There are plenty of rich kids busting their ass to become even more rich. That's not really what the article is about, though - I can tell you, 80% of the tenants in my shop's old location were college or recent grad, their parents were paying $2500 and up for an apartment in the east village, these kids were working part-time, freelance, or non-paying jobs in hopes of "making it" and were getting smashed every night and falling into their apartments.
There's a lifestyle issue at play here that has nothing to do with the parents' money and how they spend it and everything to do with their tolerance of bad behavior and lack of enforceable standards - eg, "I will help you with rent but I need to see you making progress/money within x amount of time."
Another issue is that such rearing does not teach kids the contingencies that exist in the "real world." For example, in the "real world" you do not always (a) get what you want, (b) have favorable outcomes, (c) have someone come to your rescue, (d) have people cater to your whims, etc.
someone please tell this to the dumb bitches whose requests I refuse every week
There are a lot of valid points being made above. Life is just not that simple and everybody makes something different out of the situation they're brought up in.
I totally agree with self-entitlement being a horrible look. Same with slumming it and just making a lifestyle out of throwing around with your parents money, be that money hard earned or just inherited by your parents from even richer grandparents.
To Big Stacks: Dependency comes in different colors. Being dependent on working a slavish minimum wage 9-5 at a job you don't like and that doesn't stimulate you but holds back your creativity and enjoyment of life is nothing to glorify.
Learning to become a decent human being and being happy with what you have while cultivating a healthy longing to improve your own situation and that of the people around you should be the ideal. A lot of those slackers put money into the pockets of those who are less fortunate simply by spending it and in my opinion, that is being put to better use than if it's being invested the conservative way into the stock market or into more houses or whatnot. There are people who have money. The more adventurous shit they do with that money, the better for everyone of us.
Would there be no Williamsburg hipsters or trustafarians or whatever you want to call them, a lot of the stores, clubs etc. there wouldn't exist and we'd be stuck with all those formerly cool, nowadays disgusting places in Manhattan...
I think it's less a problem of parents supporting their kids slacker lifestyle and more a problem of parents supporting a slacker lifestyle in the most expensive place there is to do so.
Haha -- that's true.
I am going to strive to make sure my children's life is better than my own, that they can spend as much time "figuring shit out" while daddy pays for their apartment ... in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That way, I can easily pay their $300 monthly rent while they find their footing in life well into their fourth decade on the planet.
I freely admit to being a hater of all things trustafari. I wish I could quibble about the frequency of my trust fund payments, while drowning my sorrows in pot brownies and single malts on a road trip to Cape Cod in my Range Rover.
Would there be no Williamsburg hipsters or trustafarians or whatever you want to call them, a lot of the stores, clubs etc. there wouldn't exist and we'd be stuck with all those formerly cool, nowadays disgusting places in Manhattan...
Those kids are the third or fourth wave after the initial Cool shit was established 15 years ago.
Would there be no Williamsburg hipsters or trustafarians or whatever you want to call them, a lot of the stores, clubs etc. there wouldn't exist and we'd be stuck with all those formerly cool, nowadays disgusting places in Manhattan...
Those kids are the third or fourth wave after the initial Cool shit was established 15 years ago.
So what? I've also been here 14 to 10 years ago and I think that the Wburg club situation has only improved since.
as big a douchebag as Vincent Gallo has said that he worked 2 days of 12 hour shifts washing dishes so he could make rent in early 80s east village -- and would spend the other 5 days gallavanting around town as a no job artsy poseur.
i think that's pretty hilarious because no way kids today would ever dream of washing dishes in nyc. ok, no more shooting fish in a barrel.
Would there be no Williamsburg hipsters or trustafarians or whatever you want to call them, a lot of the stores, clubs etc. there wouldn't exist and we'd be stuck with all those formerly cool, nowadays disgusting places in Manhattan...
