This is how I feel reading Oppenheimer's biography. He came from an affluent family and apparently never had to worry about paying the bills, being free to fully dedicate himself to the things that interested him. The guy was a genius, no doubt about that... I just feel that we would have a lot more geniuses out there if we didn't have to work so much in order to enjoy so little.
There are definitely people out there capable of major contributions to human culture and knowledge toiling in a sweat shop or picking fruit.
“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
- Stephen Jay Gould
Well Einstein had to work in a patent office.
I’m not jealous of rich people’s possessions or lifestyle. I’m worried about the power they wield over other people’s lives. Their power to affect the laws that get passed, their power to close down stores and factories and lay off all the workers, their power to kick people out of their homes.
The closer I get to my retirement the more I realize how much of my life has been wasted at my job. It's sad really.
I hear you there. Time is all we really have and it's an extremely limited quantity.
I'm envious of the rich because they'll never know the struggle of having to choose between gas in the car to get to work, or paying your bills so the heat stays on.
It's the security that I want. If I could quit my job tomorrow and all my bills would be convered and all my debts (and their related payments) suspended, and I was given enough to put food on the table.... Then I'd be a lot happier. I'd know that I'll never have to submit to some dickhead boss trying to push me around so I can be underpaid and go home late to my cold house because I don't make enough to keep it warm.
The future is stupid.
That was most of the past, too
It was really only like 30-40 years when things were good economically for the average person. Every couple hundred years we get little blips like that for certain geographic areas.
I went from homeless to 6 figures and security is exactly what drove me so hard. It's such a relief to just keep my bills and mortgage on autopay and never even think about it. I still feel like an imposter when I go to the grocery store and don't have to keep track of how much every item costs to ensure I have enough to cover it.
I'm not rich by most definitions but getting to a point of real stability makes life so much easier. Granted I still worry all the time that I'll be fired and I have backup plans upon backup plans in case shit hits the fan.
I'm not jealous of anyone, good on you. What I do have a problem with is when the rich refuse to pay their fair share of taxes. Not only do they don't want to pay a fair share, while using our society, they use that money they saved cheesing the system to subvert politicans and our system to pay even less and squeeze people even more.
All that said I also think billionaires shouldn't be a a thing. Past 1000 million dollars you should be taxed at 99%.
Not just that but I don't think massive amounts of wealth concentrated into a small number of hands is good for a democracy.
While I agree with your message on taxation, I don't think any billionaires actually earn a billion dollars that could be taxed like that.
Our media fawns over their wealth which is assets, their business value and the like, not actual income that could be taxed. I definitely agree with a wealth tax though, but I don't know if that operates in the same way as a progressive income tax works, as in "after x amount you owe y% and then z% after another total dollar amount."
Wealth tax. No one needs more money. You've won capitalism. Now you can compete in a high score of who gives back most to society, and pretend it's actually you that is doing the good deed.
Image Transcription:
X/Twitter post by user lauren🌙 @lanaskittens reading: I'm not jealous of rich people bc of the things they have, I'm jealous of rich people because they get to pursue their passions in life without having to work a gruelling 40+ hours a week job literally just to get by
[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]
Some well off people work way more than 40 hours per week to be wealthy. Not all of them are living the dream (so to speak) - they also can be stuck.
What the super rich people get is time. They have people to take care of all the crap the rest of us deal with - shopping, fixing the car, booking holidays, cooking, cleaning…
Yeah… I’d rather be wealthy than not.
They spawned in GodMode
I feel that
I don't have to work 40h a week to get by...
I work a lot more, but for my own leisure...
I live in France.
Antiwork
A community for those who want to end work, are curious about ending work, want to get the most out of a work-free life, want more information on anti-work ideas and want personal help with their own jobs/work-related struggles.
The new place for c/antiwork@lemmy.fmhy.ml
This server is no longer working, and we had to move.
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Date Created: June 21, 2023
Library copied from reddit:
The Anti-Work Library 📚
Essential Reads
Start here! These are probably the most talked-about essays on the topic.
- The Abolition of Work by Bob Black (1985) | listen
- On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (2013) | listen
- In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell (1932) | listen
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