Cooper on SUVs

[John Kawakami]

>Jordan Hayes wrote:
>
>>I think that's true.  But I don't think it's the perceptions that
>>are screwed up, it's just that people who are at the $100k/year
>>level typically are trying to live a $150k/year lifestyle, so they
>>have a crushing mortgage and have given themselves goals that are
>>slightly out of their reach and so they don't feel "wealthy" ...
>>and they aren't!  Yes, they have a lifestyle that's unattainable
>>on $30k (at least for long :-), but no: they are not wealthy.
>
>I was in a laundromat in Bedford-Stuyvesant - one of the poorer 
neighborhoods of Brooklyn, even though the New York Times says it's 
up & coming, gentrification-wise - yesterday morning. The Today show 
was on the TV, and there was a segment featuring eligible Silicon 
Valley millionaire bachelors. The manager of the laundromat, a woman 
with a Caribbean accent, said to the crowd, "I'd never want to marry 
a millionaire." One of the customers - male - asked her, "Why not?" 
She said, "They have more problems than poor people. The more money 
you have, the more problems you have." The guy said, "Yeah, when I 
was unemployed, I never had any bills. Then I got a job, and now it's 
nothing but bills. Credit cards, those are the worst. They just suck 
you in with credit cards." I know it's dangerous to generalize about 
class consciousness in America from two data points, but it's mighty 
tempting.
>
>Later in the conversation, the laundromat manager said Bill Gates 
wasn't a bad guy because he gives away money - unlike Donald Trump, 
who just takes & takes.
>
>Doug

Well, it hurts less when you rationalize it like that.

It's not true at all.  Poverty sucks.  It is not good.  Money can 
suck too, because, like it or not, money is like a tentacle that 
reaches out and entagles you into various financial affairs.  These 
things take time and effort, and are a hassle.  Poverty has its own 
hassles, like waiting for the bus, lining up for payday, lousy hours, 
etc, but the fact that they're out of your control  might make them 
seem more acceptable.

And, if you have very little hope of making it out of your situation, 
you have to tell yourself things to make life easier.

(The rich do it all the time.  It's called racism. :)

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