Does Wealth Break Your Brain?
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2024
- More Money, More Problems
Rich people seem to be having a tough go of it lately. But how can people with so much wealth still manage to be so unhappy? It makes a lot more sense than you think, and we’ll explain in this Wisecrack Edition: Does Being Filthy Rich Break Your Brain?
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Written by Amanda Scherker
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Brian M Kim
Produced by Olivia Redden
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#Billionaires #Wisecrack
© 2022 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming
"Money can't buy happiness, but poverty can't buy anything". And, having experienced poverty, I would very much love to try out the "unhappiness" of the rich.
Why they eventually succumb to suicide and self hating behaviors. Most normies just want to go to work and have some money leftover for fun. Work does provide some meaning if you’re doing something you love. However in today’s society we are just cogs in the wheels for those “miserable “ rich people…..I could go on but bottom line is maybe you would sacrifice your morals and principles for a bit of money. Well done.
@@laurachristianson1688 I work between 70-80 hours a week to take care of me, my family, my friends when they fall down, and my community. My mother is on her last legs because she worked the same kind of hours to give me a chance to have a good life of working these kinds of hours. I have not had a real vacation (not 'a long weekend' but an actual vacation) in over 10 years. And I am doing 'well' compared to most people I know. I don't have to worry about 'succumbing to suicide', my organs are going to give out long before I have time to think about any of that.
As for sacrificing my morals? My morals have zero to do with how much money are in the bank. There is no part of my morals that is compromised by having an extra zero or two in there. What you choose to Do with that money (or lack of money) is a moral choice. A rich man could be giving all his money to build houses for the poor (some are, right now), and a poor man could rob someone at gunpoint (many are, right now). A rich man can choose to treat his employees well and a poor man can take out his frustration on his neighbors.
Money is not moral or amoral. That's a myth, meant to make poor people feel better about being poor so they don't break out madame guillotine again. (the modern version of 'yes, the Pharoes run your life and you will die of leprosy but its ok, because rich people like that don't get into Heaven, so just bend over and take it'). The 'blessed are the poor' is also the flip side of the capitalist myth that rich people are there 'because they are better, smarter, worked harder, and deserve it more' (the modern take of 'they are there by the grace of God'). Its BS. We are all richer then some, poorer then others, and that doesn't change our 'morality', just our 'capacity'.
As a manager at a luxury hotel I can personally attest to the fact that the super rich usually fall somewhere on the sociopathy spectrum. You simply cannot make hundreds millions of dollars without having a certain level of ruthlessness baked in your being.
No! You willfully missunderstand these poor people, they are working so hard on letting other people enrich them, we should fund them rehabilitation clinics as a society since they are working this hard. I mean have you seen how much work Elon Edgelord puts in his tweets?! Hes a beast (hopefully everyone understood the sarcasm, but here´s your info rich people working hard was sarcasm)
@@sockosophie3132😂
Yes because notch and gaben are ruthless.
@@thatundeadlegacy2985 isnt notch like a nazi? and gaben has basically a monopoly on gaming storefronts??????
wtf you smoking? just because your service is superior doesnt mean its a monopoly. @@jeremym5331
"Money is power."
"Power attracts the weak and corrupts the good."
Knowledge is more power imo.
If the world collapses I don’t want to have money I want to have knowledge to create shelter, food, know how to rebuild society, psychology, chemistry, physics, nutrition staying fit etc
@@dcbaars "If the World collapses. But until then is money paragon in this society.
I personally prefer and value knowledge way more than money but with knowledge alone I cannot buy anything I need when I need it.
nah power doesnt corrupt the good,power just reveal the real desire
@@danang5 Maybe.
@@dcbaars You mean the power that most scientists use to change the world to a new greener future and politicians bow to their immense knowledge? You have to live in a parallel universe where big companies can´t just buy laws. It must be beautiful there...
If I were wealthy, I'd just use most of my money to go traveling. When I'm done, I'd settle down and open up a cinema. That's basically my dream in life.
Same. I wanna see the world, have some small places around it to escape to when I want and open up a place that would be simultaneously a theater and a cinema, having events happening there, cooperating with schools allowing myself to do my part for the arts and maybe pursuing them myself on the side.
@@Casshio and in seeing the world you destroy it. It isn´t worth imo, your personal right to see something is way less valuable than the preservation of these cites.
If I were ever wealthy it would not last long because I’m not a fucking psychopath and would almost immediately find ways to use it to help those less privileged
Sounds awesome! I hope that you do do it.
Here's the thing... you don't have to be in the 1% to afford traveling anymore. Even the top 50% of earners travel luxuriously.
It is easier to fit a Tesla through the eye of a needle than it is to have a moral society with billionaires.
Unless we have 100,000x hyperinflation and equitable, efficient redistribution. Then everyone effectively becomes a billionaire :)
heheheheh I see you, nice one
Good one 😂
Pre exploded?
bruh he liked this comment, talk about using social media to live in your ideological bubbles.(and he will never see this comment because of the same reason)
Are rich kids more likely to have anxiety and depression or are they just more likely to be diagnosed?
Exactly, and when you are struggling to survive anxiety just becomes part of your normal day. You can’t even see it anymore.
I can’t afford the time off work to try to get diagnosed too many rings to jump through and I have to get money or I starve to death
They're most likely to be able to afford diagnosis.
Why would they experience higher rates if they have everything, not saying they don't, but they don't have to worry about what the rest of the 99% of the population have to deal with.