Those kids are the third or fourth wave after the initial Cool shit was established 15 years ago.
come on these kids are picking at the bones of something that barely exists as a construct let alone a reality anymore. if you live here you know it's f*cking awesome but it is a business town, no 2 ways about it. as for this article it's pretty staggering, just the fact that this dynamic is so common that it has impacted the economy of the city and the real estate market in such a huge way is shocking. God bless the child that's got his own indeed.
though i grew up comfortably mom has been a widow since i was 14. i mostly talk shit about these kids because i would love to feel the freedom known by these kids to be daddys little girl, just buzz about through life and play dress up and pretend to work and do my art and music shit all day. but in reality it's so much more liberating and satisfying to the soul to make your own money and do your thing- instead of asking for rent $ from mom dukes you can take her to your office and treat her to lunch and a pedicure. i do still ask my mom to store a lot of my excess records in philly though.
i have one friend who's stepdad is a rock star who will go un-named but suffice it to say that he has become a very hard working and grammy winning producer and did very well for himself only being supported by his trust fund when he was in college, never after. very talented motivated dude. another friend who's dad is a shiek and could buy all of williamsburg, she has never worked a day in her life and flies between her ny apartment and her house in the bahamas and her life is shopping and parties and man problems occasional stints doing photography here and there and going to a few charities. she is rather bankrupt as a person even if she has access to a lot of dough she also has to get approval/permission any time she wants to do anything. it is crippling to her but not every rich kid chooses that path and some are really productive even through subsidies.
it seems like a lot of these young people are just flaneurs about town, but in certain cases they are building valuable professional networks that are incredibly useful later in life.
This is true. The world needs more douchebags.
Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
To Big Stacks: Dependency comes in different colors. Being dependent on working a slavish minimum wage 9-5 at a job you don't like and that doesn't stimulate you but holds back your creativity and enjoyment of life is nothing to glorify.
Hey Frank,
Ironically enough, I grew up in a middle-class background. Still, my parents tied contingencies to the things I did (or did not) receive. For example, my parents paid my college tuition as long as my grade point average was 'B' or above. When it dipped below the standard, they cut off the funds! This is how you teach people real-world contingencies, that there are consequences for f*cking up. Being unable to go to school and having to bust my back loading trucks (i.e., I had to get a 2nd job because I was not attending school) taught me how valuable a college education is. Seeing old dudes, who I would become if I didn't get my shit together, hurting their backs on the dock taught me to buckle down. Needless to say, when my folks gave me a final shot at college, I earned 4.0 GPAs from then on until graduation (3 years)! Another motivating condition was that my parents WOULD NOT pay for me to attend graduate school. Instead, I had to earn my way there via fellowships and/or assistantships awarded for my undergraduate academic performance (which I did).
it seems like a lot of these young people are just flaneurs about town, but in certain cases they are building valuable professional networks that are incredibly useful later in life.
This is true. The world needs more douchebags.
Seriously....what self respecting person would ALLOW their parents to support them into their 20's?
Growing up is about independence, not codependence.
But I guess the world needs more fodder for the likes of "My Super Sweet 16".
To Big Stacks: Dependency comes in different colors. Being dependent on working a slavish minimum wage 9-5 at a job you don't like and that doesn't stimulate you but holds back your creativity and enjoyment of life is nothing to glorify.
Hey Frank,
Ironically enough, I grew up in a middle-class background. Still, my parents tied contingencies to the things I did (or did not) receive. For example, my parents paid my college tuition as long as my grade point average was 'B' or above. When it dipped below the standard, they cut off the funds! This is how you teach people real-world contingencies, that there are consequences for f*cking up. Being unable to go to school and having to bust my back loading trucks (i.e., I had to get a 2nd job because I was not attending school) taught me how valuable a college education is. Seeing old dudes, who I would become if I didn't get my shit together, hurting their backs on the dock taught me to buckle down. Needless to say, when my folks gave me a final shot at college, I earned 4.0 GPAs from then on until graduation (3 years)! Another motivating condition was that my parents WOULD NOT pay for me to attend graduate school. Instead, I had to earn my way there via fellowships and/or assistantships awarded for my undergraduate academic performance (which I did).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Stacks...if these folks are giving their kids $250K for a condo they are way beyond "Middle Class".
I grew up very much like you and if my folks even OFFERED me money I would turn it down.....for a variety of reasons.
Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
To Big Stacks: Dependency comes in different colors. Being dependent on working a slavish minimum wage 9-5 at a job you don't like and that doesn't stimulate you but holds back your creativity and enjoyment of life is nothing to glorify.
Hey Frank,
Ironically enough, I grew up in a middle-class background. Still, my parents tied contingencies to the things I did (or did not) receive. For example, my parents paid my college tuition as long as my grade point average was 'B' or above. When it dipped below the standard, they cut off the funds! This is how you teach people real-world contingencies, that there are consequences for f*cking up. Being unable to go to school and having to bust my back loading trucks (i.e., I had to get a 2nd job because I was not attending school) taught me how valuable a college education is. Seeing old dudes, who I would become if I didn't get my shit together, hurting their backs on the dock taught me to buckle down. Needless to say, when my folks gave me a final shot at college, I earned 4.0 GPAs from then on until graduation (3 years)! Another motivating condition was that my parents WOULD NOT pay for me to attend graduate school. Instead, I had to earn my way there via fellowships and/or assistantships awarded for my undergraduate academic performance (which I did).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Stacks...if these folks are giving their kids $250K for a condo they are way beyond "Middle Class".
I grew up very much like you and if my folks even OFFERED me money I would turn it down.....for a variety of reasons.
Agreed, but it seem as if Frank assumed I grew up underprivileged or something. I was simply showing that meeting a kid's needs does not require spoiling them. I totally understand your stance on taking money from the folks, as the conditions tied to it (a lot of times) weren't worth the money itself!
I'm disconnected from the New York Lifestyle(tm). However, as a 25 year old who works his ass off at a non-food related job near home, is nearly finishing up community college to transfer to the univer$ity, is busy stashing away money, pulls his weight with chores, pays insurance, chips in a few hundred a month for household expenses and has his own car paid off, I have no shame in admitting that I live with the parents who have given me their blessing to do so. That said, I plan on moving by the time I am 30 and have graduated. I'm starting to get really bored of the SF valley, the dull, hated upon, red-headed step-child of the Los Angeles area.
i have one friend who's stepdad is a rock star who will go un-named but suffice it to say that he has become a very hard working and grammy winning producer and did very well for himself only being supported by his trust fund when he was in college, never after. very talented motivated dude.
yeah, Mark Ronson seemed like a cool dude the one time I met him
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
I have no shame in admitting that I live with the parents who have given me their blessing to do so.
You and Moist should get together to talk about the best way to quickly stuff things in your closet when your mothers insist that your rooms are cleaned before you leave the house, Mister.
... it seem as if Frank assumed I grew up underprivileged or something.
Didn't assume that at all. I was actually talking about my own experience. I don't really put people in categories like "underpriveliged", "middle class" or "upper class". Fortunes can be lost and symbols of class are often owned by the bank. These things can vanish and situations can change from one day to the other. I grew up in a well-off family until my parents business (80-100 employees, big warehouse, etc) imploded before I was out of my teens. Lucky for me, I had never bought into the whole "we built this all for you" speeches and never had any aspirations to take things over. I guess it served me well having to make my own living and live independently but wouldn't I have had courage and oportunity to try something else but working (usually two, a 9-5 and a 6-10) construction or mechanic jobs to make ends meet my life would have been fucked... on the other hand not having had the experience of real labor, long hours and little pay, I probably wouldn't have had the necessary edge to do what came after those years of shit jobs. So yeah, I understand your points very well. Still, I think it's good for a city to have a boheme of well-off, decadent young people and I won't hate on anybody simply for not having to work tough jobs or long hours because they're fortunate enough to be living on a trust fund.
I'm disconnected from the New York Lifestyle(tm). However, as a 25 year old who works his ass off at a non-food related job near home, is nearly finishing up community college to transfer to the univer$ity, is busy stashing away money, pulls his weight with chores, pays insurance, chips in a few hundred a month for household expenses and has his own car paid off, I have no shame in admitting that I live with the parents who have given me their blessing to do so. That said, I plan on moving by the time I am 30 and have graduated. I'm starting to get really bored of the SF valley, the dull, hated upon, red-headed step-child of the Los Angeles area.
