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Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

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Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#31

Post by guelo »

lionhearted wrote: post #24

> Perhaps Henderson's outburst should be chalked up to the influence of degenerate white culture This would be unacceptable to say about any other ethnic group - I've got to say, if you're Caucasian you should get upset at general hate speech and slapping "white" on something like it's a bad thing. I keep the company of people of all color and background, I'll do business with anyone I like, but it's time white peopl…

Maybe you're right that this is racist. But I'm pretty sure that well over 90% of people making the argument that $450k is not enough money are indeed white.

If the article was about gangster rap I don't know if it would be racist but it would be accurate to call it a degenerate black culture.

Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#32

Post by lionhearted »

houseabsolute wrote: post #28
lionhearted wrote: post #24

> Perhaps Henderson's outburst should be chalked up to the influence of degenerate white culture This would be unacceptable to say about any other ethnic group - I've got to say, if you're Caucasian you should get upset at general hate speech and slapping "white" on something like it's a bad thing. I keep the company of people of all color and background, I'll do business with anyone I like, but it's time white peopl…

> Any other ethnic group would be up in arms That is because the other ethnic groups are not the dominant ones in society, and are typically disadvantaged on the whole because of their race. My personal view as a White person is that I have enough advantages by my White male-ness that I do not need to demand more, or do anything to offset whatever minor inconveniences might arise from the same. Doing so would seem pe…

Edit: Obviously this argument isn't going to get resolved and it's unlikely anyone's mind will be changed. I'll bow out here, leaving my opinion that his conduct is hateful and inappropriate, and my opinion is if you're Caucasian you shouldn't have to accept that passively. Others may have other opinons or think it's okay - if so, we'll agree to disagree.

Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#34

Post by dangrossman »

sliverstorm wrote: post #22

While it does piss me off to read someone who makes so much money complain, I don't think it's ridiculous for someone who already looses nearly half their income in taxes being concerned about a further hike. Suppose that last year I made $10k. Someone, somewhere, thinks that's a hell of a lot of money. But I bet most people on HN would not condemn me for being concerned about the government taking a few extra thousa…

Very few occupations lead to a cash salary of more than a few hundred thousand dollars, tops. All the rest of their income (interest and other gains from investing, appreciation of assets, etc) is taxed at lower rates. Long term capital gains are only taxed at 15%, for example. So the richer you are, the lower your marginal tax rate can be as the proportion made up of ordinary income becomes smaller.

Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#35

Post by exit »

lionhearted wrote: post #24

> Perhaps Henderson's outburst should be chalked up to the influence of degenerate white culture This would be unacceptable to say about any other ethnic group - I've got to say, if you're Caucasian you should get upset at general hate speech and slapping "white" on something like it's a bad thing. I keep the company of people of all color and background, I'll do business with anyone I like, but it's time white peopl…

#1 degenerate white culture

Will you be talking about degenerate black, hispanic, asian, whatever culture any time soon? Didn't think so. Fuck you.

Posted by: Todd | September 20, 2010 11:21 AM

#2 Dear Todd,

I think you will find MtM was making a not very subtle point about other peoples' judgements with his "degenerate white culture" swipe. Namely, in case it has to be spelt out, that a lot of people do attribute all sorts of moral failings to "degenerate [ethnic] culture". Kinda stings when the reverse case is made, however sardonically intended.

Posted by: Steinn Sigurdsson | September 20, 2010 1:45 PM

Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#36

Post by berntb »

btmorex wrote: post #20
atomical wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the whole picture. As this man's salary grew he started to add services and dependents and a wife and a lot of other things to his budget. He basically has reached a point where it is unsustainable but now he has convinced himself that he is in a hardship. Not so different from the general public that believes owning a home, having three or four kids, and driving new cars is a right.

Everyone spends more as they make more money. It's pretty much human nature. The difference is that most people keep some bearing on reality and realize that they have it better than almost anyone else in the world (speaking of wealthy Americans here). They can also probably imagine cutting some stuff out if need be without blogging "woe is me".

That is a point. But with today's blogging, you'll find idiots at all salaries/educations having any possible stupid opinion you can imagine.