More likely the studies they cite were funded by the rich or their think tanks.
"You don't need that raise it will make you unhappy like me! God I'm so unhappy! Now I'm off to Hawaii. Have fun working OT this weekend."
I think it is weird we classify hoarding as a possible mental disorder while hoarding money is not only seen as good but encouraged.
Humans self-contradict or have double standards all the time. For example... alcohol is technically a poison, while marijuana is not. Which one is outlawed or frowned upon by most governments and families, and which one is highly encouraged? Well there you go.
Its almost like money is what defines your worth to humanity.
@@thatundeadlegacy2985 It does and should not but that's what we're told.
I don't believe the rich horde money. A lot of their wealth is assets. It is possible to be rich and broke at the same time if one lacks liquidity.
@@kerwinbrown4180 What the hell do you think assets are other than hoarding? It's definitely not out of the goodness of their heart.
And this stupid argument about broke rich people needs to die. They can liquidate their assets and have money again. They don't even need to do that though since they can get loans secured by their assets.
In media, we create villains who hoard vast amounts of wealth like Smaug or demon kings, but when billionaires do it at an incomprehensibly larger scale, we call them entrepreneurs
Yes we call these creatures human, for a reason.
I thought the "invisible hand" was "self-love" technique that involved sitting on your hand to make it go numb
I thought that was called "the stranger"
@@vengancepureblood it is called the stranger
@@alananimus9145 It's a joke
Are you using the hand you normally stroke it with? Or the other one?
@@findethanjames cool. Sorry but I have learned to never assume someone is joking.
I love the "invisible hand". It's where you ask your partner to pretend you're doing a great job, while they sort themselves out down below. They do the work, you get the credit.
Teamwork.
Ok, this is the winner, can't think of anything better, so please accept my virtual toast to your wit!🥂
this is the only non bannable answer that makes sense.
This
laugh out loud but like actually
The classic myth of meritocracy. The rich's favorite go to lie to give themselves false credit while shaming the slaves.
I want to be a methodology queen for a second and point out that the higher prevalence of depression and anxiety in rich kids is tied to their increased ability to see doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists, not any extra special presence of mental illness
Critical capital theory
@@AR-ym4zh yeah, i´m about to donate to fund their therapy.
Yeah I understand what you're saying. Not necessarily saying that rich children have more mental illness than poor and middle class children; just saying since they have more resources so they can be properly diagnosed. Seems like that message got lost on some.
That can be an important bias, but from a certain amount of income onwards, that bias will tend to disappear. Do you have any references regarding this point? It would be interesting to check it out
Methodologically, what does it say about a person that normally cares deeply about helping people through mental illness that when they hear billionaires have more depression and anxiety they rejoiced internally?
I think around $150k is about the amount a family of 4 needs in my city to be able to maximize happiness. They can own a house, go on vacation, and never really encounter any reasonable purchase that they can't fit into their budget.
I daydream a lot about what I'd do with some hyperagency, though. (Mostly I'd found a city that can only be accessed by rail and has no cars.)
Let me know when you found the city, I'll be your neighbor
So... You want the Netherlands minus cars? That sounds like urbanism, I'm all for it!
As someone living in one of those 'happy countries' in Northern Europe, I can confirm... well, basically all of this. I can't say how much money per year would make me happy, 'cuz I already AM happy, and part of the REASON I'm happy is that I don't have to continuously monitor my finances. I've got a decent job, make a decent wage, own my own apartment, and can basically buy whatever I really need. More importantly, I know that if I should *lose* that job, there are systems in place to help me find another, and to ensure that I don't go hungry or wind up on the street in the interim. Oh, and I also don't lose access to healthcare, because good GRIEF that whole idea sounds insanely dystopic, and I genuinely don't understand how any nation can call itself 'civilized' with a straight face while people's access to doctors and hospitals are tied to their employment...
I'm from a south American developing nation, and though obviously not as great as the scandinavian systems, we also have systems in place for when people lose their jobs, and there's free education and healthcare (there's also private options for both). Our problems though, are expensive cost of living (similar to central Europe, more expensive than southern Europe for sure) but similar or lower salaries than southern Europe on average.
Nonetheless, people are not denied treatment because they don't have insurance, that's insane.
Life here in america is hell and those who want to leave either cant because the cost or language barriers
@@smugwendigo5123yes to those two and or job
if you don't mind me asking, where do you live? i'm planning on moving out of america after college for financial reasons and i'm stuck between somewhere in europe (other than italy/poland) and new zealand.
American here. That sounds genuinely amazing. Those in power tout the “benefits” of privatized healthcare while never truly understanding the plight of those who can never truly obtain it. I have been in the middle class for a good time but haven’t visited a doctor or dentist for years because it is simply not within my budget.
I used to make 40k/yr and was... Minorly uncomfortable because of debt and the inability to survive alone. I honestly believe I'd be fully comfortable at 70k/yr.
Thats usually how it goes, once you have enough money to be content, earning more actually starts to reduce your perceived quality of life.
In a small rural city.
With this rate of inflation and decreasing wages, nowhere will you be able to live comfortably.
There is literally NO city in rhe US in which a person earning $15 minimum wage would rent a 1 bedroom apartment. There's states where the minimum wage is lower than that
@@timmy-wj2hc What are you talking about? Propety in the midwest has always been cheap compared to the coast.
In Germany i can easy survive with 1k/month....
