Do most of you not realize how out of touch and privileged you are?

[Anonymous]

It doesn't disgust me, it amuses me.

Many people don't realize much of it is just luck. Even for the ones who clawed their way out of poverty. Actually, the latter may be more able to appreciate exactly how luck plays into it, and how, obviously, you also "create your luck" to some extent, through hard work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to believe people who are making this kind of money are posting on DCUM.

How do lawyers have so much free time to post on a message board?

Don't believe everything you read on DCUM, it's anonymous. People can say whatever they want and live out their wildest fantasies.

This. More than 3/4 of the people posting on DCUM claim to be top 1%. I find it hard to believe that MOST of the top 1%ers in America have found the DCUM boards AND ALL of them aren't busy earning that top 1%. I mean sure a lot of the top 1% is due to inheritance and trusts but in America A LOT of them are working -- often as bankers, surgeons, and lawyers. IDK any Goldman Sachs or hedge fund banker or surgeon or biglaw partner was enough time on their hands that they are ADDICTED to DCUM and posting EVERY time a net worth thread drops. I do think lots of DCUM does have a lot of money, but I think they also multiple what they have by 2x or 3x bc hey it's an anonymous internet board, who will know and it makes them feel superior.

I think this such a wrong assumption. I’m 32 and make about 420k a year - i never “work” more than 40 hours a week. I will constantly check and respond to emails but I’m hardly burning the midnight oil. All my friends that make good money are able to go golfing with me on Fridays, runs in the middle of the day, etc. sure some lawyers and doctors can’t do that but many high income earners have great flexibility. Particularly during covid.

[Anonymous]

That’s so true. I had the ability to invest $5k into Apple stock in 1995 when it was $15/share. I really wanted to but this was before all the platforms for individual investors and as a working class kid I had no idea how to make it happen. I really wish I had figured it out - was very busy with work and school and didn’t have the time or any connections in my working class life to guide me. I just loved everything Apple.

I recently roughly calculated what my money would have become by now and it was miserably depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I completely understand why people made guillotine memes in response to the proposed $600 stimulus checks this winter. And guess what, $1400 is not enough either. I hope all of you out of touch privileged people are taxed so hard your eyes bleed. You people are the swamp everybody else loves to hate. We need to tax the rich into oblivion and collectivize their assets, I swear to god. Don't EVER try to justify your cushy job as having "Earned" your right to complain about property taxes on your second investment property when this country operates like the Third World when trying to meet other people's basic needs.

Serious question: Do you *really* want to live in a world like this?

Serious question: Most of us are trying to meet other people's basic needs. Can't we have both? Can't we have a strong social safety net and reward people for success?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just dropping in here to say that this forum makes me want to vomit. Especially here.

All this talk of people in their 30s buying million + dollar homes, people who are 40 years old and already 401(k) millionaires, people who have funded their future kids' college education while talking down to those who struggle to pay back their student loans only hoping for a break someday, people here bemoaning the budget constraints of a HHI of "only" $200K, people with investment properties, people with investments, period. Do you not understand that the average American cannot withstand a $500 emergency? That there is an eviction crisis in this country? That medical debt makes people wonder if their life-saving medical treatments are even worth the "life" they get to live afterwards? How one economic downturn can render a hardworking family penniless and homeless? That the AVERAGE household income yes IN THE DC AREA is far, FAR below the individual salaries thrown about in these discussions and that yes, AVERAGE and, gasp, below average HHI families need a place to live too? Two hour commutes each way be damned, "go move somewhere you can afford!"

I completely understand why people made guillotine memes in response to the proposed $600 stimulus checks this winter. And guess what, $1400 is not enough either. I hope all of you out of touch privileged people are taxed so hard your eyes bleed. You people are the swamp everybody else loves to hate. We need to tax the rich into oblivion and collectivize their assets, I swear to god. Don't EVER try to justify your cushy job as having "Earned" your right to complain about property taxes on your second investment property when this country operates like the Third World when trying to meet other people's basic needs.

