171–180 of 214 posts
Most of us on HN have usually lived in a world with a margin of security, where $1 saved at the end of the week might be $1.05 this time next year. Below a certain level of security, that's not something one can count on. It could just be another $1 swept away in the next disaster. Someone who has seen enough bust cycles will likely get into the habit of spending it while it's there.
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Oh god, take this 'privilege' stuff back to Tumblr. Not having kids isn't privilege, it's choice. Edit because I don't want this comment to come off too aggressively: you sullied a perfectly nice set of comments and truly interesting anecdote about your life by discounting it as privilege. Since when are wise choices privilege?
I think when you read my comment you may have been reading it with an eye toward whatever story you have of yourself? I didn't make any wise choices. That one guy, my manager at the Kenneth Cole, made those choices for me. I wanted to get my family gifts instead of getting interview clothes for myself, I would never have even thought to apply to Kenneth Cole, instead I was poached away from a job that paid me so litt…
You give yourself too little credit. I am not discounting luck -- I too have gotten very lucky in my career -- but without good decisions and hard work luck is wasted. You didn't have to accept the job at KC. You didn't have to go along with your boss' demand to spend the money on wardrobe. You didn't have to do well at that job. These are all things you did that nobody forced you to do.
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Parents and siblings. And that actually brings up an entirely other privilege I had at that time. When I first got my job at the movie theater, I was asked by nearly every floor employee how many kids I had. I was one of only a handful who were yet to have children, despite all of us being ~18-26. I can't guess how restricted I would have been in my mobility if I had children to think of at that time.
Oh god, take this 'privilege' stuff back to Tumblr. Not having kids isn't privilege, it's choice. Edit because I don't want this comment to come off too aggressively: you sullied a perfectly nice set of comments and truly interesting anecdote about your life by discounting it as privilege. Since when are wise choices privilege?
The economic freedom to be insulated from poor choices, mistakes, and the vagaries of the myriad uncontrolled factors that we call "life" is a huge privilege.
While I agree with the sentiment, I don't think her arguments are very strong. I personally think people make bad decisions to buy things or do things not on the premise of it being an "investment", but because most of us are very weak. We do the things we do because we are victims to advertising and peer pressure. You think they spend billions on advertising for nothing? If you read this and you are thinking, "No I…
I lived with a girl that seemed to make a lot of poor financial choices. I don't agree with the article, but I'm just sharing a story that seems on subject. She had about $300 in her bank account, told me she was broke, and began selling off a few extras around the house. She ran her business from home and the holidays were coming up. I continued to work as usual, and ask what she's up to. Well, she was closing up sh…
What I remember about being poorer is that vicious cycles are far more common when you are poor. You need the used car to be able to get to the job that will give you the money to afford the used car. The struggles of poverty are full of cycles like that.
The only way to break out of a vicious cycle is to shock the system, which tends to mean an asymmetric infusion of force - in poverty's case, that is usually the form of cash (or debt). It's the sort of action that is traumatic, and it often looks like it doesn't make sense. It's usually a short-term pain in exchange for the hopes of long-term improvement. "Breaking the cycle" is usually a traumatic, difficult action.
Now, I don't know much about buying a $2500 purse - it's hard to defend something so specific. But I do know that the forces that break cycles can look ridiculous or shameful in some way. A sudden windfall that you didn't "deserve", accepting help from a stranger in a way that feels humiliating, being selfish in a way that is not accepted in your social circle, showing "status", etc.
I am just reluctant to judge those choices from the outside, because I firmly believe that the poor have to deal with these cycles more than people of means, and that sometimes it takes a desperate act to break out of them.
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what is it about toe shoes? i always wear them - what kind of signal am i sending?
you're signaling "I'm the kind of person who's angling for a very painful metatarsal fracture."
since i started wearing the toe shoes, i learned to become more phsyically aware. my foot pain went away, and now i run regluarly and enjoy it. it's like night and day.
if wearing toe shoes gives people foot problems, it's because they've trained their bodies to wear shoes - and we didn't evolve walking on inch-thick slabs or rubber. our bodies weren't meant for it.
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Oh god, take this 'privilege' stuff back to Tumblr. Not having kids isn't privilege, it's choice. Edit because I don't want this comment to come off too aggressively: you sullied a perfectly nice set of comments and truly interesting anecdote about your life by discounting it as privilege. Since when are wise choices privilege?
I think your privilege — and lack of awareness thereof — is showing... Re: your edit, it's not the choices that are privilege, but all too often, the opportunity even to make them. As a white male, I have choices, and opportunities to make them, that women and non-white people simply don't . That's privilege: not what you do with the choices you do have, but the choices you have available to you.
I will agree the value of a put-together appearance is valid, in many contexts. and i wouldn't take from that at all. However ... it's ridiculous to use this to defend a $2,500 handbag purchase. the purchase was inadvisable at best. marshall's, target, JCP etc have a massive business strategy around making sophisticated looks available on a low budget. so there are plenty of ways to accomplish the objective of self r…
The goal isn't to meet some objective standard of looks-close-enough. The goal is to signal in a very specific way, through brand names. You may impress other poor people who don't know about brand names and such, but you will not impress people who do know their stuff.
I will agree the value of a put-together appearance is valid, in many contexts. and i wouldn't take from that at all. However ... it's ridiculous to use this to defend a $2,500 handbag purchase. the purchase was inadvisable at best. marshall's, target, JCP etc have a massive business strategy around making sophisticated looks available on a low budget. so there are plenty of ways to accomplish the objective of self r…
I agree. Two different things being discussed as one. 1) Everyone should have at least one outfit that is super classy. A cheap solution is a Salvation Army or Goodwill store in a nice part of town. 2) People who live on the dole and buy things they clearly don't need or deserve. Rocking an iPhone 5 while using your food stamp debit card at the grocery store to buy junk food is the typical "Stupid" poor person move m…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think when you read my comment you may have been reading it with an eye toward whatever story you have of yourself? I didn't make any wise choices. That one guy, my manager at the Kenneth Cole, made those choices for me. I wanted to get my family gifts instead of getting interview clothes for myself, I would never have even thought to apply to Kenneth Cole, instead I was poached away from a job that paid me so litt…
> I wasn't out there making wise choices You give yourself too little credit. I am not discounting luck -- I too have gotten very lucky in my career -- but without good decisions and hard work luck is wasted. You didn't have to accept the job at KC. You didn't have to go along with your boss' demand to spend the money on wardrobe. You didn't have to do well at that job. These are all things you did that nobody forced…