@@shuheihisagi6689 No kidding! I just checked apartment prices for the biggest city in my corner of the state, and a nice single-bedroom apartment (and even a few decent 2-bedroom places) runs around $700/month. Timmy hasn't done his homework.
Wealth without humility can be a bad thing. I've noticed that some of those guys are usually missing emotional qualities in life.
And they think buying something new is going to fill the void. But in reality, it's a bad habit to get into.
Honestly, I think that these people have to justify how they got their wealth. There is a study, weirdly on Monopoly, where the more successful a player was in a rigged game, the more they attributed it to their strategy rather than luck. People like the Kardashians are wealthy in large part due to luck and fame but Kim K's get up and work comment shows that she is attributing her wealth due to hard work. To be fair, there was a degree of planning and work needed to get the wealth, but she discounts the role of luck and fame getting her there. I don't think wealth is necessarily evil but it can be an issue. There is a diminishing return where money can buy happiness, but up to a point where needs are met.
there's a direct correlation between lowered EQ and incredible wealth. basically the richer people get the worse they get at emotional intelligence.
buying shit to feel good effectively takes the value out of things. Once things become trivial, what's there to enjoy about them!
Wealth a bad thing.*
Fixed that for you.
To call it a bad habit is an understatement.
As someone who came from an extremely wealthy family, if money is all that matters to you it will destroy you, my father was an amazing guy had a decent company was able to fly him my mother and I on private jets, it was cool until he sold the company, he made 100s of millions left my mother, remarried, tried to become famous, completely disregarded us and became an alcoholic dude went from the funnest man I knew to a husk of his former self
The fact that he pursued fame at the stage of life he did fascinates me. Fame just for fame's sake, instead of it serving as a means to an end, just seems silly, and kinda horrifying, to me.
“It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but on the contrary their social existence determines their consciousness." - You know who.
Nice.
I only read math kind of stuff. I don't know.
Marx's "false consciousness" term of how the capitalist superstructure lies and misleads the working class, concealing their explotation.
Did Voldemort say this?
@@LuisSierra42 the name that scares every USA citizen, and is the reason they bombarded Laos and Vietnam.
You are easily one of my favourite people on the internet and whenever I see your face I smile. I often come away from these videos depressed over the state of the world, but lifted by the knowledge I'm not alone in the misery. Thanks for hanging in there all these years, for speaking truth to power, and for always helping us find the perfect words to describe the many layers of our suffering. :)
Adrian! Very kind of you and thanks for continuing to come back and support the channel and the work we're doing.
@@WisecrackEDU Thank you for validating my parasocial relationship with you. Until next time! ;)
I second Adrian, but I'm actually worried about you. The anti-depressants don't seem to be working any more. Are you getting help? 😳
Social pressure is a big one. I currently make enough to be happy if I lived in a vaccum but often feel pushed to strive for more by peers, mentors, etc. Not necessarily always a bad thing to be challenged but the apparent disparity of values can be uncomfortable.
Yeah. Some people freak out when they see others with far less money and far more fulfillment or overall happiness.
Most research made into what makes people happy suggests that the meaningful relationships with other people is the key factor. Ultra rich people have put themselves in a position that makes them unable to have social interactions and relationships with others free of suspicion that it's their wealth that makes people like them and approach them, so they will always be caught in a vicious cycle of yearning human contact but at the same time be suspicious of it never letting them be happy, their transactional way of viewing the world is the wrong way to go about if you want to be part of a community of peers
Yes, ultimate success and fortune is it's own trap that few are equipped to deal with in a healthy way for themselves and everyone else
Can we acknowledge the sheer hilarious irony that Michael wanted to play Mo money Mo Problems but only allowed two seconds for fear of getting Demonetized in a video criticizing great wealth.
It’s all a clown show where one clown throws a pie at another clown. And we are here cheering on the circus
Welcome to the world we all inhabit. This has been acknowleged, we all live in a capitalist hellscape.
We are here, cheering, not realizing the spectators are not us.
Somebody needs to learn more about critical thinking...smh I don't think the fear of demonetization for one video is comparable to the existence of billionaires, who btw exploit their works. Stop clowning. Go back to school
We live in a society
Growing up on Cape Cod in a working-class family, I can say definitively that -generally speaking- the more wealth people have, the more monstrous they are. And yet, I did not develop "class consciousness" until pretty recently, because I always believed that talent and hard work would be recognized and rewarded by the Universe and its karmic nature. Of course, all such notions have been shattered because the talented and hard-working are forever at the whim of capitalists and market forces. So if you have limited resources, in some way you have to become "connected" to work the system. I'll never be one to turn into a grifter or a crypto scammer, purely out of self-respect, but you can almost understand the motivations of those who go that way.
If you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate it if I could ask you a couple questions about rich people. I’m being sincere, I’m trying to understand. So If you’d gotten lucky and found a good-paying job right out of college, do you think you’d be looking at the poor with the *knowledge* that none of them are talented and hard-working? Also, is that truly what the people on Cape Cod believe?
@@seanmcdonald4686 not likely lol but I'll let the OP answer
Commenting to follow the thread
The low income threshold for the county I grew up in is just over $100k per year. Before the tech layoffs I was making about $90k and maintaining a good quality of life but was more or less unable to actually save money.
For me, the money question is tied into time as well. What I spend it doing, and how much of it I have to sacrifice for the amount of money that would "make me happy". All that said, I'd *love* 50-70k a year, but realistically even 30k a year would be life changing for me. Been abandoned by my family when I was younger, my government when I was older (am a vet), and been homeless or precariously housed for about a third to half of my adult life. Very rarely earned more than 20k in a year.