Blah blah blah. Just go away. That’s like walking into a Mercedes dealership and complaining about how expensive cars are and how unfair it is that you can’t buy one. Go to the Kia dealership (no offense, I like Kias).

“Tax them into oblivion and collectivize their assets”. I support small tax increases on wealthier people but do not support a “wealth tax”. Your narrative of just blabbering nonsense will never get people to buy in.

[Anonymous]

The problem is that OP herself doesn't realize how privileged she is. She was born in to the richest nation and time in ALL OF HISTORY. She probably has a private bedroom and bathroom, clean water and healthy food available to her all the time. Most people in the world right now don't have that. Instead of looking to take care of their basic needs, she is here complaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It doesn't disgust me, it amuses me.

Many people don't realize much of it is just luck. Even for the ones who clawed their way out of poverty. Actually, the latter may be more able to appreciate exactly how luck plays into it, and how, obviously, you also "create your luck" to some extent, through hard work.

If I’m not mistaken, most US millionaires are self-made, correct? It’s not inherited wealth. So hard work and taking risks is definitely part of the equation but so is mindset. There’s a reason that lottery winners and sports stars end up broke after a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of us worked hard in school, spend years in college and graduate school and put in long hours at work. It isn't that hard of a formula.

Also, your anger is directed at people who are WORKING for money. Maybe you should redirect it to people who either aren't working and living off the system or those not working and living off trust funds.

We also didn't have children out of wedlock or when we were 16 years old. Let's not forget that part of the formula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that OP herself doesn't realize how privileged she is. She was born in to the richest nation and time in ALL OF HISTORY. She probably has a private bedroom and bathroom, clean water and healthy food available to her all the time. Most people in the world right now don't have that. Instead of looking to take care of their basic needs, she is here complaining.

Which part of modern American technology and infrastructure did you "earn" OP? Did you invent the internet? Did you create the COVID vaccine? Did you invent refrigeration? You didn't earn that. You just happened to be born into a wealthy nation. And here you are enjoying a life of comfort you didn't earn while others around the world go without. How do you justify that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of us worked hard in school, spend years in college and graduate school and put in long hours at work. It isn't that hard of a formula.

Also, your anger is directed at people who are WORKING for money. Maybe you should redirect it to people who either aren't working and living off the system or those not working and living off trust funds.

This is just not true. The majority of these people were funded by their parents either through paying for education, help with rent, car payments, assistance with first home down payment, trusts or similar. The idea that the 1% is "working for money' is laughable. They were gifted funds and hardly seem to realize it. That's what OP is on about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just going to turn into a humble bragging circle-jerk for defensive so-called “self made” users here.

Yep. Lots of people explaining why THEY are super-rich because of their own hard work and good choices, and THEY deserve their good fortune, but THEY are super down to earth or aware of their privileges, and also everyone could be successful if they just worked hard enough, because that's definitely how life works.

But that is exactly how life works in the US. Not in many other countries, but definitely in the US. My mom came here when I was 6. She had $250 in her pocket, didn’t speak a word of English, and settled in subsidized housing given to her by the immigration agency as she was a refugee. She learned English, worked cleaning restaurants and offices, on weekends I helped. The school I went to wasn’t great by any means but if I brought home anything lower than top marks, there was hell to pay because “we came to this country for a chance and you have the chance to do better”. We didn’t own a TV, I slept on a mattress in the living room, food was pasta, so much pasta and whatever else was on sale. Clothes were all donations and books were from the library. I had no presents for my birthday, but she did make cake. No vacations, no camps, no lessons (though I did play an instrument after 6th grade thanks to music classes in school). For 10 years, she drove a run down car with peeling paint that was basically held together with duct tape. She got a couple of the ladies she worked with and they started a cleaning business. That business helped pay for college for me, along with Pell grants and me working. I didn’t go to a private college and lived at home to save money on housing. I didn’t get much choice in college major because I knew I needed to earn good money, I couldn’t just get my BA in Art History and intern for a year. I did accounting because it was practical and paid well. I got my masters. I married my husband (also from an immigrant family, he’s an attorney). We lived very frugally until his loans were paid off and then once he hit 35, his income really went up. Suddenly we are making serious money but we are investing it. We do own a $1m+ house, our cars are both under 50k and we paid cash for them. We took our first vacation after we paid off his loans. We have two kids (we can’t comfortably afford three), we help our parents out and they help us out with babysitting. The American dream is possible but what I see going on isn’t that the dream is dead, it’s that folks don’t want to work for it or they make dumb decisions.

