this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
302 points (91.9% liked)
Antiwork
8277 readers
6 users here now
-
We're trying to reduce the numbers of hours a person has to work.
-
We talk about the end of paid work being mandatory for survival.
Partnerships:
- Matrix/Element chatroom
- Discord (channel: #antiwork)
- IRC: #antiwork on IRCNow.org (i.e., connect to ircs://irc.ircnow.org and
/join #antiwork) - Your facebook group link here
- Your x link here
- lemmy.ca/c/antiwork
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Part of the problem is defining "rich people".
To someone making $30K, $40K, $50K? Rich is $300K, $400K, $500K.
To someone who is legit rich? Multi-millions to billions rich? There's no daylight between $500K and 50K. We're all "the help" as far as they're concerned.
And, yeah, their wealth allows them to operate on a different level the rest of us just can't comprehend.
There are a few good books on the topic that everyone should read:
Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/291700/perfectly-legal-by-david-cay-johnston/
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/300246/free-lunch-by-david-cay-johnston/9781591842484/
The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use “Plain English” to Rob You Blind
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/305192/the-fine-print-by-david-cay-johnston/9781591846536/
The average person makes under 100k even in reddits favorite high cost of living tech hubs where their six figures is pretty much makes them equivalent to the people on skidrow. It's amusing how when they were struggling college students the bar for rich was millionaires. Those who've made it rich themselves the bar for rich person moved up to billionaires. So now they have to wax philosophic, "what exactly is 'rich'?". You got rich. There being richer people than you doesn't change that.
Explain the same executive compensation minus tech and people will have their pitchforks out. But it's tech so which has a different set of standards because it's the internets darling.
The term is HENRY. High Earner, Not Rich Yet. People making $100-250k are surprised to find themselves still living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to save for retirement or afford things their parents did like take a vacation, improve their homes, or having children.
They're not struggling to survive, but they aren't living a life of luxury without going into debt.
You're not looking at the cost of living. your actual income is usually irrelevant. you could be making $100-250k, it doesn't matter, if the cost of living (and being able to actually get to your job) is 95% of that income.
For example, my buddy moved to the UK from BA where he was making $8000/mo and living paycheck to paycheck and going into debt. they didn't tell him they would cut his salary down to $4500/mo until he actually got there. He had a panic attack, until his first set of bills arrived, and he realized he still had some 80% of his paycheck left for himself due to drastically lower cost of living.