don't have family money....at least in America. The real advice is to fight tooth and nail to try to get oneself and family to financial safety.

tomuli38 4y ago

Or actual taxation of the wealthy, universal health care, and housing policy change.

bojangleslover 4y ago
The top 10% of taxpayers pay 70% of the tax. That we do not tax the wealthy is simply false. Whether we should tax them more is a separate issue.
- tomuli38 4y ago
  "They we're technically taxed" is just pedantry. What is the effective tax rate compared to the 1950s-1970s when the economy actually worked for the middle class?

jshzglr 4y ago

I disagree. From my experience our best minds tend to work on the most important problems. And in America most people living paycheck to paycheck are doing so by choice, so that’s really more of a cultural problem as opposed to economic.

aaomidi 4y ago
You could disagree but “people are living paycheck to paycheck by choice” makes everything else you say sound as wrong as your disagreement.
edmcnulty101 4y ago
> living paycheck to paycheck by choice Hmmmmmmm > From my experience the best minds tend to work on important problems My experience is that you're incorrect.

dzikimarian 4y ago

That's borderline negative view. I never sold an ad in my life, yet I have pretty good life, very very far from the need for a second job. I assume most of people here are in similar spot. What I see is tons of people living the same template: pick secure, well paid job, no matter how meaningless. Even when they take a risk to spin some startup, very often goal is to sell off and retire, with little interest in what they actually do. Then these people get depressed and complain how life is bleak, capitalism cruel and everything should collapse.

edmcnulty101 4y ago
What percentage of the population do you think lives like you do? Personal experiences is anecdotal. There's hard stat's that say that a majority of this country does not live like you do.
- dzikimarian 4y ago
  I never said that, there aren't people with bigger issues than mine. Sure there are. I argue that you don't have to go to silicon Valley or wall street to have decent life, which was stated by OP. Btw I'm not from USA and reading HN recently, I'm kinda happy about it, because it seems only options on your side are: starving, prisoner of job, sell-off with guilt trips/existential crisis, demoralized billionaire. Is there anyone left in the US, who simply enjoys life as it is? I obviously dramatize here a bit, but literally a few comments earlier someone wrote to me, that, he/she didn't consent to be alive. Really dystopian thread.
  - edmcnulty101 4y ago
    The world is a borderline negative place. I just read an article about journalists being beheaded in some country. I notice financially privileged people tend to advocate for a 'dont worry be happy' 'everythings going to be alright' mode of living life because theyre shielded from the brutality of the world by their money or their families money. It's the same reason financially privileged people never admit that they had help from their family and always claim that they made their money themselves. Because they're completely unaware of what it really takes to make it in life without any help from anyone and I suspect feel a little guilty how easy their life has been compared to others and want to connect with, and associate with people who actually made it on their own. If you have ever been poor or financially struggling, you would realize 'don't worry be happy' is not a functional way of living life if you don't have family money....at least in America. The real advice is to fight tooth and nail to try to get oneself and family to financial safety.