341–350 of 355 posts
Like most articles of this type, this article focuses exclusively on the upwardly mobile. And why not? They are usually interesting productive members of society. But downward mobility is a thing too, and you almost never see an article about class mobility talk about that side of it. I guess the idea is that the downwardly mobile aren't interesting, or deserve their fate. The downwardly mobile have children too. Lea…
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This reminds me of an entry from The Book of Life, on "Countries for Losers, and Countries for Winners": http://www.thebookoflife.org/countries-for-losers-countries-... I live in the U.S., but I think I'd prefer to live in one of the countries for losers.
"I live in the U.S., but I think I'd prefer to live in one of the countries for losers." ... from the article: "Here is the list of the world’s top Loser Countries: (.nl, .de, .ch, .no, .dk)" As someone who travels to these countries frequently (rsync.net has a Zurich location) I can certainly get on board with the desire to move to Switzerland. It is a nicer country than the US. However, it is a ridiculous notion th…
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>But as long as 70%+ of Americans are wallowing in economic depression there will be no lasting social progress. Just the way most rich people hope it stays. What definition are you using for economic depression?
Here's just a passing figure for starters: 63% of Americans can't handle a $500 or $1000 emergency expense. Now, if you're willing to actually enquire into this there are plenty of additional dismal statistics about average American life, regardless of the dizzying heights of stock prices. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2016/01/06/63-of-...
[0] https://dqydj.com/united-states-household-income-brackets-pe...
i thought this was about class-pass gym thing.
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The only way to become wealthy is to spend less than you make. The only way to stay wealthy is to spend less than you make (and have your investments outpace inflation). One of the best ways to do that is to not inflate your lifestyle, like starting to think you're too good for things like putting together your furniture from Ikea.
If furniture can make or break you, we're talking about degrees of middle-class-ness, not wealth.
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Not the author of the parent comment, but my family shifted from solidly middle-class to members of the 1% over the course of a few years in the early 2000s (my teenage years) as our family business became significantly more successful. Here are some of the things I've experienced that strike me as examples of that: - Talking specifically about money (how much high-ticket items specifically cost, how much anyone spec…
The clothing stuff works the other way too. My parents were always well off, but we’re immigrants. I know to wear a nice suit to a client meeting. But I’m completely at a loss when it comes to all the intermediate levels of clothing. Like, what do you wear when it would be weird to wear a business suit but improper to wear jeans?
Clothing is usually pretty easy once you find the staples; after that its your behavior that makes it. To actually look good though, you need to understand the group's values enough to move beyond the basics.
And of course, you need to learn to have an opinion on clothing, to understand (and deny) other's opinions. At the very least, when some chucklefuck gives you a look for eating fries by hand, you should be able to defend your position
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Here's just a passing figure for starters: 63% of Americans can't handle a $500 or $1000 emergency expense. Now, if you're willing to actually enquire into this there are plenty of additional dismal statistics about average American life, regardless of the dizzying heights of stock prices. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2016/01/06/63-of-...
Using a kind of dubious site because it was the first one I found with the 63rd% of income [0]. That clocks in right at $79,954.00. I would say that a significant portion of that 63% is poor money management as opposed to lack of income. [0] https://dqydj.com/united-states-household-income-brackets-pe...
> In the UK, class consciousness is woven into the national identity. In America, however, people often like to pretend that a class system doesn’t really exist. But, of course, it does. This is the most insidious part. The media in the US has historically been 100% controlled by rich people, and all major media still is. The evil rich people figured out that if you start a gender and race war among the 99%, you can…
> The internet will almost certainly spawn a social movement to destroy the class system in the US. I'm unconvinced. The class system is, at its core, money. And short of eBay allowing people to sell second hand items peer to peer, I really don't think the internet has enabled economic mobility all that much. A select few in Silicon Valley have gotten very rich, certainly, but an effect on the population at large? Ma…