And you'll find some other idiot with moral outrage flaming him, for eyeballs... Here, that might be needed and motivated. But it is a bit boring.

What was that US expression? "Move along, people. Nothing to see here".

Edit: Grammar.

Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#37

Post by houseabsolute »

lionhearted wrote: post #32
houseabsolute wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any other ethnic group would be up in arms That is because the other ethnic groups are not the dominant ones in society, and are typically disadvantaged on the whole because of their race. My personal view as a White person is that I have enough advantages by my White male-ness that I do not need to demand more, or do anything to offset whatever minor inconveniences might arise from the same. Doing so would seem pe…

Edit: Obviously this argument isn't going to get resolved and it's unlikely anyone's mind will be changed. I'll bow out here, leaving my opinion that his conduct is hateful and inappropriate, and my opinion is if you're Caucasian you shouldn't have to accept that passively. Others may have other opinons or think it's okay - if so, we'll agree to disagree.

> That's not petty either.

I don't really expect you to see it any other way. You too are part of the advantaged White race, and it's far easier to turn a blind eye to the advantages you receive over Black or Latino people than to recognize them and deal with the fact.

Of course, you may actually recognize those advantages and just choose to deal with them differently than I do. I also see nothing wrong with that. I'm not trying to say that all White people should behave the same as I do. I'm just offering up one possible reason why some do.

> . . . upper middle class sanctimonious bullshit.

Not necessary.

Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#38

Post by liedra »

This is ridiculous. Any American (or Australian for that matter!) who whines about their taxes should come and work for a few years in Europe. In Belgium, on an entry-level salary (for a post-doc academic position) I was being taxed at over 50% (my communal tax was at 8%):

"For 2010, marginal income tax starts at 25%, rises to 30% over EUR 7,900, 40% over EUR 11,240, 45% over 18,730 EUR with a top limit of 50% for incomes above EUR 34,330. Residents also pay communal and regional taxes at rates between 0% and 8.5% of the total income tax payable. The most common rate is 6%." (source: http://www.expatica.com/be/finance_business/tax/taxation-in-... )

Throw in a 21% VAT on top of that and watch most of your income go to tax.

Mind you, Belgium is one of the heaviest taxers, but coming from Australia, where it is significantly less hard-hitting (top tax bracket is 30% for 180k AUD, then 45% for every $1 after), it was astonishing. I don't think I got what I paid for in Belgium either, to be honest, but that's a different issue ;)

Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#39

Post by houseabsolute »

liedra wrote: post #38

This is ridiculous. Any American (or Australian for that matter!) who whines about their taxes should come and work for a few years in Europe. In Belgium, on an entry-level salary (for a post-doc academic position) I was being taxed at over 50% (my communal tax was at 8%): "For 2010, marginal income tax starts at 25%, rises to 30% over EUR 7,900, 40% over EUR 11,240, 45% over 18,730 EUR with a top limit of 50% for in…

While it may be true that Europeans are taxed more heavily than Americans, that does not necessarily mean that Americans being taxed more heavily is a good thing to happen. Your argument seems to boil down to, "You think that frying pan is hot? Join me in the oven then you'll really have good reason to complain." Thanks, but what if the best thing is to sit near the AC instead? I'm not claiming, by the way, that it would or wouldn't be better to tax American rich more, I'm just saying the argument you made is not a very good one.

Re: Pity the Poor Couple Who Make $450,000 Per Year

#40

Post by sliverstorm »

dangrossman wrote: post #34
sliverstorm wrote: post #22

While it does piss me off to read someone who makes so much money complain, I don't think it's ridiculous for someone who already looses nearly half their income in taxes being concerned about a further hike. Suppose that last year I made $10k. Someone, somewhere, thinks that's a hell of a lot of money. But I bet most people on HN would not condemn me for being concerned about the government taking a few extra thousa…

Very few occupations lead to a cash salary of more than a few hundred thousand dollars, tops. All the rest of their income (interest and other gains from investing, appreciation of assets, etc) is taxed at lower rates. Long term capital gains are only taxed at 15%, for example. So the richer you are, the lower your marginal tax rate can be as the proportion made up of ordinary income becomes smaller.

I think I may have just tasted the flavor of the "the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer" kool-aid for the first time.
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