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Just Be Rich

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Re: Just Be Rich

#241

Post by EvilEy3 »

yladiz wrote: post #125
EvilEy3 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because they have family obligations that take priority. Is that "I have kids!" I hear now? > Because they live outside high-income countries. Well then move to high-income country. > Because they have no access to support network, so when they fail, they fall all the way to bottom. That's unfortunate, but that's life. A lot of people don't have that safety. And not all of them are poor. > Because they may have mad…

> I "potentially" could've been next Ali, Tyson or Lomachenko, I'm not. Is that because if my mistake, or mistake of my parents or who else? It's unfortunate, but yes it's your mistake and your mistake alone, not any outside factor like genetics. You should work harder, get stronger, be better to reach your potential and achieve the dream.

A) you have no idea about my genetics, but you assumed for some reason that I was limited by it

B) not sure what your sarcasm means in this case, that chances of me becoming next Tyson are non-existent? I acknowledge that, and found passion in something else. And you don't see me complaining everywhere that it is Tyson's problem that I didn't become world champion in boxing. Like it is a zero sum game somehow.

Re: Just Be Rich

#242

Post by randomsearch »

d_silin wrote: post #7

A lot of people who are just as smart and motived as Elon Musk or Steve Jobs will never be able to start their own companies and get rich. Because they have family obligations that take priority. Because they live outside high-income countries. Because they have no access to support network, so when they fail, they fall all the way to bottom. Because they may have made a crippling mistake in their pasts that now prev…

I agree, but I’d add that hard working talented people can still do great things without money and despite difficulties. It’s just that the reach or scale is amplified by the money. Money and opportunity are amplifiers.

You can be the “Elon musk” of your world, that is you can hit the ceiling of what you were offered. Don’t compare yourself to Elon musk, compare yourself to what was possible for you.

Maybe that’s depressing for some people but I see it as liberating.

Re: Just Be Rich

#243

Post by imtringued »

omnimus wrote: post #146
adrianN wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Population in Germany has been pretty much constant since 1970. I'm relatively sure that this is true in many other developed nations too. A more important factor than total population is the fraction of people who want to live in a big city. Urbanization has been ongoing, because jobs have increasingly moved to urban centers. Real estate in small villages is quite cheap.

Its very similar in many european coutries. The problem is that cities are owned by someone else than people living in it. Many flats are empty because development cartels can wait long time before they rent it. This way they push the price and cost perception more and more. They will do so to infinity because they have monopoly.

If there is a cartel it is the government.

Pretty much every landlord (also developers) is out there to stab the other landlords in the back if they have the option, which they don't have. The price increase is purely driven by the availability of people who are willing to pay for the price increase and the landlords are not allowed to solve the problem.

Re: Just Be Rich

#244

Post by bradleyjg »

jiofih wrote: post #147
ludocode wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This statistic is misleading. The U.S. government defines the poverty line based on a 1955 model of spending patterns. It's completely inadequate for modern needs. The poverty line for a family of four is defined as a household income of $26,200. Any reasonable person knows it's impossible to pay rent and feed and clothe two adults and two kids on less than $2200 a month. Nevermind owning a home, having a car, saving…

The poverty line is supposed to mark the very bottom of the scale, not the middle. $2200 is still a ton of purchasing power compared to almost any other country.

Americans interested in inveighing against the rich don’t want to hear or think about people in other countries. Because if they do, then that means they are the rich and it muddies all their narratives about good guys and bad guys.

This is the same reason you see people talking about the .1% and then billionaires. Because they or people they care about fall into the 1% or the .1% so they have to push the boogeyman further out.

Re: Just Be Rich

#245

Post by EvilEy3 »

alexgmcm wrote: post #205
danillonunes wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well then move to high-income country. You can't just take an Uber to a rich country. You have to do a lot of work to get there. All that work is wasted years compared to someone who was just born there in the first place and can focus 100% on their actual path of getting rich.

Exactly, I live in relatively wealthy Western Europe and emigrating to the United States would still be a hell of a lot of work. It's not 1900 where you can just jump on a boat. Comments like the one you quoted just seem completely divorced from reality.

I moved from one of the shittiest Eastern countries to the "relatively wealthy Western Europe". And it was 2018 where I "just jumped on airplane".

How am I detached from reality when live in it?

Re: Just Be Rich

#246

Post by randomdata »

alexgmcm wrote: post #212
kortilla wrote: post #165

The author posts some charts about wealth, then writes: > Paul paints a rosy picture but doesn't mention that incomes for lower and middle-class families have fallen since the 80s. If you don’t know the difference between wealth and income, maybe you shouldn’t be blogging about these topics. This is not meant to be some low-brow dismissal. How can you have any serious discussion when two completely different things a…

It's probably due to the issue that Piketty noted in his book, getting reliable and comprehensive data on wealth is far, far harder than doing so for income. I agree with your criticism but it doesn't seem entirely honest when the "hollowing out" of the Middle Class has been a well observed phenomenon for at least the past decade if not several more.

How has the "hollowing out" of the middle class been well observed when the data required to observe it is unreliable and shallow?

Re: Just Be Rich

#247

Post by camhart »

Income inequality is growing, yes. But are the wealthy somehow responsible for it? Is their "getting richer" directly responsible for it? There seems to be a growing consensus on the left that they are. I have yet to see a convincing argument to show this though.

