My Parents Give Me $28k a Year • Hacker News Board

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#161

Post by mpolichette » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:32 PM UTC

darawk wrote: post #157

I agree with a lot of this article, but the answer here is definitely not to enable more people to go into the arts on the public dime. If you want free college, let's have it be free for everything except the arts. If you want to get an MBA, or learn mechanical engineering, i'm happy to subsidize that. But I have no interest whatsoever in subsidizing your creative writing degree.

Serious question, I'm wondering, why you, personally, value other people getting MBA/Engineering degrees over arts?

I really enjoy going to the theater and seeing performances of all kind, just as I like tech/business advances. I want people to enhance the arts as well as the sciences.

I acknowledge the idea of focusing on marketability and "ROI" for someone choosing their own path... However, when providing "access" to education, why encourage someone who could write the next show I want to see to instead consider crunching hard maths that they don't care about?

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#162

Post by pcurve » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:40 PM UTC

subpixel wrote: post #64

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.

I know a few too, including one talented artist who decided to go to law school because she wanted financial independence from her wealthy parents who would've happily funded her artist life style in perpetuity. She is a lawyer at a financial firm doing just fine money wise, but she isn't happy.

Another friend of mine in his 40s is a full time artist, with a very supportive wife backing him. He still beats himself up for not being the provider.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#163

Post by greenshackle2 » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:44 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #125

underpand wrote: post #51

I 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 http://www.artsactionfund.org/pages/why

Are you saying people should pursue art as a primary occupation because it makes them better at math? That seems a bit backwards.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#164

Post by tomp » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:45 PM UTC

> while I agree that society is, often, skewed to favor those SWGs (bless their hearts), it’s amazing how little time we spend discussing the largest, most obvious barrier to new voices in the arts: money.

This is IMO the most important achievement of feminism: convincing people that sex, sexuality or race are more important in life than class or money. As they say, first you divide, and then you conquer.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#165

Post by ahoy » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:46 PM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #140

astrodust wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At low levels, which aren't taxed, it's not going to affect anything. At high levels, like giving your kid ten billion dollars, you're making it impractical or impossible for others to advance economically. You're creating a class of people with indestructible inherited wealth that never have to work, that only have to collect interest and rent on the backs of everyone else. That's what inheritance tax and gift taxes…

>You're creating a class of people with indestructible inherited wealth that never have to work, that only have to collect interest and rent on the backs of everyone else. That wealth is invested in profitable ventures that either create benefits in the system (assuming rational actors) or 2) lose value due to poor choices. Capital is rewarded because the investors are taking opportunity cost risks that advance the s…

> Capital is rewarded because the investors are taking opportunity cost risks that advance the sum value of humanity's wealth.

And the vast majority of that advance in humanity's sum wealth accrues in the hands of those very capitalists. How peculiar!

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#166

Post by darawk » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:46 PM UTC

mpolichette wrote: post #161

darawk wrote: post #157

I agree with a lot of this article, but the answer here is definitely not to enable more people to go into the arts on the public dime. If you want free college, let's have it be free for everything except the arts. If you want to get an MBA, or learn mechanical engineering, i'm happy to subsidize that. But I have no interest whatsoever in subsidizing your creative writing degree.

Serious question, I'm wondering, why you, personally, value other people getting MBA/Engineering degrees over arts? I really enjoy going to the theater and seeing performances of all kind, just as I like tech/business advances. I want people to enhance the arts as well as the sciences. I acknowledge the idea of focusing on marketability and "ROI" for someone choosing their own path... However, when providing "access"…

> Serious question, I'm wondering, why you, personally, value other people getting MBA/Engineering degrees over arts?

Because they increase GDP, and thereby pay back their education in the form of income taxes, and increase the available wealth for everyone.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#167

Post by mberning » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:47 PM UTC

First off - I really dislike it when people deal with blocks of people as if they are a monolith. As if all white people have some innate starting advantage, all black people have some disadvantage, etc. It’s a brutally racist mentality that is very common.

Secondly, poverty is not a lack of money or material wealth. That is part of it and is definitely a symptom. But actual poverty is a culture and a set of habits that easily pass from one generation to the next. The idea that just injecting money at the lowest levels of society will fix this is absurd. This is a multi generational problem that will not be fixed with money. I don’t know a better answer, but I think about it a lot.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#168

Post by ahoy » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:47 PM UTC

paulddraper wrote: post #80

astrodust wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At low levels, which aren't taxed, it's not going to affect anything. At high levels, like giving your kid ten billion dollars, you're making it impractical or impossible for others to advance economically. You're creating a class of people with indestructible inherited wealth that never have to work, that only have to collect interest and rent on the backs of everyone else. That's what inheritance tax and gift taxes…

> 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?

It does when that neighbor buys my apartment building and hikes my rent.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#169

Post by ido » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:48 PM UTC

thex10 wrote: post #77

subpixel wrote: post #64

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.

Wow. I'd love to hear a perspective from a parent funding their middle aged children's creative lives. Do they feel like they've failed to make their children self sufficient?

Probably just an ideological difference to you. If you're rich enough to support them throughout your life (& after death), why is it important that your kids are self sufficient?

Maybe they think being able to practice their creativity/art/passion would have a bigger effect on their kids' happiness than knowledge that they are self sufficient.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#170

Post by ydnaclementine » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:49 PM UTC

soared wrote: post #67

ydnaclementine wrote: post #42

Boy, does reading this make me a bit frustrated/jealous. Some people are just incredibly lucky (at no fault of their own!). I would write more, but it would be more therapeutic for me than entertaining to read for you. I also found the author referencing gender/race distracting(?), this situation could happen to anyone. If you do find this type of stuff about what the wealthy do with their wealth interesting, I highl…

I am consistently frustrated/annoyed/jealous by most of my friends whose parents paid tuition, rent, etc. I am more annoyed that I hold that opinion though; its something I wish I could let go and forget but I can't seem to do it.

I guess it’s to look on the positive side. Like for me, I luckily went to college, making good career progression, and will have my loans paid off in the next 5 years with aggressive paying and money management. Many people don’t even make it to whatever step 0 is of that progression list.