Small sample size, but I happen to know multiple people in their thirties and forties whose parents continue to fund their 'creative' lives. I can assure you they are not as happy as you think free money might make you.
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My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
121–130 of 333 posts
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#122> I get an annual gift of $28,000, distributed, in my case, in monthly checks mailed to my house for $2000 and $334 (to make it easier to deposit remotely), completely tax free. Why would this be necessary? The IRS knows this money is being distributed. What difference does it make if it comes as an annual lump sum?
Most likely the parents' income doesn't come in as an annual lump sum either.
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#123I disagree with her premise that the government should fund people to have fulfilling creative careers. That's not how the world works. Creative outputs generally do not have 'efficienciecy' increases like other fields. Creative outputs are zero sum: people only have a constant amount of time to use to consume creative outputs and consumption time has already been saturated. Efficiency upgrades for entertainment are…
> That's not how the world works.
That's not how it works right now. Some want that future and are working to make it happen.
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#124Internal server error (HN hug of death?). Anyone got an alternate link in the meantime?
Same problem. Then I saw the domain name: ejroller.com and associated it with jroller and everything made sense. I wonder if that happened to others...
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#125I disagree with her premise that the government should fund people to have fulfilling creative careers. That's not how the world works. Creative outputs generally do not have 'efficienciecy' increases like other fields. Creative outputs are zero sum: people only have a constant amount of time to use to consume creative outputs and consumption time has already been saturated. Efficiency upgrades for entertainment are…
Arts is not mere entertainment.
Students with an arts rich education:
Have better grade point averages
Score better on standardized tests in reading and math
Have lower dropout rates
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#126Relevant John Adams quote: I could fill volumes with descriptions of temples and palaces, paintings, sculptures, tapestry, porcelain, etc., etc., etc.—if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences: the art of legislation and administration and negotiation, ought to take place, indeed to exclude in a manner all o…
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” Why should we aim to have future generations of artists and leisure enthusiasts, only so the cycle can begin anew?
I can't think of an example of this cycle in human history. It sounds great, though.
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#127Does anyone have recommendations on how to overcome the resentment I feel against people like the author? I am jealous and frustrated by their advantage, but that opinion is purely negative and doesn't help me at all.
I struggle with the same thing, but I am getting over it. I try to do a better job of being extra proud of myself and my accomplishments. I frame my self-praise with something like 'Look where you started compared to your peers; and now look how far you made it!'
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#128I disagree with her premise that the government should fund people to have fulfilling creative careers. That's not how the world works. Creative outputs generally do not have 'efficienciecy' increases like other fields. Creative outputs are zero sum: people only have a constant amount of time to use to consume creative outputs and consumption time has already been saturated. Efficiency upgrades for entertainment are…
I disagree heavily with this. There's been a lot of improvement in the quality and variety of entertainment too over the years not just the technology used to deliver them. If restricted to media from say mid century America post TV most people would be bored stiff by the material available. It's REALLY easy to wind up with a dismissive attitude towards the arts growing up and working in tech but never forget how muc…
What improvement in quality? I'd argue that most improvment is due to increased efficiency of information retrieval, content creation and content delivery, all driven by technological advancement.
I agree that diversity of entertainment options is important, but we're well past the saturation point even without subsidization.
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree heavily with this. There's been a lot of improvement in the quality and variety of entertainment too over the years not just the technology used to deliver them. If restricted to media from say mid century America post TV most people would be bored stiff by the material available. It's REALLY easy to wind up with a dismissive attitude towards the arts growing up and working in tech but never forget how muc…
One can both appreciate the arts and believe that taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing arts careers.
> Creative outputs are zero sum..
> Efficiency upgrades for entertainment are tied to technology advancement (think the invention of TV, electronic audio devices, VR, video games), not creative output.
I was largely reacting to these two lines though I also think if we're talking about large scale subsidization, ie a basic income or whatever it may become, saying we shouldn't subsidize something must mean it's significantly less valuable than other work. (Which since we're on HN generally means tech is pretty high up on the value list)
But back to the meat of what I was responding to. I disagree that entertainment is zero sum, even if a creative work isn't consumed by a particular person directly it still goes into the cultural millieu and contributes to the texture of society where it can enrich indirectly.
And the second line just reeked of dismissing the increased space for expression driven by new technologies in favor of looking at just the raw amount of consumption that can be done.
Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
> like giving your kid ten billion dollars, you're making it impractical or impossible for others to advance economically. Zero-sum is one perspective, but not one that I subscribe to. Does your neighbor having $10b of stuff make you better or worse off than if than if there's $10b of stuff at the bottom of the ocean?
I don't believe the economy is zero-sum either but handing $10B in capital to your child gives them a significantly unfair advantage compared to most others. Image that the economy is a field of wheat. It grows bigger every year as workers become more productive and learn how to fertilize and water more efficiently. At the end of the season, everyone gets a chance to head into the field and collect some wheat. Some p…
I'm sorry if someone mislead you into thinking wealth was, or could be, fair.
Your analogy is so far off the mark on how wealth is created, it's laughable.
$10 billion in family wealth is almost never held in cash, it's invested in companies, land, and other ventures. Wherever an investment is made, people are put to work collecting salaries and benefits, generally speaking.
You've made a gross oversimplification, and a misleading one at that.