Someone who builds a company worth 100m didn't have to steal money from me (or anyone else) to do it. If they did steal, then that's what needs fixed. Prevent the stealing.

The individual who has 100k to invest can watch that 100k grow if they invest wisely over time. They can pile the earnings on top of their savings from their salary, and get richer faster than someone without the 100k invested. The rest of us who don't have 100k to invest don't see that same benefit--but merely because the 1% chooses to invest and to watch their money grow isn't a bad thing. Now if they're doing corrupt things with that money, then yea--fix that.

This concept of a wealth tax "fixing" income inequality is folly. It won't fix anything. It's at best a band-aid attempting to treat a symptom caused from underlying issues. We need to treat those underlying issues--not the symptom. Wealth tax happens to garner a lot of support though because many of the 99% love the idea of receiving something for free that's taken from the 1%. But it's not the governments job to legalize theft and pick the winners and losers, it's the governments job to fix the underlying issues.

Re: Just Be Rich

#248

Post by nicolas_t »

jusssi wrote: post #174
refurb wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Renting is often cheaper in major cities.

The owners generally want profit, where does it come from?

I can speak for Hong Kong, the return on investment on a rental property is around 2.5% (in the case of the apartment I rent it's 2.6%). The reason why rent is so cheap is I believe due to a lot of speculation by people buying in the hope that the price will increase. But this creates a lot of landlords who want to rent and unfortunately for those renters the people renting can only pay so much a month.

Landlords still expect to make a profit with the rising prices though so think that the rent being this low is not an issue but between the NSL and the changes by mainland China, it's unlikely their bet will pay off

I've seen a similar situation in Malaysia where there's a massive amount of speculative investments in luxury condos leading to 38% of the luxury condos being empty. The landlords are just buying it for speculation they don't expect to make money with rentals and that drives the prices of rentals down

Re: Just Be Rich

#249

Post by noxer »

d_silin wrote: post #7

A lot of people who are just as smart and motived as Elon Musk or Steve Jobs will never be able to start their own companies and get rich. Because they have family obligations that take priority. Because they live outside high-income countries. Because they have no access to support network, so when they fail, they fall all the way to bottom. Because they may have made a crippling mistake in their pasts that now prev…

Half of that is caused by their own past decisions and the other half by their own present decision to not put 100% of their effort into changing it.

>being poor is the single most powerful force that prevents people from doing that.

IMO absolutely wrong. The real reason is people dont try and risk it all. And they search for reasons why they would not be able to make it, including the oh so unfair starting points in this "game". Yes its unfair very very unfair even. But it is so for almost everyone. And more importantly it can not be changed and even if it would, it would not retroactively have an effect on existing people.

Everyone has one life and the number one reason to not reach a set goal is if it was not set and not attempted. You can make up all the good reasons why you would not attempt it because life is unfair but that doesn't change the fact that you yourself reduced your chance to reach it to zero by your own decision to let circumvention stop you from trying.

>Because they have no access to support network, so when they fail, they fall all the way to bottom.

Failing is an possibility if you try, if you dont, its certain. Also what exactly is so "scary" about failing? Do people think they end up homeless under a bridge or something? I see a practically zero chance that could ever happen to someone who fights. You need to have some serious mental health problems and probably drugs to fall this deep. And given that health in unfair too you may get this anyway so even more reason to get yourself in a poison where health problems wont make you fall to the bottom.

Ive financially failed before, as long as zero is the bottom (I dont make debts) is just a setback its not stopping me. I certainly had a good start in life but money was never given to me. I started form zero as a teenager and I almost went back to zero in my early twenties partially do to circumstances outside of my control partially due to bad decisions. I could have another 50 years trying so why would that stop me. My goals a higher than ever and the speed at which I chase them only got faster.

Re: Just Be Rich

#250

Post by EvilEy3 »

danillonunes wrote: post #138
EvilEy3 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because they have family obligations that take priority. Is that "I have kids!" I hear now? > Because they live outside high-income countries. Well then move to high-income country. > Because they have no access to support network, so when they fail, they fall all the way to bottom. That's unfortunate, but that's life. A lot of people don't have that safety. And not all of them are poor. > Because they may have mad…

> Well then move to high-income country. You can't just take an Uber to a rich country. You have to do a lot of work to get there. All that work is wasted years compared to someone who was just born there in the first place and can focus 100% on their actual path of getting rich.

> You have to do a lot of work to get there.

Oh no! I have to do work? Guess it is time to roll over and just die. You can't expect me to work for something!

> All that work is wasted years compared to someone who was just born there in the first place and can focus 100% on their actual path of getting rich.

All your work of getting rich is wasted years compared to someone who was just born rich in the first place and can focus 100% on their actual path of getting uber rich.

How's that sound? Maybe instead of focusing on some abstract definition of rich you should focus on what amount makes you happy?

First step to happiness is to stop having destructive mindset of "bah, he started with more money than I did".

I probably won't buy Ferrari in my life, and I'm okay with that. I probably won't buy luxurious house or start unicorn startup. And I'm okay with that. But I will achieve relatively wealthy and good life and be content with that.

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