Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 390 posts

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#231

Post by kaybe »

matis140 wrote: post #107
SmirkingRevenge wrote: post #28

As someone who didn't learn the very basics of personal finance at the optimal point in life, I feel like it should be part of our standardized education. I'd like to think that would make things at least marginally better. Another thing I'd love to see, would be for banks to fundamentally reorient themselves to be their customer's advocates/financial guardians, instead of being yet another party encouraging people t…

Another change, but one much harder to manage is that many of the products people buy today have no value left after 2-4 years and some both have no value after 2-4 years and do things degrading their performance forcing you to again purchase an expensive item that does nothing to build wealth. Vehicles, electronics, home appliances all sit at something like a max of 8-11 years of use and loose 30-50% of their value…

Old home appliances are basically free. If you don't care too much for recency and efficiency, you can just pick one up from a neighbor here. For example, the city website where you can register to get large trash items taken away links to a platform where people post what they want to give away. It's full of old furniture and appliances, and only costs you some time and transport method.

I'm surprised sometimes, really, at what a wealth of stuff is around us, and how quickly these things switch between being coveted sinks of money and 'just take it off my hands, free'.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#232

Post by mmirate3 »

vailprogrammer wrote: post #24
jumbopapa wrote: post #5

> certified car seat installer I think I found your issue.

Is everyone just supposed to be as smart as us programmers? Is it peoples' own fault if they're stupid? Do they deserve no sympathy or humanity? Right now I make $13/hr in an expensive city. I'm working to find a software job, but the people I work with... they don't have anything else. They're just happy to hold down a steady job. How do you suggest these people magically gain the intelligence and/or self-control/se…

> Is everyone just supposed to be as smart as us programmers?

No. Luckily programming isn't the only task in the world that needs doing, and we have a lovely thing called "comparative advantage" that helps solve all the information problems that result from such grand diversity of relative-capabilities. I suggest you look it up.

We even have people who are even smarter than programmers, or are at least smarter in different ways than programmers. Managers and scientists, for instance.

> Is it peoples' own fault if they're stupid?

It is either their own that they continue to be ignorant, or their parents' that they and their parents are stupid yet still they were conceived and born.

> Do they deserve no sympathy?

None whatsoever. They're - at best - just random people. Why should they?

> or humanity?

How can someone "deserve" humanity? It is an intrinsic physical attribute of a particular object - "X is a human being instead of e.g. a toaster-oven" - and since this is the real world, I do dare to presume that the only extant people who have jobs are indeed humans.

In other words: thusfar, saying that a person "deserves humanity" is just as meaningless as saying that a cleaver "deserves cutleriness".

That said, if my knowledge of someone consists only of "it is a human", I cannot conclude much of anything!

("He invented mongrel2" or "he is carrying a knife in his hand and is standing ten feet in front of me", are examples of knowledge-base items which do yield nontrivial conclusions in isolation.)

> I feel bad for people like you who lack empathy to such a degree. Just literally disconnected from such a large portion of humanity.

What in the nonextant Nine Hells is there to profit from "connecting" with the whole world's troubles? I feel bad for people who submit to their empathy and thereby let other people drag them down.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#233

Post by artfulcat »

We can address huge swathes of this by linking immigration law with unemployment numbers. That way companies are not allowed to simply demand unrealistic exorbitant qualifications for open positions and they would be more willing to increase wages and considering hiring and training people in deficient areas.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#234

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin »

extra88 wrote: post #158
throwaway10711 wrote: post #153

> “My husband is a Park Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and he had to sign his furlough papers,” one woman tweeted. ”We have a 4 yr. old and a 4-month-old, and we don’t know when his next check will come. Mortgage is due, Christmas 2 days away.” Unpopular opinion. It's _really_ hard for me to feel bad for families that have or are expecting kids without consulting their financials first. I believe…

I vaguely agree with that sentiment but I don't understand why you chose to bring it up in connection to a government employee not getting paid because of the government shutdown.

