I mean, I do get it. Some people take on debt as a way to live beyond their means when they could still live a “comfortable” life without the glamour or “keeping up with the Jones”. The $80k+ gas guzzling truck bought on credit - that’s only used for driving to work and grocery trips - is a good example of this.
But a better way of saying this is “live within your means”, but it’s becoming increasingly impossible to do this and have a standard of living that’s just “decent shelter and healthy food” (or even, “enough food”) which should be a bare minimum
It’s a double edged sword in that for some people this is meaningless bullshit, in that they are struggling to pay for groceries, there is nowhere to lower their standards to.
On the other hand I have watched quite a bit of financial audit videos by caleb hammer, and have seen plenty of statistics that shows that simply put lots of people especially Americans are caught up in consumerism and live beyond their means for either status, or because that’s where they get their gratification from.
The solution is to accept that no matter what you buy you will be only happy for a fleeting moment, better to embrace minimalism and fuck consumerism, it’s also better for the planet, not just your wallet.
for some people this is meaningless bullshit, in that they are struggling to pay for groceries
Good point, and I think this runs to the heart of a lot of ragebait meme stuff like this. It wasn’t written for that audience, it was written for people driving an Audi TT on a VW Polo salary.
You spend too much money on electricity. Have you thought about just freezing to death?
When I was growing up I was told capitalism was great because we all get a high standard of living and had lots of inexpensive stuff to buy. Look at how poor Russians were during the Soviet era!
Now I’m being told that to sustain capitalism I need to live like a Soviet era Russian.
A soviet era russian also had access to free healthcare, free childcare, free higher education, cheap (sometimes free) housing, excellent (for the time) public transit, and a safety net for unemployment or old age. Oh and there was ample opportunities to build community ties so that if something did go horribly wrong and you needed that help. Capitalism in decline will give you none of that.
It didn’t last. Surely there’s something in the middle that can both lift up the potential floor for standard of living through social safety net and also be sustained long term.
It didn’t last because the will of bureaucracy was placed before the will of the people, it was a long decline of democratic rights of the working class started under Stalin and continued by all following leaders. It was not due to socialism per se, more due to the specifics of CPSU politics. China seems to have figured out a better way to do democratic dictatorship of proletariat and is successfully combining aspects of capitalism and socialism, to both make the country appealing to capitalist investors and also build up a socialist economy to bring the living standards up. It’s not perfect (and is definitely not “the end of history” by any means), but it is doing fine as an interim solution.
China’s ten-year presidential terms worked well for their people for a long time. That Xi has gone the dictator for life route is IMO a significant threat to their future direction.
Many countries also seem to be on a fine interim path to building up a combination capitalist/socialist economy and bringing up their median and minimum living standards. China is big and influential, but doesn’t have a lock on that.
Tbf you need to live like a Soviet era Russian to break free of the shackles of capitalism (as much as you can as a salaried person, anyway - we’ll never be completely free). If you want to sustain capitalism, buy as much as you can, and the capitalists are being sustained lol
I had 2 pieces of broccoli as a treat.
This is called “lifestyle creep” where you get a raise or promotion and instead of saving the extra money you get, you buy nicer stuff and your raise basically disappears.
If the trend continues this article will be about those big wigs with a bed, running water and porcelain commodes.
Why not just say
“Stop buying shit you don’t need”
The advertisers might get upset if it’s stated that plainly.
🎶Lowered Expectations🎶
This worked for me. I used to have no money but since I stopped eating and turned off the electricity and heating I now have millions… MILLIONS!
Having high standards means that you will have to be more reliant on the machine. When you can get along with little, thats when you are the least dependent on the machine. So yeah, high standard of living is a trap.
Like, if youre going to just sit there and frame everything as the worst possible interpretation, sure, everyone’s an asshole. Its just not as funny as you think.
Tips for billionaires to avoid the guillotine:
That’s very much in the spirit of “Stop being poor”.
Capitalism!..yay?