There should also be no shame in families living together longer. I was raised with the idea that at 18, I was out whether I wanted to go or not. My wife, on the other hand, she and her mother bought a home together when my wife was in her 20s, and we live down the street from that same house her mother lives in. In this economy, hell in most economies, not everyone will be able to strike out on their own and afford their own anything at 18. The key is the cooperation and not simply sponging and expecting parents to pick up the tab, but too contribute to their own life. There is room for more than one path, and not everyone's situation can be summed up by one scenario, not even those with trust funds.
Still, I think it's good for a city to have a boheme of well-off, decadent young people and I won't hate on anybody simply for not having to work tough jobs or long hours because they're fortunate enough to be living on a trust fund.
Maybe these folks with too much cash should pay more taxes and take care of some of the truly needy in your city instead of their spoiled "bohemian" brats.
Maybe these folks with too much cash should pay more taxes and take care of some of the truly needy in your city instead of their spoiled "bohemian" brats.
Just a thought.
You seem to spend an awful lot of thoughts on how other people pay their taxes... I don't really know or care much about what happens to the american tax dollar but I'd doubt that much of it is being spend on "taking care of some of the truly needy". But since money in a trust fund has usually been accounted for, it has also already been taxed. Spending it generates even more taxes and stimulates the economy. I can't see the harm in that.
To Big Stacks: Dependency comes in different colors. Being dependent on working a slavish minimum wage 9-5 at a job you don't like and that doesn't stimulate you but holds back your creativity and enjoyment of life is nothing to glorify.
Hey Frank,
Ironically enough, I grew up in a middle-class background. Still, my parents tied contingencies to the things I did (or did not) receive. For example, my parents paid my college tuition as long as my grade point average was 'B' or above. When it dipped below the standard, they cut off the funds! This is how you teach people real-world contingencies, that there are consequences for f*cking up. Being unable to go to school and having to bust my back loading trucks (i.e., I had to get a 2nd job because I was not attending school) taught me how valuable a college education is. Seeing old dudes, who I would become if I didn't get my shit together, hurting their backs on the dock taught me to buckle down. Needless to say, when my folks gave me a final shot at college, I earned 4.0 GPAs from then on until graduation (3 years)! Another motivating condition was that my parents WOULD NOT pay for me to attend graduate school. Instead, I had to earn my way there via fellowships and/or assistantships awarded for my undergraduate academic performance (which I did).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Stacks...if these folks are giving their kids $250K for a condo they are way beyond "Middle Class".
I grew up very much like you and if my folks even OFFERED me money I would turn it down.....for a variety of reasons.
Please explain why. You seem really heated at the idea of parents helping their kids financially. These days it would be very difficult for a single person in their 20s or 30s to buy a condo with one income. Even if this person is college educated and works full time with a job that pays a decent wage. What is so bad about parents helping a person like this buy a place if they have the money?
Maybe these folks with too much cash should pay more taxes and take care of some of the truly needy in your city instead of their spoiled "bohemian" brats.
Just a thought.
You seem to spend an awful lot of thoughts on how other people pay their taxes... I don't really know or care much about what happens to the american tax dollar but I'd doubt that much of it is being spend on "taking care of some of the truly needy". But since money in a trust fund has usually been accounted for, it has also already been taxed. Spending it generates even more taxes and stimulates the economy. I can't see the harm in that.
To Big Stacks: Dependency comes in different colors. Being dependent on working a slavish minimum wage 9-5 at a job you don't like and that doesn't stimulate you but holds back your creativity and enjoyment of life is nothing to glorify.
Hey Frank,
Ironically enough, I grew up in a middle-class background. Still, my parents tied contingencies to the things I did (or did not) receive. For example, my parents paid my college tuition as long as my grade point average was 'B' or above. When it dipped below the standard, they cut off the funds! This is how you teach people real-world contingencies, that there are consequences for f*cking up. Being unable to go to school and having to bust my back loading trucks (i.e., I had to get a 2nd job because I was not attending school) taught me how valuable a college education is. Seeing old dudes, who I would become if I didn't get my shit together, hurting their backs on the dock taught me to buckle down. Needless to say, when my folks gave me a final shot at college, I earned 4.0 GPAs from then on until graduation (3 years)! Another motivating condition was that my parents WOULD NOT pay for me to attend graduate school. Instead, I had to earn my way there via fellowships and/or assistantships awarded for my undergraduate academic performance (which I did).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Stacks...if these folks are giving their kids $250K for a condo they are way beyond "Middle Class".