Unfortunately, it's because government shutdowns (not being paid on time for a period of a week to two weeks to maybe three weeks this time) are a regular occurrence that absolutely can and should be planned for by any potentially affected government employee.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#235

Post by adrr »

ianleeclark wrote: post #106
learnstats2 wrote: post #94

Living paycheck-to-paycheck can be representative of good choices being made (and I'd guess it is, in most cases). Most people can't afford everything they optimally need while minimising their risk, and so have to manage this by optimising as much as they are able within their paycheck. People with limited resources are going to hit a barrier somewhere, and spending your income is often going to be the least bad bar…

> Most people can't afford everything they optimally need while minimising their risk, and so have to manage this by optimising as much as they are able within their paycheck. Not being able to afford basic necessities-in the most wealthy nation in the world-indicates something being broken.

Most people can afford common necessities in the US. It is how they choose to spend their money and the lifestyle they live. I have multiple family members who have bought houses in Los Angeles, and Hawaii with near min wage jobs which include being janitor, working at a nail salon and a crop picker. None have a high school education.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#236

Post by kart23 »

matis140 wrote: post #107
SmirkingRevenge wrote: post #28

As someone who didn't learn the very basics of personal finance at the optimal point in life, I feel like it should be part of our standardized education. I'd like to think that would make things at least marginally better. Another thing I'd love to see, would be for banks to fundamentally reorient themselves to be their customer's advocates/financial guardians, instead of being yet another party encouraging people t…

Another change, but one much harder to manage is that many of the products people buy today have no value left after 2-4 years and some both have no value after 2-4 years and do things degrading their performance forcing you to again purchase an expensive item that does nothing to build wealth. Vehicles, electronics, home appliances all sit at something like a max of 8-11 years of use and loose 30-50% of their value…

Buying used is the best thing ever. TBH craigslist is full of deals, although it sometimes takes a while. I found some parts to fix my gaming PC being sold for fractions of what they were going for on ebay, etc. Let someone else take the depreciation hit.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#237

Post by mmirate3 »

vailprogrammer wrote: post #47
nickthemagicman wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that republicans are perfectly fine with others suffering, and misery as long as it doesn't affect them. Disguised Social Darwinism. The problem is most are unaware that their success is 99% luck of being born in certain circumstances.

"Honey, those people are lazy, so they deserve to be poor!" Dear lord. Go work in some shitty jobs full of poor people, and count how many work hard versus how many are lazy. Those 1%ers would be shocked at what they saw. But of course, how could they ever see the help as humans deserving of a decent, not-always-financially-scared life?

People don't "deserve" things. They earn them.

Go pile-drive that idea through your thick skull.

(Doing so, just might fix whatever major malfunction you are so clearly suffering.)

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#238

Post by travisoneill1 »

Aeolun wrote: post #229
WalterSear wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Parents are supposed to be omniscient? The majority of single parents haven't fallen from some perfect baby making situation. They make a risky, selfish choice, usually after the fact. You shouldn't breed if your situation isn't stable. You shouldn't breed if your partner isn't 100% committed to having children. You shouldn't breed if you are living paycheck to paycheck already. Babies aren't magical. Parents aren'…

Everyone should breed. That’s evolution.

That would actually be the opposite of evolution

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#239

Post by thelasthuman »

wutbrodo wrote: post #99
gamma-male wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better: not being paid enough is a sufficient condition, but it is not required. Of course rich people can have such problem, but if you think low wages and the lack of universal health care and free education is not the main issue you are lying to yourself.

I'm not sure lack of healthcare and low wages _is_ the main issue[1]. As the parent comment points out, it seems like that would lead to a pretty different pattern of this phenomenon. It seems to me that there's a couple broad categories that can lead to paycheck-to-paycheck living: 1) Poverty, at the level where spending on a reasonable floor of basics (food, shelter, education, leisure) leaves little for savings. T…

"2) Severe exogenous financial shocks "

Like huge medical bills?

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#240

Post by ianleeclark »

adrr wrote: post #235
ianleeclark wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people can't afford everything they optimally need while minimising their risk, and so have to manage this by optimising as much as they are able within their paycheck. Not being able to afford basic necessities-in the most wealthy nation in the world-indicates something being broken.

Most people can afford common necessities in the US. It is how they choose to spend their money and the lifestyle they live. I have multiple family members who have bought houses in Los Angeles, and Hawaii with near min wage jobs which include being janitor, working at a nail salon and a crop picker. None have a high school education.

That's cool, I know a million janitors living in the LA and Hawaii areas all of whom are unable to afford homes.

I love anecdotal evidence

Post reply on HN