As a Mexican who lives in Mexico, I am fortunate to already know the answer to the amount that makes me happy, it is the equivalent of 40k usd at year, the cost of living compared to US is very different, but that amount provides you with an incredible life, what I am looking for now is time to enjoy it
Five years ago, I'd have said around $75k. Now, due to cost of living increases, it'd probably be closer to $100k
Totally agree with you. $100k now would be number to live decently comfortably
$100k is great unless you want to buy a house and a car.
14:48
“From each according to their ability, to each according to their need”
🔥
🙌🏾
😌
Straight up fire 🔥
top Marx for that comment!
No.
This is a topic I have thought about before on my own. I currently make about $58000 per year, and I find myself saving 20-30% of every paycheck because I don't really want anything and just put it to the side for a rainy day. I feel that if I made more than $75,000, I would probably save around 50% of my paycheck, and probably be far more charitable. I just don't want that much money in my life, and would honestly rather go into a partial retirement at 40-50 then have an extravagant life now.
True. At a certain level, I was happy with what I spent. When I eventually made more, I just saved the rest. I already felt I had enough and knew how I wanted to live.
Depending on where I was living, I think $75K-$100K a year would quite literally buy me happiness. But even at that amount, provided it's coming to me in the form of income from my labor, there would still need to be social safety nets in place before I'd ever truly feel financially secure. It's March, and I'm still suffering the effects of blows I took last year after missing out on about 3 months of work due to a car accident last April and having Covid last September.
I lost my job October 2021, it took me about four months to find a new one that offered me a similar wage. I was late on a few payments and had to rely on my credit card for a bit and I'm still inching my way out of debt. Now it's tax season I have to prepare to get fined for not having health insurance. I feel your pain, it's hard to bounce back in this society when you fall behind.
I wonder if Michael's going to address the question, "How would inheriting four hundred million dollars likely affect an American President's ability to relate to his/her constituents?"
On one hand you have silver spoon baby fdr versus wooden spoon Nixon.
Or Mr Trains Brandon visiting a foreign country, while silver spoon boy actually visits victims of a train derailment. Irony thicker than a chemical fire cloud. ☁️
that's a good question lol, I remember a comment that got negative replys that kind of spoke to me, they shared something of the sentiment that they get so frustrated with rich people that if they were rich they'd be compelled to do good. I kind of shared that sentiment though
I understood the pushback against it that it feeds into the great man myth that we should rely on the benevolence of a blessed rich dude.
I question whether the world's richest people are assholes or they are rich because they are assholes, that a capitalist system rewards cutthroat unempathetic behavior.
On a second note I think not being aware of people's problems is a human thing & not just a rich people thing, recognizing that gap & platforming the people that can voice the struggles of their community is a way I've heard of managing that human limit
Does he need to? We already know. We saw that episode, and it sucked.
I wrote my final essay on this for English last semester in college and I also used the running lights, cheating monopoly, and taking children’s candy studies, there was also a study where they did eye tracking on people looking at pictures and the rich people looked at objects instead of people 😶! I’m a lower little class parent and some of the other moms are the Uber rich and let me say that writing that essay putting my kid into kindergarten made it very hard to figure out how much I’m supposed to socially and emotionally invest in the other parents. 😅
When successful people say to poor people "get off your ass and work hard" what they are really saying is "I don't understand why you are having so much trouble, I really didn't do anything that special/what I do isn't "really" all that hard" - they don't understand is that their success isn't just a multiple of effort
I'd estimate that roughly 125k-180k would be the best for me. I'd be able to comfortably afford my needs, pursue my hobbies, support a partner, have a pet, be able to afford to go on vacations or to fun little events here and there...
As someone who has never made more than 30,000 a year, I think I would be happy with just 50-60 thousand a year. Enough to actually start saving and improve my material situation enough to make me comfortable, but not so much to fall victim to lifestyle creep
As someone who went from 30k to 60k it is not enough where I am 😐. I also live alone.
It’s highly dependent on 1 or two income household and how many (if any) kids.
For me, a $160,000 from both incomes with 2-3 kids will probably be good.
@@stupidnumber23 why so many kids? they're taking most of that income
Lifestyle Creep is very much overlooked by most. When it already creeped in, you look upwards... for more.
Getting 60K, do you really need 90K or so, or have adapted your lifestyle so much to 60K that you get to its limits already?
I personally don't think it's the wealth by itself that causes unhappiness, I think it's the never ending battle to preserve that wealth. As I see it, in order to be rich you must choose a way of life which forces you to be chronically competitive, combative, even manipulative and alienated from other people.
I think that only applies to the new rich
What you said is essentially what he said. When you have more, you want more, therefore do more and avoid interpersonal relationships
How much one needs to be happy depends so much on the social safety net that it's really hard to quantify. In the US it literally takes $millions to keep yourself safe from things like medical bankruptcy, being unable to give your kids the education they need, or being unable to get adequate care for children/elders. In places where those risks are minimized, the amount needed for happiness probably doesn't exceed 5 figures.
@somemorenews cited a study that 94k annual income is about the ceiling.
@@thenoiboi I am skeptical that's enough. I agree that's a more than adequate amount most of the time, but it is nowhere near enough to hedge against trouble. And trouble always happens. In a society that leaves so much of the responsibility to hedge against trouble in the hands of individuals, that $94k is a drop in the bucket. And people know that. Parents look at their kids and worry they won't be able to educate them; they worry they themselves will never retire; young couples hope and pray their pregnancies are trouble-free so they don't start out with both a crying baby and a six-figure bill. None of that is conducive to happiness.
