Awile back I wrote about a guy who blogged about how he wasn't really rich even though he earned more than $250K/year. I was fasinated by the comments more than the article. The Wall Street Journal has put out another article discussing this guy, which is also interesting and is more geared to the psychology of feeling rich or poor.
Even though the article is pretty good I don't care for the ending:
"But frankly, that discussion is offensive, particularly in this economy, when for millions of people the choice is not travel or private school versus real estate, but utilities versus food, or rent versus car payments."
Why is it, that so many people think that if you have money you don't have other problems? Or that it's wrong for you to enjoy what you have earned as long as there is someone else in the world who has less than you do - for whatever reason? There will always be people who have more money than others in society. Are they less because of that? Should they mourn the good things in their life because someone else somewhere does not have those things? Should they not want more for themselves and their family? It's not like they are taking food away from someone else when they work and then spend what they've earned on their families. In fact this particular man employs 2 other people to help with his family life, so he is providing food to others and he can do that because he makes good money.
I guess what others want is instead of him employing these 2 people, he should instead send that money to Washington in the form of higher taxes and then after they waste 5 - 10% of it off the top and another % for administration, tax preparers etc, they can return it to the people he previously employeed in the form of unemployment checks, food stamps, etc. Which they can then spend hours standing in line for and filling out forms.
I finished reading the library book Mouse and Dragon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Sci/Fi - excellent. I love this Liaden universe series. I like space opera anyways and they are one of the best.
October 5th, 2010 at 09:42 pm 1286314957
Although my dh and I live modestly, we spend a great deal on travel, especially now that we're retired. We worked for more than 30 years, and planned and saved for this time of our lives. We want to see the world while we can. You can't argue that we are helping others in an indirect way when we travel. Hotels, airlines, restaurants, tour companies, etc. all have employees who benefit from our business. But I do not guilty because there are others who are struggling or have less.
We volunteer and donate generously to charities so it's not as if we are living completely hedonistic lives.
October 6th, 2010 at 02:56 am 1286333818
October 6th, 2010 at 03:49 am 1286336997
Exactly! I'm with Thriftorama. It is not cool to bitch about not being able to buy a Rolls when there are people struggling to buy a roll of paper toweling.