Like ever? I feel like it’s almost guaranteed the more money the worse you become. I know this isn’t very dialectic but it’s true.

  • Owl [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I worked in some of the fanciest tech companies for a long time, so I met people making up to $400k/year who were pretty cool. The cool ones tend to quit very quickly though, since that much money rapidly pays for a nice house and a retirement, and people who want more than that are messed up.

    I don’t think I ever met anyone who wasn’t a psycho above that line. Often amiable psychos, who you could have a normal conversation with. But something has to be pretty deeply wrong with you if you’re making $1m/year and you’re not retiring immediately. And you don’t even get to that point unless you worked through years of a lesser shitload of money (should’ve retired already), have some sort of nepotism connection (ie raised into moneyed psychopath culture), or are just a transparently cutthroat monster.

    (These are all wages from working, btw. I have no doubt that the cutoff is lower for people living off other people’s labor.)

  • forcequit [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    there’s an inflection point at which the acquisition of money supercedes any alleged moral goodness. Idk what that point is, but I’d wager it’s sub 100kpa

      • forcequit [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        and now to backflip on my original comment, I’d wager it’s more to do with the intention of acquisition. If you’re already making enough to live comfortably and then some, putting any further energy into earning more is taking away from your ability to assist others.

        Also give me money pls

        • YearOfTheCommieDesktop [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          yeah I make way less than 100k and I’ve already hit the point where I have no push to strive for more money, beyond just like, asking for raises commensurate to outpace inflation and my increasing experience/responsibilities, and even that I’m not that good about. I’d probably try harder for more if I had aspirations to buy a big house, or if I had a partner and kids to support or whatever, but nah

          • forcequit [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            I mean the aus poverty line sits at like $25kpa. That’s more than what I earned as a teen/young adult, and it’s not nearly enough to live on independently.

            I’d love to have the security of owning my own home one day, and splitting expenses with a loved one, but boy howdy is that getting more and more unattainable or what.

          • Comp4 [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            I make less than 50k a year but where I live and how I live makes it feel like a decent amount of money to me. Got no car,pets,children and I live alone in a small but nice place. I feel “ok” from a financial standpoint and I can afford most things I want while still saving some money. It does help that I eat at my parents place quite often and they sometimes chime in with stuff like health bills. Im not wealthy but I dont feel close to poor if that makes sense.

            If I had a partner that would also bring in some money I would “feel” really well off. That said owning my own place is currently far out of reach…

          • Nakoichi [they/them]@hexbear.netM
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            1 year ago

            I make like 25k a year and still find ways to give to others less fortunate. I put in $500 of my own money to the fundraiser we had featured, I frequently buy groceries for people that need help, or bring food to unhoused folks even when I am not doing stuff like working at the local FnB free kitchen.

          • WhatWouldKarlDo@lemmygrad.ml
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            I hit that point about a decade ago. It was a fantastic feeling after a lifetime of empty bellies and living paycheque to paycheque. Now I have dependents, and being trans is seriously a lot more expensive than I thought it would be (not to mention inflation and housing costs skyrocketing). I’m in no danger of starving anymore, but I kind of miss making less money and having less responsibility.

        • citrussy_capybara [ze/hir]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          No need to backflip. That user was in one of the “stop using racist slurs for customising cars” sticking up for racism. And that they’re sad they can’t use slurs on hexbear but will continue to do so in real life. Car-brained bigot. “What would Karl do” is apparently “glorify car culture and use anti-Asian slurs”.

            • WhatWouldKarlDo@lemmygrad.ml
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              So here’s what actually happened, because the entire post was apparently deleted. I was confused about why the term “rice” was considered racist. I’ve always considered it to be a play on the word “race”, where people made a bunch of go-fast mods to their cars that were purely cosmetic (exactly as urban dictionary defines it). Anecdotally, my biggest car nut friend IRL is asian and uses it all the time. Does that make me a bigot? These people apparently feel that I’ve committed crimes big enough to bring it up in random threads and misgender me, but decide for yourself please.

