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Fuck you, Money

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Re: Fuck you, Money

#41

Post by scott_s »

nostrademons wrote: post #34
scott_s wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think perhaps you're interpreting what he wrote too harshly. I took it to mean that once you have FU money, you have to confront these questions because there's nothing left for you to worry about. Much of our time and mental effort is spent dealing with and worrying about survival. (Not survival in the hunter-gatherer sense, but making sure you have enough money in the next few days/weeks/months/years to live on.)…

What technology worker spends all day worrying about survival? It's not hard to save up a couple years living expenses on a software engineer salary, and it's not hard to find another job (or even found a successful company) if you have a couple years to do it.

Many people with wage-based jobs adjust their lifestyle so that they're always living, roughly, paycheck to paycheck. Also, I tried to get across that I mean survival in the sense of "What do I need to do in the short and long term to make sure I can get by?"

Re: Fuck you, Money

#42

Post by thibaut_barrere »

Startup founders are in the unique position of having to seriously ask themselves the following cocktail party question

No, really, absolutely not. There are a lot more people able to retire and live comfortably than you think (people running simple brick and mortar businesses I know of, for instance).

And one point: FU money is not the same amount for everyone.

For me, FU money (if I had to live until 100 with my wife and son) is around 1.000.000 €, based on our standard of living.

Re: Fuck you, Money

#43

Post by dasil003 »

GavinB wrote: post #7

I think people who tell themselves ‘if I make $X million, then I’ll stop working and do what I want’ never make that $X million. If that's the case, then why do so many start-ups sell to bigger companies? Every month we hear about another one. The "swing for the fences" companies that go through to IPO (Facebook, Google) or massive acquisition (Youtube) are more and more rare. The Angel's question is meaningless unle…

Yeah, this guy worked at Goldman and believes that "rapacious greed" is necessary for success. Well, I don't doubt that's true in the financial world. But in the wider world there are more types of motivations. As an investor, it's reasonable to favor greed, but it's silly to think that money is the only thing that puts fire in a person's belly. Consider Stallman and Torvalds for instance... I'd argue they've added more value to the world than any partner at Goldman ever has.

Re: Fuck you, Money

#44

Post by apu »

I think these guys might be the best trolls I've ever seen on the web. First the NY Sucks article, and now this.

Everything from the title, to the giant fuck you to "wage slaves" in the 2nd paragraph, to the fuck you to investors in the 4th paragraph to the fuck you to the Goldman folks later on, screams, "I'M GOING TO PISS YOU OFF SO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO ME."

Bravo!

Might I suggest a topic for your next essay? "Are you a creative type? FUCK YOU! Non-creative type? FUCK YOU, TOO!"

Re: Fuck you, Money

#45

Post by arvinjoar »

binaryfinery wrote: post #30
arvinjoar wrote: post #21

I stopped reading at "wage-slave". Let's not use language that implies that working for a wage is slavery. Slavery is always forced on you, you have no choice but to work, not because you need to eat, but because the man with the whip says so. It's offensive to compare the situation of a slave and someone who earns a salary. Slavery is force, not from nature, but from another human being, if you can't see the the dis…

Hierarchy of needs: air, food, shelter. If you live in the USA and want food and shelter, you cannot get it without paying the man taxes. Even if you own your own land, you must pay taxes on it. The counter argument (that one could be a homeless person), is no more useful than pointing out that a slave could choose to die: yes a hard choice, but a choice non the less. So the creation of a tax system, whereby a person…

I was attacking the term "wage-slave" I have no problem with identifying taxes as forced on you. I even mentioned that force from another human being is what constitutes slavery, not from nature. Government is not nature, it's human beings, they use force on you, thereby enslaving you.

Re: Fuck you, Money

#46

Post by WingForward »

From the comma in the title, I thought the article was about recognizing money isn't a guarantee of happiness. As in, "Say, "Fuck you" to money itself. And instead focus on living life (and running a company) that doesn't rely on a purely materialistic metric of success."

Sadly, that's not what the article was about.

Re: Fuck you, Money

#47

Post by msort »

I know several people who have made FU money (several millions). From my observations, their lives are not much different from the rest of us.

Who a person marries, how fulfilling the days (work or non-work) are seems to matter more than pure amount of money.

Time is limited and never enough. Money is not.

Re: Fuck you, Money

#48

Post by steveklabnik »

kscaldef wrote: post #40
antongm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scott, that's exactly what I was getting at. My only fear about making it as a startup is having to one day answer that existential question myself. I frankly don't know what I'd decide to do.

Fair enough, I respect that you're willing to admit that. But please don't call me a "wage slave" because of your fears and uncertainties.

"wage slave" is a pretty well-known, long-standing term for someone that works for another. It's not intended to be depreciating towards those enslaved, it's attacking the idea of using your labor to enrich someone else's life rather than your own.

Now, you may disagree with that, and that's fine...

Re: Fuck you, Money

#49

Post by gaius »

If they got paid $2MM that year, they’d want $4MM. Pay them $10MM, and they’d hanker for $50MM.

That's a spurious comparison, because these guys aren't motivated by "buying stuff". Sure they do buy stuff, but for them, money is about keeping score, like who's scored the most goals in a football team.

Re: Fuck you, Money

#50

Post by ez77 »

kscaldef wrote: post #16

I have to say, I nearly threw this article across the proverbial room after reading the second paragraph: > Before that point, you’re just adding frosting on the lifestyle cake of your wage-slave existence. Beyond that point, you can forget about aspirational consumer buying of 48-inch flat-panel TVs. You suddenly confront the most existential questions in human life: what do I do with my life? What’s a good life? No…

  Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
  None but ourselves can free our minds.
Bob Marley

EDIT: Based on a speech by Marcus Garvey

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