Americans are up to their eyeballs in debt. I’m not talking medical debt (that’s it’s own separate issue and I very much support universal healthcare and would pay higher taxes for it). I’ve seen guys earning 100k and blowing it on car payments, buying houses they can’t afford, and other crap they don’t need. There’s a sense of entitlement to it, like they should be able to have everything. And then I also saw how little folks value education. Immigrant kids get a beating if they don’t bring home good grades, meanwhile you have American kids skipping school or talking back to teachers and parents support the kids! So all this crying about how life isn’t fair is ridiculous. Of course it’s not fair! Nothing is fair. Every country has its own problems, but be glad your problem is just debt. Where my mom is from, if you owed someone money, they’d come to your door in the middle of the night and you’d disappear. You wanted to start a business and it made someone upset, they could hire someone to shoot up your business. You got sick and didn’t have any money, there was plenty of hospital space but no medicine at all. And you can’t change anything about your situation. In America, you can change things. Your town has no jobs? Move. You can’t afford a house? Get a different job. America isn’t perfect (I’m not trying to sweep racial inequality under the table) but it’s got opportunities. It just requires you to actually work for the opportunities, instead of insisting on them just because you were born here.

Thank you for this, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of us worked hard in school, spend years in college and graduate school and put in long hours at work. It isn't that hard of a formula.

Also, your anger is directed at people who are WORKING for money. Maybe you should redirect it to people who either aren't working and living off the system or those not working and living off trust funds.

This is just not true. The majority of these people were funded by their parents either through paying for education, help with rent, car payments, assistance with first home down payment, trusts or similar. The idea that the 1% is "working for money' is laughable. They were gifted funds and hardly seem to realize it. That's what OP is on about.

Who paid for OP to go to elementary, middle and high school? Did she pay for herself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It doesn't disgust me, it amuses me.

Many people don't realize much of it is just luck. Even for the ones who clawed their way out of poverty. Actually, the latter may be more able to appreciate exactly how luck plays into it, and how, obviously, you also "create your luck" to some extent, through hard work.

Having listened to the UMC disparage people like me has brought me to disgust over the years. It's kind of sad how out of touch a lot of them are. Amusing is sheltered and clueless; disgust is reserved for the people who think that they made it all by themselves and look down on people who don't have the things they do, even though they got their million-dollar house downpayment from mom and dad and their private school tuition from grandparents.

But, to the second point, I fully recognize how incredibly lucky I am and have no problem acknowledging that there are people who work just as hard as I do but didn't get the right opportunity or know the right people to be where I am. I put in the time and elbow grease, but I had the right place to apply that effort to in order to migrate socioeconomic classes. I always feel sorry for a bunch of those unconnected people applying for posted positions and not realizing that some higher-up's referral or client's kid is going to get the role regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of us worked hard in school, spend years in college and graduate school and put in long hours at work. It isn't that hard of a formula.

Also, your anger is directed at people who are WORKING for money. Maybe you should redirect it to people who either aren't working and living off the system or those not working and living off trust funds.

This is just not true. The majority of these people were funded by their parents either through paying for education, help with rent, car payments, assistance with first home down payment, trusts or similar. The idea that the 1% is "working for money' is laughable. They were gifted funds and hardly seem to realize it. That's what OP is on about.

Who paid for OP to go to elementary, middle and high school? Did she pay for herself?

Who paid for her food to eat as a child? Who paid for her home?

Was OP not gifted these things by her parents?

[Anonymous]

and here OP is taking time out of their day (which is a privilege) typing on their computer (a privilege), accessing high speed internet (a privilege) most likely in their warm, comfortable, safe home (a privilege).

We are ALL privileged, some more than others, but for the love of god, your keyboard warrior mentality is sad.