              • Nakoichi [they/them]@hexbear.netM
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                1 year ago

                I did not deliberately misgender you, I’m old and from california where terms like guy and dude are often used in a non-gendered way. Also “I have an asian friend” is a hell of a way to deflect from the fact that the term rice wrt cars and ESPECIALLY Linux OS customization has explicitly racist origins.

          • Nakoichi [they/them]@hexbear.netM
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            1 year ago

            Last month I touched grass in three different states while doing work to build an organization with the aim of restoring indigenous sovereignty. Please tell me more about this.

      • YearOfTheCommieDesktop [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        I was about to say I don’t really know anyone like that particularly closely but on second thought… That’s literally my brother.

        Pretty sure there’s a surplus of rooms in that house even if you give each occupant a whole other bedroom for an office. He’s not a bad person necessarily but I don’t really think I’d say he’s a good person either. Politically very mediocre, barely above the bar of my outright contempt (which is far lower than it should be), interpersonally fine I guess.

        Maybe they’re gonna have kids soon idk, still would be kind of a lot of house.

        I vaguely knew another guy with a huge house out in the sticks but idk how many bedrooms and it was presumably a lot more full before he got divorced. Don’t think he’s a great guy either

        • TankieTanuki [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          You are literally a kulak. I wear a dirty ushanka at all times, do not shave, and only take cold sponge baths because hot running water is bourgeoisie decadence. Every day at exactly noon I have the same meal of an expired Maoist MRE I store in a pit covered in old issues of a revolutionary newspaper. I sleep in a bed made of flags from every failed revolution so that they are never forgotten. In the evenings I stare at a picture of vodka by candlelight, but I do not allow myself to drink because there is nothing to celebrate.

  • DickFuckarelli [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    Once or twice. But as a whole, not really. I used to go in and out of rich peoples houses for work. 99.9(99999)% of them were absolutely insufferable.

    Tangent: I do ok financially and have the typical suburban life. Sometimes I have maintenance or service folks come out. They’re always shocked when I offer them coffee, talk about working class struggles (light stuff, like being pro union), and I don’t get mad when they give me a bill.

    On more than one occasion I’ve been told we’re the favorite family in the neighborhood.

      • RyanGosling [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        If they’re socialite rich, probably trying to molest everyone who walks through the door and abuse everybody for fun. If they’re McMansion rich, then it’s probably just being karens and being entitled to everything

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    Yes, but almost never one that wasn’t legit poor for at least a year or more sometime earlier in their lives.

    I do think they’re exceptions though, and I’ve met plenty of shitheads.

  • eatmyass [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    no. I’ve met people with tons of money that are better people than some, and who I could tolerate being around or maybe even hanging out with for a bit, but never anyone that I would consider a “good” person in an absolute sense.

    edit: damn people in here know people with tons of money. For me “tons of money” is making more than 100k a year.

    • daq@lemmy.sdf.org
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      That’s a low bar for a lot of expensive locations like Los Angeles, New York or many capital cities. You’d be including 20-30% of people that live there.

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    Yes, I know a great guy making 120k+ a year who is a strong communist from a working class background who made his wealth through lucking out and being really good in his field. (coding)

    He donates like half his income to local socialist orgs like renters unions, is active politically at orgs and protests and is an ally.

    Every other rich person ive met though throw them off the bridge.

    I wouldnt write them all of entirely but I would be biased to wealth; we do need our own engels though so its best to filter them heavily.

        • grey_wolf_whenever [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          That’s because where you live probably has a certain type of wealth breakdown, especially if it’s small town America (making assumptions sorry)

          But if the breakdown is like this, there’s a thousand people in town. 999 make exactly the median American salary, 54k a year, and 1 guy owns a used car dealership and a liquor store. This guy makes a million a year.

          So now you’re 120k a year is great, you’re doing well above average and you are in the top 1% of your area but it’s more of a reflection of how unbalanced the wealth is. In many parts of the USA you are not buying land with this much.

