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If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

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Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#531

Post by slaw »

ryandrake wrote: post #453
carabiner wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lockdown was such a massive mistake. Masks are good, vaccines are good, shutting down everyone's lives in hopes of protecting already extremely unhealthy people, to which effectiveness was never established, was devastating to the world. Cities were hollowed out - ask ANYONE who lives in NYC, LA, even smaller cities like Seattle, and they'll tell you how nightlife was decimated by pandemic.

Outside of those cities, though, there really wasn't a "lockdown." Nobody was forced to stay in their homes. People treated it as optional and were out and about despite the utterly unenforced "stay at home". Around me, it had a minor impact on traffic, but no noticeable impact on stores, restaurants, and socialization.

National and state parks were closed. Flights cancelled. There was not much to do outside.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#532

Post by jimbokun »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #311
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll go further. Oppenheimer and Whitehead (neither Christian) have stated, in their respective histories of science, that the Judeo-Christian world view was absolutely necessary for the start of real science, that it could not have originated in a society with a different worldview. Why? Because the Christian view was that God was a reasonable God, and He made the universe. And because He also gave us reason when He…

A huge surprise to the ancient Greeks, who outlined the concept of reason centuries before Christianity appeared, and invented a fair amount of math and the foundations of empiricism while they were at it. In fact Christianity halted scientific progress in the West for around a millennium. Before the Renaissance rediscovered Greek philosophy, the Christian world operated on hierarchy, rhetoric, scholasticism, and vio…

All of those things predate Christianity.

Well maybe not scholasticism.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#533

Post by j-bos »

kenjackson wrote: post #136
Taikonerd wrote: post #107

The article is smarter than the title makes it sound. He's not seriously proposing that being rich makes you happy. And he notes that there's a big drop around 2020 specifically , which long-term trends don't explain. Just to state the obvious: 2020 was the year of COVID, which played hell with peoples' social lives. And I think it's been pretty well-proven that happiness is largely driven by the strength and quality…

I agree the article is smarter than the title makes it seem. And honestly, much better than comments on HN. The articles keeps diving deeper and asking questions. The comments here take hold of a single theory, without even thinking about the counters that article mentions. This is probably the best example of read the article, and not the comments.

Thank you kindly.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#534

Post by mjmsmith »

chasd00 wrote: post #437
watwut wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Young people were more pro lockdowns then old people. And also, America did nit had two years of lockdowns.

absolutely true. Masks + lockdown hobbies (baking etc) were virtue signaling and everywhere online.

Many Americans were traumatized by being asked to wear a mask because they’re big angry babies. Many other Americans were traumatized by the discovery that they’re surrounded by big angry babies.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#535

Post by bdangubic »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #513
bdangubic wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want all social media to be banned. Until that happens - nothing else matters... What I am doing about it - I do not use social media apps of any kind (since 2017), do not allow my offspring to be on social media, trying to convince my wife she should do the same (she is on facebook still because of marketplace), and absolutely ridicule anyone that uses social media (in a fun way)...

Is Hacker News not social media?

it is a forum perhaps, I don’t consider it social media although would not argue too hard with someone who does

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#536

Post by pgalvin »

fakedang wrote: post #381
cvoss wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has an enormous land area and the cost of living varies dramatically across it. Intense pockets develop where the high paying jobs are, and everyone wants to cram in there to compete for those jobs, and then they're competing for the housing there, so the prices skyrocket, so the jobs have to pay higher still. Wealthy as the average person may be, the poverty slope is very steep in such places. The SF / Bay Ar…

You still don't expect people to go hungry in a first world developed country. Nor did people go hungry or homeless at this scale before in recent American, British or even broadly Western history. Yet here we are, and the UK is no exception either. At least you can be guaranteed for certain you won't be going hungry in Istanbul, Warsaw or Amman.

I disagree with the claim that a greater proportion of people go hungry, and more are homeless, today than at any point in recent western history. These have broadly been on a downwards trend over the last century.

Of course many do struggle, and that should not be dismissed by pointing to the past. But it nonetheless strikes me as naive to believe that people today are hungrier than at any point in recent history - the obesity crisis, and its lack of discrimination between social classes, should at least in part demonstrate this.

In my opinion, such exaggerations mostly serve to discredit and distract from legitimate complaints about the cost of living today.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#537

Post by TheCoelacanth »

snikeris wrote: post #424
01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just speculation: The houses got expensive because homeowners wanted housing to be an investment, so they voted for laws that make it harder to build or densify housing. Cars are expensive because the government puts tariffs on perfectly good imports to protect the American car companies. The American car companies produce garbage, and even the electric car companies like Tesla and Rivian are producing super-high-tec…

Houses got expensive because of usury (loans made for unproductive purposes). It destroys civilizations over time. That is why it was encoded into ancient religious traditions. Housing, education, and cars, all typically financed via loans, all exorbitantly expensive.

If anything it's the opposite. Extremely low interest rates drove housing prices higher by making it easier to afford a higher price.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#538

Post by cperciva »

bobthepanda wrote: post #518
jcranmer wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Great, have they increased by as much as inflation? Yes, real wages have been on the rise for the past few years. With the exception of the somewhat artificial COVID peak, median real wages are the highest on record: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q

There’s also the question of, “what’s inflation?” A lot of major necessities like healthcare and housing have outpaced CPI.

Yes, and a lot of major necessities haven't. CPI is an average -- of course some things will be higher.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#539

Post by jimbokun »

kakacik wrote: post #484
lamasery wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that's, like, the point of life or something, or something one ought to expect. It kinda snuck up on us, actually, until one day we were like "whoa, are we... on the verge of 'making it'?" Then a couple years later, not so much. The point I intended was that we were doing pretty great , and on paper should be doing even better now , but are actually doing less-great (though, stil…

Don't get mortgages/private schools/expensive cars or hobbies that you can't manage comfortably with 2/3 of your income (or if in faang-level than 1/3 to 1/2 max). Even less if you need to pay for your own healthcare outside of working contract. I know its very luring, but its a one way trap into misery and ruined life one way or another. Doesn't matter how well current economy is doing, what are projections etc. tha…

Well you need to live someplace and homes near the best jobs are the most expensive, all new cars and many used ones are expensive, and state universities can also be expensive these days.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#540

Post by thewillowcat »

xyzelement wrote: post #75

I feel like this is an easily answerable question, but I can see this because I grew up an atheist (and travel in those typically atheist/educated/professional circles) and have become much more aware/educated in/embracing of religion later in life myself. If you compare apples to apples - say my average atheist friend who is a director in a FAANG and also my religious friend who is also a director in the same FAANG.…

Even though I am personally agnostic, I do structure my life around the traditionally meaningful things you're talking about, and I do see the cultural mood a kind of spiritual crisis.

What's less clear to me is why the actual fall in happiness happened so rapidly with the pandemic. People were living spiritually vacant lives well before that!

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