41–50 of 364 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree It's such a crazy statement. If going to the supermarket and buying whatever you want doesn't seem like a crazy luxury, you've got a 1% station only perspective.
I believe the threshold for the top 1% is around $10 million in net worth excluding primary residence. Being able to buy whatever you want at the super market is probably a top 25% of the US perspective if not more.
As I read the post, especially the references to Metafilter in combination with a lesson about homelessness, I thought to myself, “This sounds like DoreenMichele.” I press the back button and, see it is submitted by them. I press the forward button and scroll to the top and it was written by them. It’s a small world.
What a great read. This resonates with me. At one point in my life I was desperately close to homelessness. At the time I was lucky to still be enrolled at a university and could therefore easily take out as many loans as I needed. It was a horribly risky gamble I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but without going into more details of my life story I barely managed to graduate and find a successful career. I was able to pay…
Everyone keeps repeating this, but it's not true. Switzerland beats America by mean net worth. And look at median... whoa 22.
By government deficit (and likely household, corporate, etc), I bet we're #1 in all categories. The truth is, America is great at spending money. That doesn't make it wealthy, quite the opposite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_financial...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_governmen...
re: be kind.
Sorry, I don't mean to be mean or pick on you personally. That experience must have been terrible. Normally I'd let the data speak for itself, but I will reveal my reason for posting it is because I don't think we give a fair shake to people like yourself.
> Growing up, I kind of thought "Most people are just nice." I had no means to figure out how much was natural charm, how much was me dressing well... > Being homeless taught me that, no, most people absolutely are not just nice. I know this will get downvoted but AFAIK most people see homeless people themselves as "not nice" as in "it's not nice to foist your problems on the rest of us", "it's not nice not to take r…
Perhaps a bit more that the homeless pose complex considerations. Are they someone who had bad luck or someone who actively destroyed everything around themselves? If you help them will you waste your energy and in the end hurt them or will it actual assist? Will they be angry with you or even attack because it would be so easy for you to help a lot but you don't? Self judgement over not immediately helping, self lim…
> Growing up, I kind of thought "Most people are just nice." I had no means to figure out how much was natural charm, how much was me dressing well... > Being homeless taught me that, no, most people absolutely are not just nice. I know this will get downvoted but AFAIK most people see homeless people themselves as "not nice" as in "it's not nice to foist your problems on the rest of us", "it's not nice not to take r…
You will most certainly get donwvoted for it. That said, for people who might think of homeless as "not nice", consider the fraction that are truly problematic and the ones that you might see around, but not really doing anything wrong. The latter group is a lot less memorable, but I'd wager much larger than the former.
What a great read. This resonates with me. At one point in my life I was desperately close to homelessness. At the time I was lucky to still be enrolled at a university and could therefore easily take out as many loans as I needed. It was a horribly risky gamble I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but without going into more details of my life story I barely managed to graduate and find a successful career. I was able to pay…
> Especially not in the most wealthy nation in the history of the world. Everyone keeps repeating this, but it's not true. Switzerland beats America by mean net worth. And look at median... whoa 22. By government deficit (and likely household, corporate, etc), I bet we're #1 in all categories. The truth is, America is great at spending money. That doesn't make it wealthy, quite the opposite. https://en.wikipedia.org/…
As I read the post, especially the references to Metafilter in combination with a lesson about homelessness, I thought to myself, “This sounds like DoreenMichele.” I press the back button and, see it is submitted by them. I press the forward button and scroll to the top and it was written by them. It’s a small world.
"As I read the post, especially the references to Metafilter in combination with a lesson about homelessness, I thought to myself, “This sounds like DoreenMichele.”" I have been impressed recently by the posts by DoreenMichele and have expressed appreciation for those posts here. I am a little confused by this description of metafilter, however - I am not an active member of that community but I have been reading it…
Call it overcompensation; perhaps even a convenient indulgence, to wash away one's real face.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Especially not in the most wealthy nation in the history of the world. Everyone keeps repeating this, but it's not true. Switzerland beats America by mean net worth. And look at median... whoa 22. By government deficit (and likely household, corporate, etc), I bet we're #1 in all categories. The truth is, America is great at spending money. That doesn't make it wealthy, quite the opposite. https://en.wikipedia.org/…
When people say "most wealthy nation" they mean GDP, not per-capita. America's wide discrepancy between those two is usually the point.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/gross-domestic-product
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth
Edit: GDP is more like income than wealth, and not per-capita makes no sense because the expense of welfare programs would be on a per-person basis.
I imagine it’s easier to go from middle/upper class to homeless and then bounce back, than it is to bounce back to a place you’ve never been. For my own homeless experiences (~5 years), I was able to jump back because of work history and experience that would not have existed if my life had started out otherwise. More cross-the-tracks experiences would undoubtedly make the world a more tolerant, understanding, and up…
My homeless experience was incredibly brief (4-5 months) compared to the struggles of so many people I met during that time, but it had profound, permanent effects on my level of empathy I feel towards people still going through it. If you are struggling in your own life, dealing with depression or anxiety despite your white collar and comfortable financial situation, it can be a humbling and powerful experience to meet people who have no money, no friends, no family, and no support, not even from their own minds. Helping serve food at a shelter or something in that ballpark can be incredible for learning more about yourself as well as those folks, and you both gain from that relationship.