You’re supposed to empathize with them when they complain that they don’t have enough money to afford whatever tax increases on the wealthy are coming down the pike.
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No. No empathy for a family doing that well when there are plenty of families in that same area making substantially less money.
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I don’t want to increase their taxes much at all. Professionals making 350k per year aren’t the problem. It’s people making orders of magnitude more. This highlights the absurdity of stopping tax brackets at 600k or whatever it is.
This feel-good moment brought to you by New Balance and their Founder, Jim Davis, who gave $400K to Trump.
There’s a small chance you might be preaching to the choir here.
Except it doesn’t assume permanence. For example, “I am tired.” expresses a temporary feeling that the subject is currently experiencing.
Anyway, I’m not some kind of language purist. It’s an evolving entity. But you’d be surprised at how many language teachers think that languages are being destroyed by social media and text messages and all that shit. They’re definitely not the type to take points off for “I identify as” but they will scoff at it being used.
Gotta be honest. The first two things I read there were CBS and Jim Davis and was disappointed that the link wasn’t about Garfield.
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There’s no reason to feel bad for the people with $350k. They’re doing really well and actually saving a bunch of money when you count the 401k and the mortgage principal. To the extent there’s anything interesting here though, it’s that almost literally everyone is acutely aware of the difference between spending 10% less than they currently spend and spending 10% more than they currently spend. Huge portions of the economy are largely set up around making it very clear to people that, even if you spend an arbitrary amount of money on a product, there is a more expensive product that costs more but is way better, and don’t you really want that. I’m not a watch guy, so it’s easy for me to see that as an industry based solely around the idea of giving people outlets for large amounts of money for nonsense. But mostly that’s what the consumer economy is–real estate, high-end restaurants, education, electronics, financial services, designer clothes, wine–all of it is basically money pumps.
The funny thing is that these people actually seem overextended. They’re budgeting $3600 a year to maintain a $1.8 million house? Do they ever buy furniture? No olive oil budget?
Heh love the Double Dragon screencap.
Always felt like that was the case in old-school beat-em-up games.
But that shit that’s been placed in that budget is the issue. I didn’t know that umbrella insurance* was actually a thing until I read that.
The privilege of thinking that getting a Toyota over a Range Rover is cutting back or Old Navy over Gucci is a huge sacrifice is infuriating. I mean how detached from reality are the people who make these things up? Nobody’s paying off their student loans by 30 nowadays unless they’re already loaded. I know middle-aged lawyers still paying off law school.
*I know it’s not insurance for umbrellas you ■■■■■
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This is all true. And profoundly sad. People are programmed from birth to want the next nicest thing. The guy with the 8 seater wants a gulfstream, the guy with the gulf stream wants a 737, the assholes in charge of Saudi Arabia and Russian mines probably want a 777.
Which leads these people to be freaking sociopaths.
Yes, those people 2+ rungs up the socioeconomic ladder from me really lack self-awareness.
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Where it gets surreal is the super high-end - $1000 t-shirts, $75k belt buckles. There are people that refuse to spend a normal amount for anything. It’s the ultimate giffen good.
My friend was the accountant for the Osbourne’s interior decorator. They spent $40k on drapes for the bathroom and $12k for a chair for the walk-in closet.
Then Sharon decided it was too much, refused to pay, and put the interior decorator through a brutal audit. Because of course.
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Donating money to politicians so you can keep $95B instead of $89B, while people are desperate and suffering - is pathological. It’s only accepted because money justifies everything in this country.
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Fucked up thing about NES Double Dragon, and I realized this as like a 7 year old in the 80s, is it’s pretty heinous how you beat the shit out of women.
There is definitely a sweet spot somewhere between stressing over money on a daily basis and selling off companies for parts so you can build that 3rd vacation home a little bigger and higher on the hill than your neighbor.
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i remember thinking same thing back then. Grand theft auto is even worse.
Ah, playing the trump card.
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Going back in time and judging the past by today’s standards reminds me of Dave Chappelle’s bit on Pepe Le Pew.
Never really thought about those cartoons as being that way but they were.
He’s right though, and Unstuckers in general are keeping his shitshow forum alive by posting in it. Let Kelhus, Luckbox, and hotinvegas do the heavy lifting and see how the experiment goes.
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