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this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
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What the heck are you talking about?
This guy taking some pretty long showers
He's saying living in a poor area because col is cheaper has a risk if you lose your job that you might have to take a crappy one.
I see arguments like this for why everyone has to go live in cities where a single family home is a million bucks.
It's categorically wrong. Of course if you go to live somewhere with a cheaper cost of living, there's going to be a cheaper cost of living. The data does not bear out the idea that a high cost of living also necessarily means a commensurate wage.
Cost of living is not magical. It is created by the opportunities available. If people can pay more for the house or rent, the market will adjust to it. The regulating factor is simply the opportunities available. All other factors are peripheral.
If you can export money by working remotely, you're floating on a rare exception to the rule. If everyone could do the same, the cost of living would adjust to compensate. You are essentially taking the same risk as an ancient merchant on a ship. When the circumstances change, you can easily find yourself stuck in a place without any opportunities.
The fallacy is looking at cost of living as some kind of magical random generated number. It is not. It is a direct measure of the opportunities available to the average person. It doesn't matter where you live, how poor or how rich the area seems, the average person is encountering the exact same pressure and stress about simply staying afloat. The grass is not greener on either side of the fence. The only difference is the availability of opportunities for the average person in an area.
Thank you for the TLDR