I teach Christian Ethics, and I always put Amos and his critique of wealth inequality front and center. The students are always shocked when they learn that Amos 2:8 describes how rich people would take poor people's clothes as collateral if they couldn't pay their debts and then USE THOSE CLOTHES AS A PICNIC BLANKET.
Depressing how these kind of moral issues are so persistent in history.
Could you please elaborate? I go to Catholic school and my economics teacher is a firm believer. Would love to see what he says to this!
Don't forget how Jesus himself drove the vendors from the temple with a whip.
@@aejones233 The best book to put it all together is D. N. Premnath, *Eighth Century Prophets: A Social Analysis.* He writes about how there was a process of centralization of land ownership, which we can see in the archeological record, and various patterns show up in the texts of the period: Urbanization, leisure lifestyles, debt of peasants, economic exploitation, etc.
The verse I'm describing talks about people "lying on garments taken in pledge."
@@JChaos1120 Not because they were vendors, though. They can sell their goods elsewhere, but not in the temple.
@@nichtsicher422 Yet all who have the vendor mindset will always one day want to expand into the untapped temple markets
I believe the saying is: Money does not build character, it reveals it.
With the cost of living, housing prices in my area...I would say I could survive if I made....maybe 125K a year.
Living in the city is barely worth it these days..
I would definately use my money to exploit college girls who struggle to afford rent
"wealth means power: the power to subdue, to crush, to exploit, the power to enslave, to outrage, to degrade." ~ Emma Goldman
For me, it is related to fear. I need to have more money in case something happens. The problem is, there is never enough money to deal with any bad situation. So I will never have enough. The fact that everyone is on their own in this system means that everyone is fighting for their lives against each other instead of with each other. The worse off others are, the harder they will fight, the more I feel like I need to fight hard to get/horde more money. So much waisted effort and extra anxiety for a worse outcome.
My first fiancée left me for my best friend. When she explained why she had begun to sneak around with him, she specifically listed that I had "middle class dreams," just wanting be a teacher or the like, while my best friend was from a much wealthier family, though he was a college drop out living with his parents at the time.
Yeah, in hindsight it was probably for the best that I never had to deal with them again.
Sounds kind you dodged a bullet bud
Dodged a bullet, imagine if they were kids involved.
Also, probably wasn’t your *best* friend if he did that.
Good for you, my guy. You are free to pursue a meaningful relationship with someone who respects you and your wishes! Many either never realize they picked a very wrong partner, or it's too late by the time their eyes open...
@@stupidnumber23 He had been my closest friend from Junior High through most of College. As you would expect, I know better now.
@@vebdaklu Young love, man. She was my high school sweetheart, dated her for over 4 years. This was thankfully long ago, I've been married for 15 years to a far better woman. Even better, I'm still friends with every other girl I dated in between, I learned you could not work out as a couple and not have it lead to toxic memories and burned bridges.
What's difficult for me with the money question is that I was raised to view money not as something that you accrue specifically to spend for your day to day expenses (while that takes up the majority of it). Instead I was taught that you need large amounts of extra money to insulate you from disasters. Like man if the major income earner of the family gets hospitalized in a car accident or dies that leads to ... A lot. And so having a higher income, while at some point it'll outclass your day to day needs, helps cushion the blow of some life threatening events
Oooor we all help each other mitigate disasters as a socialized cushion so that we can all benefit from supporting each other.... or I guess just keep doing the free for all and keep the suffering going
@@nates9105 I disagree. Socialism can't work in the US. We are all looking for a come up...a way to make more money. Politicians are no exception. If you make them responsible for the type of money that would necessary to do what you are saying, you know they will just use that money to enrich themselves or their personal project. There isn't a single bill that exists that isn't tied to dozen other projects. Massive social projects are just slush funds in the US. It is eat or be eaten here. There has to be a cultural change fir that to work
Agreed. You always need money and you will have to stop working eventually. If you need $70k to live, you work for 40 years, and live for 40 more then you would either need to save 3 million for retirement during your working years or you own something that generates $70k at point you retire. Or just make $140k for 40 years straight and save half that. Thats a daunting task and then throw in fact that you may not get to work 40 years and you realize how crazy this question is. The only way to have enough is to stop being working class and instead be owner class where you have a passive income that is high enough to cover your needs and can endure diasters. (I simplified and didn't include taxes or factor in depreciation or inflation)
@@benjaminfletcher6632 then why dont we all become owners?
Mmm… except only the FINANCIAL side.
Your loved one is still dead, your body is still in pain in the hospital, your car is still in the ditch as you stand in the rain.
You can pay the doctor or the mortician, but not the Grim Reaper.
Money can’t buy you happiness or love, but no money won’t buy you anything.
You know if I had a dollar for every time someone posted a comment like this, I'd be Bill Gates.
I am not so sure about the cause vs. consequence in this. Being wealthier may cause one to be less empathetic, but also being less empathetic is rewarded by our systems making people with such traits more likely to be wealthy.
