71–80 of 364 posts
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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The discrepancy between $10.4 million net worth and $515k income (which I assume includes gains) confused me for a moment, until I realized that the $10.4 million figure likely includes at least one large non-income-producing piece of real-estate.
The top 1% net worth and the top 1% income are different things, and I’m pretty sure the linked source is only talking about the net worth group (though it’s not exactly clear). Net worth is not necessarily linked to your income in any given year, so I don’t think it’s especially surprising that the income for that group averages out to around 5% of their net worth.
Obviously. But if the figure is exclusive of their primary residence their return on investments isn't especially impressive-- e.g. it's sub index fund rates even assuming they have no other income than gains. :)
> 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…
Yh, everything you’ve stated is incorrect. We all live in a society, homeless people included. If everyone has to truly fend for themselves, why should anyone follow the rules? Who’s to stop people from taking whatever they want? And before you state that policing will force them to, who will force the police? So to answer the question you never asked, yes homeless deserve help just for existing, not for their sake b…
Someone who is homeless and has no possession is poor. Someone who has nothing and debts is poorer than that.
Don't get into debts as an individual. Just don't.
Debt can be a tool for businesses, countries, can be part of an investment plan, you take insurances against unforeseen circumstances, etc...
But that whole "I'll get a loan to get a degree" is a tool for servitude. US really needs to get out of that.
In a different thread someone recommended charging a small fee for new accounts to prevent abuse. Dang responded that its important for everyone to be able to participate. Between his response and this article I reflected quite a bit about the nine years I have spent on this site, the various weird and mostly wonderful interactions I've had with the community, and the way it has shaped my career and therefore my life…
The participation of everyone who wholly embraces far-left San Francisco work politics. If not, you’re silenced. Fuck dang and this website.
As I was watching @lisper's movie "grace of god"[1] and heard the phrase "convince myself that it could never happen to me" (becoming homeless), I started thinking, is this a more American-centric problem?
What I mean by that is, can the lack of a social safety net in the US cause a much higher rate of homelessness than in other countries? Or at least, it seems the experience of homelessness in the US is worse than in other countries.
I wonder how much culture also plays a part in that. In Romania for example, the idea of becoming homeless in the same way as in the US seems so remote and unlikely that most people don't ever think about it and I'm sure you would have a hard time finding people who ever think they would get into that situation. Is the government just doing a great job at hiding these people or exporting them? Is the culture of having a close family saving people from ever hitting rock bottom?
I have a lot of questions with few answers and I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on the culture/US-centric view on this type of homeless.
I don't think you're truly economically "upper class" if you have to worry about student loans. I was paying off loans into my 30's, but my children will never have to pay a dime for school unless they make an active decision to ignore the money my wife and I have set aside for that.
If you have to worry about student loans, you probably aren't even middle class (petit bourgeois) even if you are middle or substantially higher income; people with student loan concerns are, almost by definition, members of the proletarian intelligentsia—knowledge-workers, often relatively well paid compared to the rest of the working class, whose primary source of support is selling labor for wages. The petit bourgeois have a balance between labor and capital contributions to income (most classically applying primarily their own labor to their own capital, but a common modern variation is having nontrivial capital investments but also a significant contribution from selling labor for wages.) And the upper class, the haut bourgeois, derive gains primarily from capital to which other people’s labor is applied.
I hope my comment doesn't sound tone-deaf or ignorant but this is something I have thought about for a while. As I was watching @lisper's movie "grace of god"[1] and heard the phrase "convince myself that it could never happen to me" (becoming homeless), I started thinking, is this a more American-centric problem? What I mean by that is, can the lack of a social safety net in the US cause a much higher rate of homele…