          • ghost_of_faso2@lemmygrad.ml
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            That’s because where you live probably has a certain type of wealth breakdown, especially if it’s small town America (making assumptions sorry)

            I live in the most expensive city in my country, its more just the average wage is 20k and the average rent is 1k+ a month, in these circumstances making 120k a year (especially when housing is about avg 80-150k) puts you at a massive advantage; by my metrics they are wealthy as they make 5-6x my salary.

          • OrionsMask [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            I’m paying rent now, not in the U.S. but in a major metropolitan city that easily stands with the likes of New York and L.A., and I make a fraction of 120k. Less than half, less than a third. So, yes, I would live like a king. Americans pretending that that isn’t a fuckton of money are delusional.

            • grey_wolf_whenever [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              I mean if you’re not American then it’s a different amount of money, functionally. If I get injured and spend your salary on a doctor’s visit Im not feeling very royal. You don’t have to call people delusional, congratulations on not living in hell country I guess. Happy for you, my dude.

              • OrionsMask [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                Uhhhh? I don’t live in the U.S. but I still live in hell, it’s hell nearly everywhere, most of my paycheck still goes to rent. 120k is still 120k, and whether it’s dollars, euros, or pounds, it’s still a ridiculous amount of money. Delusional is the only appropriate word for someone claiming that isn’t wealthy, I genuinely cannot fathom the thought.

                • MattsAlt [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                  Part of the way some end up making that money is through college which can set you up with substantial debt. I know many people who get degrees also make significantly less than that and why I don’t think anyone making 120k could really say they’re “poor” but they could also be living paycheck to paycheck based on monthly rent, loans, and car/transportation in the wrong city

        • Hohsia [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          I’m America, most of that 120K goes towards taxes to the military industrial complex and to subsidize private corporations

        • ratboy [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          lol same I take home 27k (I live in the US). It’s really funny to be how subjective “rich” is to people. To be clear I don’t necessarily think that 100k is “rich”, but very well to do. I will likely never make that much money in my lifetime. My dream even is to make like 60k.

  • HexbearGPT [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    No I’ve met some who were libs though. They inherited their money. Their politics were just left of liberal but they were nice enough. Kind of naieve i would say about the brutality of the real world.

    Then there’s the people who made it somehow (luck and privilege) and they are almost universally assholes. That’s how they did it! But i meet a tech person who was rich AF and they are actually a chill liberal nice enough person. But they got rich quick and young and just being very lucky.

  • RyanGosling [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    depends on the job they do. If it’s something egotistical like programmer or engineer, no. If it’s something like a medical worker, maybe, but I also know some who have a lot of money and are reactionary because the medical field is dogshit and they hate the wrong people.

    And while I didn’t meet him, the Castro family is mostly based. Raul and Fidel gave away their large family estate to ordinary Cubans to live and work in after the revolution, and their sister became so pissed off that she defected to the US and worked for the CIA against them.

  • 31415926535@lemm.ee
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    Any person I’ve met who was born into money, been well off their entire lives… even if polite, well meaning, they can be so out of touch, condescending. Meanwhile people I’ve met who’ve known poverty, hardship, struggle… way more down to earth, non-judgmental, willing to share what little they have

  • i used to work for/around 1% types. like trust fund and $100,000,000+ USD net worth from birth types. they were all absolutely terrible people, except one. one was basically OK/friendly, except extremely naive. still relatively young. when they decided to marry, they literally married the one person who had more wealth… some massive property scion whose family owned more than half the county and had some nepo gig as an insurance exec. so maybe the ignorance was an act, but i was sold at the time. i was young too i guess.

    i saw a billionaire once. massive metro developer. complete asshole. hideous in appearance and manner. treated everyone, including “business partners” like game board pieces. i worked for a guy who was trying to suckle at his teats on a quasi grift. i thought it was one of those “smart, but not for me” type of situations. but my boss apparently started believing his own hype and spun out of control. i separated from him somewhere in there. so did his extremely clever wife. i dunno if he has actual friends anymore, but he sure knows a lot of shady billionaires and is still always into something with them. when former colleagues send me screenshots from social media, it all looks so hollow and pointless. and literally culty.