This is one of my favorite Wisecrack vids ever, Michael is on fire in this one
I’ve been trained by capitalism to judge my own value by the money I earn. So I feel fairly worthless and the sad thing is that winning a large sum of money wouldn’t resolve this issue. Only climbing the hierarchy through my own will and talent, decapitating every foe, and absorbing their power would allow me to feel worthy! 😅
Remember to drink their blood and eat their hearts, as to fill the void you have inside with the life force of your vanquished foes at least temporarily... until you need your next fix, of course
@@alphamorion4314 I was going more of a Highlander direction with my comment where my vanquished foes power would strike me like lightning after winning a duel. But I guess transubstantiation like the “good” Christians would be appropriate too. This is of course sarcasm for anyone not equipped to comprehend that’s why I alluded to the Highlander in order to ridicule late stage capitalism.
@@andrewailey1996 in the end there can be only one
Best answer! You win a gold star 🌟.
the amount of money i was making when i was the most comfortable & happy and with a very very active social life was in 2015-17, working at a local general store making about 20k a year after taxes, living in hawaii. i had 2 roomies and my main mode of transportation was hitchhiking.
comparatively, in 2019 i was a bartender in connecticut, making around 55k a year after taxes (which is the most money i have ever made in my entire life) and everything was nothing but awfulness, and i ended up becoming a crackhead lol. i've always struggled with substance abuse issues but this was next level - i had way too much money, living somewhere i hated, no actual community or social life (outside work).
so personally, as long as i'm living in a place i love and have community and genuine social connections, that's when i do the best, even with a small income. cause it's all too true that mo money mo problems (personally at least lol).
I'm making about $62k a year in the middle of Midwestern America, and I think I've reached the happy point. I'm usually able to buy most things I want, even if I have to save a month or two for big things. I'd like a bit more to be able to buy a house and put more towards saving and retirements, but that's largely just frosting at this point. (I also live alone without kids and few debts, health conditions, or other large burdens, though.)
I find the question about how much money you need to be happy an interesting one. I right now live alone and have no major medical issues, so money is not an issue for me at 60K a year. But obviously that can change as I get older, which kinda makes me want to push for more.
I do think right now at this point of my life, money issues rarely exist, and now my unhappiness is mostly driven by anxiety and loneliness.
Push for more and bank what you can for retirement - advice from an older person who only started making good money in the last 10 years while living in a high cost of living area my entire career.
I can’t even afford my studio apartment on 60K 😢 it’s crazy how different cost of living is in different cities
I'm really enjoying the shift in focus of philosophy this channel has been through in the last couple years.
I've always loved the content, but more and more I find myself relying on Wisecrack as a voice of wisdom and frame of reference. Sometimes it's easy to feel philosophically alienated and you guys are fighting the good fight, so thank you.
Big love from the UK
Troy x
"Fighting the good fight." Who are you, Three dog?
I've doubled my income in the past 5 years but still struggle with endless debt. Every time I feel in finally digging out of debt, new debt comes like medical debt and the car breaking down and needing thousands to be fixed. I think a $200k-$250k income would finally dig me out of debt to be able to take care of my two special needs children. But any position with that kind of income is hard to obtain and would lack the flexibility needed to take care of those children. It's such an uphill battle!
The concepts of hyper agency and transactional relationships also run deep in families. Rich people love controlling their kids.
So people who think numbers in account are more important than the lives of others might not be models of good mental health? Who knew?
And to answer the questions:
1) $80,000 a year would be what I need to feel content. My food and bills are dealt with, there's enough there to maybe move into a slightly better place, and I have enough to cover my gaming hobby and still save for an emergency.
2) The Invisible Hand: you acknowledg and fulfill my wants with the understanding that an unseen other will take care of you in turn. In theory it sounds great, but in practice it seems like I'm getting spoiled and you're just left high and dry.
Meanwhile I’ve got depression and anxiety and I’m not even wealthy. What gives?!
Love it. And NO, it is not moral to allow Billionairism in a democracy.
Honestly, I live with my sister, her son, and the five fur babies between us - if I had to estimate, we’re pretty solidly middle class, but I don’t know how much money it would take to make us “happier”.
I CAN classify what materials we’d need - heating, food, doctor and dental and vet visits… but after that, I think we’re basically happy being able to spend time doing things we enjoy, and honestly - cannot overstate how much better my mental health is from when I was in survival mode working a minimum wage retail job.
"You cannot deny others, what you demand for yourself."
I'm a young guy in his twenties, might be a bit naive here but I think I'd honestly be happy at 60-70k per year. Enough to afford the things I need to live, some small living space, and a little extra for when I wanna buy something shiny
Money is like air: not having enough is definitely a problem, but once you have the basic amount you need, there's no benefit to having more.
Few people see it this way, but the world would be a better place if more did.
I wrote this tidbit a while ago that this essay reminded me of:
Religion is to morality what money is to goods; and in both cases, the former is often mistaken for the latter.
I went to a Louis CK stand up last year, and one of the support act, Adrienne Lapalucci told the funniest line:
"I want to be rich, but not too rich. Not rich enough to be ok to f*ck kids"
So I think that this is a yes
As a man living near NYC I'd probably be happy with roughly 150k.
Enough for basic needs, good life, and to take care of my mother
I like that Michael is angry now, it's relatable and weirdly refreshing.
It’s all about cost of living. 100k in a place where it’s very cheap to leave makes you feel rich, but 100k in Manhattan can feel like minimum wage innit? My grandpa used to say, it’s not what you spend it’s what you earn: and he raised 8 kids as an insurance salesman
I went from 30k to 70k once I finished college. It’s been a huge help. Honestly since I live in a major city with high cost of living I would say 150k is good for me.
