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0 pointsburnished4y ago0 comments

Of the people who couldn't afford, how many do you think were YOLOing as opposed to just plain old screwed? Basically, why focus on fictional people that are living in a way you find morally dubious, instead of the very real people living below the poverty line and struggling to keep a roof over their head?

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6 comments · 2 top-level

mrguyorama4y ago· 3 in thread

It's literally "Welfare queens" all over again, because how dare somebody be happy without working harder than I do

epicureanideal4y ago

> how dare somebody be happy without working harder than I do

I'm all for people being happy and especially for people being more successful while working less, as long as the "less work" means higher effective productivity per hour, or a choice to be happy by some other means.

The problem is when policy transfers wealth from people who do work to people who don't. Then the person isn't happy because of their own choices or more effective or better chosen efforts, it's just a transfer of happiness from a responsible person to someone who may or may not be.

burnishedOP4y ago

> The problem is when policy transfers wealth from people who do work to people who don't.

Why is it that this line is brought up when it might be a poor person getting a hand out but never when it is a rich person being given a hand out? You'd think the focus would be on stopping the ultra-wealthy from draining the rest of society with their out-sized influence, not weighing the hearts of the poor against a feather.

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burnishedOP4y ago

Don't forget a side of "if you have less than I do its because you're less deserving"!

epicureanideal4y ago· 1 in thread

Anecdotally I've heard from plenty of people that they have strategies like putting minimum down on a house so they can walk away from it if the market crashes, as a lesson from 06-07. I suspect plenty of people learned lessons from the last crash about moral hazard and are doing whatever they can, for example not paying rent as long as possible just because they can, and then when the crash happens they'll buy a house or meanwhile it might be in Robinhood.

The poor aren't stupid. They can figure out schemes and strategies just as well as Wall Street, they just have less opportunity in most circumstances.

burnishedOP4y ago

You're talking to people who can put a down payment on a house. I question if we're talking about the same groups of people. That wouldn't fit my own internal standard for 'poor', you know?

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6 comments · 2 top-level

mrguyorama4y ago· 3 in thread

It's literally "Welfare queens" all over again, because how dare somebody be happy without working harder than I do

epicureanideal4y ago

> how dare somebody be happy without working harder than I do

burnishedOP4y ago

> The problem is when policy transfers wealth from people who do work to people who don't.

1 more reply

burnishedOP4y ago

Don't forget a side of "if you have less than I do its because you're less deserving"!

epicureanideal4y ago· 1 in thread

The poor aren't stupid. They can figure out schemes and strategies just as well as Wall Street, they just have less opportunity in most circumstances.

burnishedOP4y ago

You're talking to people who can put a down payment on a house. I question if we're talking about the same groups of people. That wouldn't fit my own internal standard for 'poor', you know?

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