Cracked.com: 5 Ways The Middle Class is Taught to Despise the Poor

[Orrex]

26. I see your point about the article's first example...

To an extent I agree with you, that time lost can't be bought off with money. I lost my job in the run-up to the financial crash, and we struggled until we ultimately lost our house (and had our only car repo'ed once). Terrible, stressful time of constant uncertainty.

However, my older son had just turned 4 and my younger son was 1, and I got to spend a great deal of time with them that I'd have missed if I'd been punching a clock. These are memories that I wouldn't trade for anything, even if it means that our retirement fund is negligible and my credit score is subzero.


I took the article's first point to be more about buying off the causes of unhappiness rather than buying happiness per se. For instance, money can reduce the constant anxiety about losing your house because of a high gas bill or losing your job because your car needs new brakes.

Due to an unexpected and once-in-a-lifetime windfall, we now own a modest home and two average vehicles free and clear. I simply can't convey how profound a difference this has made in my life. Before 2008, I went to work every day thinking "If I lose my job I will lose my house and my car," and it didn't help that my boss was an asshole who used to tell us every week that the company wanted to get rid of our department. Now that I'm not bound to a mortgage or car loan, though, that constant fear has vanished.


Every so often DU has a debate about whether $250K per year is "rich," and we get to see how this "hate the poor" mentality rears its ugly head even here on a generally progressive forum.