I live in an expensive city and make a little more than that,and can confirm that's about what it takes to make it work. Maybe a bit less here, but if you want to buy a place you need about that annually.
Congrats Fr! What did you major in?
the number always goes up though. so if everyone got paid more you get inflation then you really need 250k to live there.
I am earning right at 70k/year and my wife earns about the same. I definitely feel like we are comfortable. We have a toddler and a house in the western, non-coastal US. I think we are right in the sweet spot to where we are happy with our financial situation. Of course, there is still the urge to earn more, but it is not because of a need to do so
Money can't buy happiness, but it can remove sources of unhappiness. Once you no longer need to fear bills, random health issues, or the streets... You can pursue your happiness without those huge impediments.
…I owe you a beer now. Thanks for the link, and for all the good content before and since! Cheers!
"If money can't buy happiness, I guess I'll have to rent it." - Weird Al
But actually though if more money won't make me happier I dare anyone to give me a bunch of money so I can find out
This is the life! Nice.
This video is awesome. I particularly thank you for introducing me to the concept of hyperagency.
I feel like with the way things are going these days, I would need 100-120k salary to feel satisfied and unconcerned about my earnings. Especially today, housing at a minimum is ridiculously expensive, even in places as rural as North Carolina, and I’m not talking in the major cities either. At a 50k salary you’re gonna be cutting close on an apartment literally anywhere if not in the red.
And if we’re talking starting a family? The collective income between me and my partner would have to be 150-200k. It feels impossibly expensive to get started these days
I appreciate the 2 seconds, it really puts things in perspective
The thing about rich ppl and driving is so true. A Mercedes was speeding out of a parking garage and almost hit me, and after they almost hit me they didn’t stop and sped down the street.
I once knew a guy who lived in Gl*ndale, CA, and he hung out with the rich often because he was attending the film academy to become a director in LA. He hung out with ppl on yachts at times.
One day when I visited him, he told me he hung out with someone SUPER wealthy, and unfortunately, they both did c○○○k in the car while the rich dude was driving. The rich a-hole was also pulling super high illegal speeds in his car (100 mph on city streets???). Guess it didn't occur to my acquaintance that he could a) get hurt b) get in trouble for being with the dude c) cause others to get hurt and be in cahoots with the dude. He just bragged about the occurrence.
I didn't like his kind, so I stopped visiting him after that.
The invisible hand is when you have your partner wear a blindfold, then you have them guess where you're going to touch next, however, there is a twist, you have a silicone hand on a stick that you can use to trick them. If they get it right, they get a buzz. If they get it wrong, they get a spank. It's weird, playful, and kinky. Have fun.
I used to make 20k a year, my rent was only 600 and I was a 5 minute walk from my work doing 30 hours a week at a job I liked. It hurts me so much that I can't do that where I live now.
No, a moral world cannot acommodate billionaires. Pure and simple.
For me, the sole income earner in a family of four, and living in the NYC metro area, $90K was enough, but I kept a close eye on every transaction. $120 put me into being able buy a small home. North of that is now allowing me to seriously save for the kids' schooling and indulge in some luxuries
I'm a struggling artist so £50K a year would be more money than I'd know what to do with. I'm so used to living cheaply, plus no kids and can't drive and have really nice friends to hang out with. I would just want more money so I could travel more. Any more than that and I'd just want to give it to my friends.
I wonder what studies would show if they compared people who were poor/middle class who then became very rich vs people born rich.
I make around 52k a year and come out just about even with minor sacrifices here and there to make sure the basics are covered. I’d seriously be happy to make 60k cause I could maintain the lifestyle that makes me happy and be able to actually save some money. I do fine, but I have almost no room for something to go wrong and that’s still stressful.
I'm watching this whole thing like an alien observing some strange creatures. It's not like I didn't know these things, but I nevertheless feel completely detached from them. I don't want any more money than what can keep me comfortable and safe, and find happiness and meaning in the ways that I choose to spend my time, rather than in how much money or stuff I can get with that time. I don't know why I'm like this, I don't think I've "ascended beyond mortal desires" or something. I guess I just don't use social media all that much, curate my feeds with content that makes me happy and keeps me learning, and never really put a lot of stock in what society thinks.
I'm not comfortable sharing my salary... But literally my middle class salary is enough to make me happy. (In fact the last 2 raises I got felt almost excessive)
Then again, it helps I live in a very decent apartment with cheaper rent than most other places, and live in Canada, so health emergencies don't bankrupt me.
So yeah, if the rest of the world outside wasn't such a terrifying dumpster fire (and I wasn't still carrying the grief of losing dad last year), I would be extremely happy. As it is I'm "content". :)
You... you... wisecrack! Thanks for a brilliant video. Made me to subscribe.
Honestly, solo I think I'd only need about 50-70k a year to feel safe, have no debt and be able to face a big move or safe for a house. However, if I included also having monry to cover for my mom who raised me alone and took a hit in her retirement money for it, I'd say it's closer to 100k a year being ideal (disabilities being an expected thing to have to accommodate and also knowing the tax rate of my country for almost everything). But that's all at the higher end of comfortable. Currently I'd probably do okay with 30k a year, but there wouldn't be a lot of saving up, only covering everything that gets me out if survival mode.
The Invisible Hand is where your partner wears an industry grade magnet on their hand, while you strap a similarly charged magnet on your nether regions. That way, they can invisibly stimulate your downstairs. Be careful not to wear opposite charged magnets or to have any electronics nearby.
whoa
I don't think it works like that. If you want to do something similar, you might want something remote controlled. I'm sure there are plenty to choose from.
