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Comment by ericmay | Hacker News Reader

> It did nothing to change my opinion of our system where labor earns a pittance and all real wealth comes from the lottery of birthright, corruption, picking the right stock, or getting lucky in entrepreneurship.

What is real wealth in this scenario? I had no birthright, involvement in government corruption, nor did I pick the right stock or start a company. Just boring old S&P 500 and not blowing money on really dumb stuff or making mistakes. Which is harder than it looks, but if your perception is real wealth = multi-digit millions then yes sure you have to get lucky. What is surprising or interesting about that? Rare thing is rare, else it wouldn’t be of value.

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What's interesting is that 50 years ago, we had a system where if you worked hard for 30 years, your career would make you wealthy. Now, that is impossible, because structural inequality (stock buybacks etc) give all of the profits to the CEO, board, and shareholders rather than to the employees. You have to play the stock lottery and get lucky if you want to afford a house in an HCOL area.

In short, careers used to be inherently profitable, but now we have a system where only gambling is truly profitable.

It’s not impossible - I did it. Who cares about affording a house in a place where houses are expensive? Relocate. It’s not up to society to babysit your life. I want a giant house in San Francisco or in Monterrey. I’m not entitled to that and neither is anyone else.

Your premise about the stock lottery doesn’t make sense. First just buy index funds. Second the CEO and board and shareholders (that’s you) rise or sink with the fortunes of the company. If the company goes bankrupt you lose your money but so do those groups.

> If the company goes bankrupt you lose your money but so do those groups.

No, generally speaking, the CEO gets a golden parachute. E.g. Adam Neumann got 1.7 billion severance for being a douchebag cult leader and bankrupting wework.

I'm not complaining about my situation-- I'm doing really well. Making $207k / yr and living at the beach in LA. I'm just sad that we've switched from a system where normal workers can make actual money to a system where hyperfinancialization means a leisure class at the top, selected by lottery, has all of the real wealth and power.

Donate money to workers and be the change you want to see in the world. Leave extra large tips? Change starts with you. Stop complaining and being a baby and saying nobody can get rich while you live in what many consider to be a literal paradise with an income that correspondingly allows you quite a bit of freedom and high quality life. If you don’t want to do that move to Nebraska and buy a house and prove to yourself you can buy a house. You’re not entitled to buy an “affordable” house in the place almost everyone in the world wants to live.

The example you gave isn’t a good one. And second the CEO is often paid in shares to avoid taxes on income. If the shares are worthless, well you can do the math.

Like I said, I'm privileged and happy. It's my teacher friends, service industry friends, and factory workers I feel bad for. I just wish the USA was still a country where workers were well compensated, like they were from 1950 through about 1990.

Well you can voluntarily pay them more. Nothing stopping you. Buy American made only products or buy products only from American companies and pay more like I do. Put your money where your beliefs are. Where do your pots and pans come from? Lodge? Smithy? Duparquet? I do. You won’t catch me dead buying shit from non-American companies unless there are no realistic replacements. I’m not kidding, by the change you want to see in the world.

The 1950s - 1990s (not sure the time period is exactly correct) primarily corresponds with the post-war boom in which the US has 25% or so of global production and GDP. Those days aren’t coming back. We can work on tax policy of course, but there are too many people and too much competition for resources. In addition to tax policy reform we need governments to get back to basics, stop hiring dotards, and reduce the NGO and non-profit complex siphoning money away with crappy results. We can do better. Let’s do it. But let’s do it across the board and both put our money where our mouth is.

https://youtu.be/Wxdo4UpHBn4?is=DfljtOwP5kLP1eCm shows some evidence of the structural changes I'm talking about.

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