Just curious, assuming you did just upset microbet, which post do you think did it?
Giving it some serious thought I’d guess it was not finishing the ‘bad candidate’ discussion and not any of these recent posts, though you did reply to the ‘alienate’ post initially.
Yeah, you weren’t. Don’t get me wrong, you were doing fine. But there are people who draw way more than that from their investments without touching the principal. Who do business as a hobby or a competition.
As long as you work because you need the money, you’re one of us, not one of them.
It’s nothing you did that was offending or anything.
Was a bit upsetting. I thought you were sincere (still do) and was trying to come up with something other than “smiley face I’m fine”. 
I dunno. I’ve got plenty of frustrations, the middle class exchange is somewhat frustrating and sabo’s thread got me a little depressed. But still, I’m better than most people just because I’m blessed to be generally neither anxious nor depressed.
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There are a lot more people percentage-wise who loathe Trump and religiously vote against the GOP in the $70/hr range than among billionaires.
Enjoy making people hate people like me who vote against our own economic self-interest, then, I suppose.
Yep. My income may not say I’m middle class, but my lifestyle pretty much does. The main difference is that I’m putting more toward my retirement than the 33-year-old making $40K a year.
Most people in that range are “the enemy” but not all. I also think the problem is with a system that allows them to take home too much of that $700/hr, not with people being paid commensurate with the market value of their skills.
Maybe, I don’t think it’s as prevalent, but it certainly exists.
Microbet for America 2020: You All Suck, Vote for Me!
I shall not seek and I will not accept nomination for office.
Like, I’ve been at both ends of the spectrum. I’ve illegally been paid less than minimum wage, been living on credit card debt, scratching and clawing to get by. If not for the privilege of having a lower-middle to middle class family with parents who were willing to help out, I couldn’t have made it to where I am now… which is making low six figures in gross revenue, most likely (we’ll see how this year plays out), and putting tons toward retirement to try to catch up to where I should be for my age to have a reasonable shot at a good retirement, while trying to also save up to maybe someday own a house instead of renting an apartment.
I could give the whole “I worked my ass off to get here,” speech, but I could also give the “I never would have made it here without privileges,” speech. Both are true. Either way, I vote against my economic self-interest at least in terms of short-term taxes, maybe not in terms of the long-term “us vs them” because as others have pointed out, I still work for my money it’s not like my capital goes to work and makes me a living.
At any rate, if our side is going to win, it’s probably a good idea to bring more people in my economic situation into the tent rather than showing us the door. Some of us actually care, some of us vote to change the system, some of us donate to good politicians, some of us even knock on doors and put in some actual work, too.
But when people like NBZ are trying to foster hatred toward all people who make good money, I’m going to look around the tent I’m in and be like, “Damn, are they just holding me here while they sharpen the blade on that guillotine?”
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When I look at where to draw the us and them line, it is not north of 6 figures. Median individual income in the US is ~$40k. Every time we get into these dumb discussions that figure gets posted, and every single time the 6-figure salary crowd blows right past it without so much as a backhanded acknowledgement.
A lot of people like to pretend they don’t understand what the word “median” means, because it gives them an opportunity to post a thinly veiled brag about being bourgeoisie.
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That’s what Cuomo is saying right now too!
This is America, my man.
If you want to draw the line at 50K or 70K or 99K, you’re going to alienate a ton of people who consistently show up to vote, many of us consistently showing up to vote for good candidates. Your best argument against that is that a lot of these Democratic voters are on Team Schumer/Pelosi, but many of us aren’t.
The us and them line should have more to do with people doing the direct and blatant exploitation of workers, the people who are paying like ~no taxes and getting corporate welfare injected into their companies, the people who are buying off the politicians on both sides to make sure the system doesn’t change.
The people who make $100K or $150K, pay their share of taxes with minimal/no loopholes, get no corporate welfare, try to do right by others and vote for the good guys are not them. You may think we’re not “us” but that really just depends on how narrowly you want to define “us.”
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I disagree. If you work for a living your lived experience is substantially the same as everyone else who does. Even if you make enough that your life is not precarious you would still benefit substantially from a robust welfare state.
The division isn’t a matter of income at all, its a matter of wealth. The guy who lives off his 150k paycheck is not the same as the guy who lives off the 150k draw from his trust fund.
I was totally sincere. Something felt off.
wat
Jesus, no. Just no. Do you honestly believe this? My god.
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This. My experience making $100k+ is that my family and I can do whatever we want and not worry and still save money. My experience making <~$50k is we don’t get shit, constantly worry, and every once in a while our health insurance gets cut off for late payments.
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There’s are reasons Bernie talks about the 99% and not the 51%.
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Fine, I exaggerate. My point is the economic self interest of guys making 200k salary and a net worth of 1M (mostly tied up in his house) are more closely aligned to that of guys making 30k than they are to those with a net worth of 50M+.
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My experience is very different from someone making minimum wage who lives about 2 miles east/northeast of me. I have opportunities and experiences they do not.
Now, my experience is also very fucking different from Jeff Bezos’ experience.
So I wouldn’t say my experience is substantially the same as someone making minimum wage, but I might argue it’s closer to theirs than to a 1%ers. In reality my day-to-day may appear from the outside to be more like the 1%ers in normal times - I can afford an expensive meal out, great seats at a baseball game, etc, but my anxieties and stresses are more like the minimum wage earner - I just have an X month cushion before I’m pushed to the brink, whereas they live on the brink. Bezos has an X lifetime cushion, and X is probably like a 5 digit number.