124

How are you doing financially? (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 months ago by ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

105 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I read that half of Americans couldn’t cover an unexpected $1,000 expense. This sounds crazy to me. I understand that poverty exists, but the idea that an adult with a job doesn’t even have that amount saved up seems really strange.

What’s your relationship or philosophy with money? What do you credit for your financial success, or alternatively, what do you blame for your failures?

For the extra brave ones: how much savings do you have, and what are you planning to do with them?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I made a few bad moves in my 20s because I had no basis of understanding when it came to money (parents are bad with money too and never taught me anything useful), have spent my 30s desperately treading water trying to get ahead, but it seems impossible with rent going through the roof, food going crazy, plus now I have medical debt on top of my school debt... my really big mistake was wanting to help people by becoming a social worker.

What pisses me off the most is that if you're a plumber you get to walk in and demand whatever price you feel like, but if you're someone who helps society, society gets to cram it up your ass and tell you to smile about it. Same goes for anyone who works for society: teachers, cops, firefighters, EMTs, social workers, librarians, nurses, etc... I don't get why we don't all just join together and let society fucking die until they agree to pay us what we're really worth.

Edit: to clarify, I'm not saying plumbers aren't helping society. I'm saying when inflation goes up, plumber's prices go up to match... If you're being paid by tax money, you don't get to do that. Nothing against plumbers, it was just an example.

Everyone is getting fucked in our capitalist nightmare, but if you work for Walmart, WALMART investors are fucking you over... If you work for any of those jobs I listed above, SOCIETY is fucking you over (yes, I get that at the end of the day it's still those Walmart investors fucking us over because the same 1% own everything and stop society from paying us what we're worth by refusing to pay their fair share of taxes)

[-] qprimed@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 months ago

dont wanna pile on... but idk, man... next time you use a functional toilet, you might want to consider what you just said.

plumbers are likely in the top 5 of all time life savers on this planet. just sayin'.

respect you social work immensely, but everyone's contributions are undervalued in this world.

[-] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

C'mon man... My list includes 5 jobs that literally save lives... Your figurative life saving can get right outta town

[-] qprimed@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

ok,

Share of the population using safely managed sanitation facilities

884 million people in the world, approximately 1 in 8, do not have access to safe water
2.5 billion people across the globe lack access to adequate sanitation services
1.4 million children die every year, 1 child every 20 seconds, from diarrhea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation
443 million school days are lost each year to water-related diseases
47% of diarrhea incidents can be reduced by hand-washing with soap at critical times
87% say they washed their hands after using public lavatories
77% actually wash their hands after using a public restroom
46% say they wash their hands for 15 seconds or less
15-20 seconds equals the amount of time recommended for hand-washing with soap and water
200% the average increase in life expectancy at birth since the introduction of modern, indoor plumbing

above Current Statistics with additional source links

but, as you said, all of these figurative people can get right outta town.

plumbers through history have saved countless lives, whether you think so or not. I say they are in the top 5 all-time life saving professions.

edit: upvoted you cuz you responded :-)

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

Indoor plumbing indeed is one of those things people hardly pay any attention to untill it stops working. The fact that you can just take a dump, flush and it's gone is a luxury not even kings had few hundred years back. Cities used to have raised crosswalks so that you don't have to step into a river of shit when crossing the road (granted that was mosly horse shit)

[-] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

Okay... I guess maybe I wasn't thinking of the entire spectrum of sanitation/plumbing workers... Certainly clean water is a life saver

[-] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

You're right that all workers are undervalued in our capitalist society

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

What makes you think plumbers aren't helping society? Same goes for all trades...like damn.

[-] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"Society" doesn't pay plumbers... Like, you don't get your plumbing fixed and bill Medicaid you know? Individuals pay for their own plumbing, and plumbers get to set their own prices... The jobs I listed are most often paid by society as a whole, and society as a whole are screwing these professions over... Don't get me wrong, most workers are getting screwed, it's just different.

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Society does pay plumbers, the fuck are you talking about. Where do you think the money comes from? If someone needs to hire a plumber, then they pay the plumber directly instead of their taxes doing it. It sounds like you're salty that the government pays you vs making more being in the private sector.

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago

What pisses me off the most is that if you’re a plumber you get to walk in and demand whatever price you feel like

As a plumber I can assure you that this is not how it works. I charge 60€ / h which may seem high but that's not what I pocket from it.

[-] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

YOU charge... I don't get to charge for my services... I just have to take whatever society offers... In fact, with a lot of those jobs I listed, they are legally not allowed to stop working (strike) to get better wages BECAUSE it would fuck society so bad. I'm also in the US, so my apologies if it's not the same where you are

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

You’re being paid a wage for the work you do, which is effectively the same as charging for your services. I also don’t understand why you think I can just charge my customers whatever I want. There’s a certain price range that plumbers in my area operate within, and if I set my prices higher than that, nobody will hire me.

It’s not like society is forcing you to be a wage slave either - you’re free to start your own business, just like everyone else.

[-] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

If inflation causes your costs to go up, can you, and all the other plumbers in your area just go ahead and raise your prices to make up for it? Yes... People who are paid by tax money can't just raise their rates. Even if they go private, Medicaid (in US) tells them what they can charge.

Anyway, I didn't mean to disparage plumbers. I was using them as an example of an equally important part of society, but that gets to adjust their prices as needed instead of having to wait for a literal act of Congress to adjust prices and pay for inflation.

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

If inflation causes your costs to go up, can you, and all the other plumbers in your area just go ahead and raise your prices to make up for it?

Fair point. That indeed I can do.

this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024

124 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27210 readers

1414 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.