I think I'd be comfortable at around 60k. That would be able go afford my lifestyle, I'd have enough to pay my debt back over time, and I'd be able to finally keep my house up. They hardest part for me is I have TWO masters degrees (MBA and MSEd) and work full time.... I'm almost 20k below what would be comfy.
I made $18,000 trading with Jennifer Allen I'll recommend her for you start making decent money
She's always available on watsap
☦️
𝟏𝟕𝟓𝟒𝟐𝟏𝟔𝟒𝟔𝟔𝟎
@@jenniferlopez2841 Yes of course she will help you also
I invested $7,000 and she made profits of $53,000 for me just in 7days.
One million a year is not ridiculous. It would alleviate my anxiety by affording me more then enough to live, splurge **and save money** for a rainy day.
When I was a kid, I remember people wanting to become famous musicians, in a sense "I want to be a musician, and get rich and famous from that"
More recently I've noticed a similar yet different tune, people saying "I want to be a famous musician" but now in a sense of "I want to be rich and famous, and music is my way there"
No longer wanting to be able to live and influence other by the quality and fun of their music, but it's more selfish, a want or need to be on top, the rest is just the means to get to that point.
Currently spiralling about how my partner and I would need to both earn atleast £70k annually each to be able to afford a home and not have to pay a mortgage for more than 10 years. The idea of money leaving my account without fail regardless of my situation for 20-30 years is impossible for me to live with. I’ve seen too much sudden death for me to think about life that long term.
Without the impending doom of home ownership, I would say £50k is a solid amount for where we want to live.
And yes, definitely child-free.
A moral world cannot accommodate billionaires!!!!!!
Considering that there was a study saying you need to earn $22/hr to live comfortably in my city, it comes out to about $45,000 at about 40 hours a week. So I would add probably $5-10,000 to that
I live in new york city! (Not by choice I was born here) I think I would be really comfortable at 10-30k a month, thats enough to help my retired dad, go on vacations, eat food from the farmers market, save to open up a little shop, and pay my bills seamlessly without worrying about any sudden emergencies costs while also being able to replace things whenever I need no stress. It would also be enough to not worry about the constant rise of of food and rent, and even give me the option to be comfortable if I moved! Working towards this goal, I want nothing more than to never worry about every purchase and have enough money left over each month to have the option to live with alot of choices.
Chasing great wealth, desiring to hold on to it for as long as possible in order to remain safer and better than others is what causes the unhappiness. It is the respect and admiration for one another's vulnerabilities that brings happiness, like a massage train!
In the words of Marlo "money doesn't have owners, it just got spenders"
I've been thinking about this as I am clawing my way through a CIS undergrad. What does money mean to me coming from a lower class background? How much do I need to live comfortably and be able to provide? How much is too much where my job pulls me away from my life? I would say between $60-$85K depending on the town you live in.
Can a moral world accommodate billionaires?
Can a moral Middle-Earth accommodate Smaug?
You’re asking the real questions here 🙌
If only we had such a simple solution
@@treewizard2502 even if we got rid of money, the problem still lies with people who have advantages with excess resources over others. Some people live in areas with better water and climates than others, etc. To combat this, we'd need Star Trek level tech to make water and food generating machines for all
There such thing as a moral world. I say no to this
@@floragraves5167 or we could live within a system that combats the hoarding of resources
I think the ammount of money i'd need varies with the thought: is this the money everyone is getting? Because I would like to help a lot of people if not, so it would have to be much more. But if only for my needs about 70-80k dollars would be enough to do most everything i want, including having a house with a big garden and travelling a lot.
As someone who's income last year was about $14,000 $30,000 would blow my mind. Even $20,000 would be awesome
I'm from Denmark so my financial situation is probably way better than a lot of people here, for context I have a roommate and pay around 425$ for rent of an apartment that comfortably fits both of us. Right now I need to save up a lot of money, but ignoring that (as it's very much an edge-case), I'd probably need around 10000$ per year to live decently (still need to consider stuff like the price of groceries, but not by too much). To live without any anxiety around money (so enough to be able to pay for stuff like food without really any worry, and still have a decent savings), I'd probably bump that up to 15000$
That's about € 1k a month... I know you guys have great welfare but as an Italian I don't understand how that little would make you financially secure and able to raise a family, spend on activities, buy a house...unless you're an incredibly frugal person or your welfare is even better than I'd realised.
Live Simple life 😉 be safe
Ok are we talking about USD or Crowns? Because if that’s USD, Then I get paid 5x more than you (technically) and I still can’t save money for a mortgage.
@@li_celly how old are you ❓
I think the amount of money I'd need in a year to be happy is about $60,000 to $70,000 (after tax). That's enough to pay for living expenses, food, and maybe a decent vacation every year. And after all expenses, I think up to 25% of that would be unspent, so I'd probably invest the remainder to guarantee a decent quality of life when I no longer earn an income.
I'd go higher. I'm in a high cost of living area and I like my luxuries. I'd call it $125k after tax. Oh, I'm also a family of 4 and I'm listing a combined income to cover everyone.
I agree, I think 90k after tax. But I live in DC, so it's expensive here. I think the key word is after tax, because you think you are mkin money till you see how much the government takes.
"Some More News" channel just did a great episode on this exact subject!
It all depends on how much your living expenses are. Here in Scotland (UK), to me £35,000 would be enough for me to live a great life but in London for example, that probably just covers housing costs.