I grew up very much like you and if my folks even OFFERED me money I would turn it down.....for a variety of reasons.
Please explain why. You seem really heated at the idea of parents helping their kids financially. These days it would be very difficult for a single person in their 20s or 30s to buy a condo with one income. Even if this person is college educated and works full time with a job that pays a decent wage. What is so bad about parents helping a person like this buy a place if they have the money?
It definitely seems to be a result of how I was raised and my age.
Consider me out of touch with the wealthy circa 2009 and how they raise their kids, trustafarians and their mindset.
I'm also not a fan of wealthy folks who don't pay taxes.
To Big Stacks: Dependency comes in different colors. Being dependent on working a slavish minimum wage 9-5 at a job you don't like and that doesn't stimulate you but holds back your creativity and enjoyment of life is nothing to glorify.
Hey Frank,
Ironically enough, I grew up in a middle-class background. Still, my parents tied contingencies to the things I did (or did not) receive. For example, my parents paid my college tuition as long as my grade point average was 'B' or above. When it dipped below the standard, they cut off the funds! This is how you teach people real-world contingencies, that there are consequences for f*cking up. Being unable to go to school and having to bust my back loading trucks (i.e., I had to get a 2nd job because I was not attending school) taught me how valuable a college education is. Seeing old dudes, who I would become if I didn't get my shit together, hurting their backs on the dock taught me to buckle down. Needless to say, when my folks gave me a final shot at college, I earned 4.0 GPAs from then on until graduation (3 years)! Another motivating condition was that my parents WOULD NOT pay for me to attend graduate school. Instead, I had to earn my way there via fellowships and/or assistantships awarded for my undergraduate academic performance (which I did).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Stacks...if these folks are giving their kids $250K for a condo they are way beyond "Middle Class".
I grew up very much like you and if my folks even OFFERED me money I would turn it down.....for a variety of reasons.
Please explain why. You seem really heated at the idea of parents helping their kids financially. These days it would be very difficult for a single person in their 20s or 30s to buy a condo with one income. Even if this person is college educated and works full time with a job that pays a decent wage. What is so bad about parents helping a person like this buy a place if they have the money?
It definitely seems to be a result of how I was raised and my age.
Consider me out of touch with the wealthy circa 2009 and how they raise their kids, trustafarians and their mindset.
I'm also not a fan of wealthy folks who don't pay taxes.
Who said anything about people who don't pay taxes? You are really mad at the way other people spend their money.
You are really mad at the way other people spend their money.
Maybe so.....and if the results are a generation of people who feel a degree of entitlement and are unable to fend for themselves if need be it might be justified.
Just this past weekend my daughter had a friend over who is 20 and I asked him about his job prospects since he dropped out of school.....he said "Why should I work, my parents gives me everything I want"....they are divorced, wealthy and "compete" for their kid's attention by throwing money at him...so today, yeah, my view may also be biased.
Comments
There's a lifestyle issue at play here that has nothing to do with the parents' money and how they spend it and everything to do with their tolerance of bad behavior and lack of enforceable standards - eg, "I will help you with rent but I need to see you making progress/money within x amount of time."
someone please tell this to the dumb bitches whose requests I refuse every week
You know people that work at non-profits get paid, right? Like, support yourself and have a career paid.
Life is just not that simple and everybody makes something different out of the situation they're brought up in.
I totally agree with self-entitlement being a horrible look. Same with slumming it and just making a lifestyle out of throwing around with your parents money, be that money hard earned or just inherited by your parents from even richer grandparents.
To Big Stacks: Dependency comes in different colors. Being dependent on working a slavish minimum wage 9-5 at a job you don't like and that doesn't stimulate you but holds back your creativity and enjoyment of life is nothing to glorify.
Learning to become a decent human being and being happy with what you have while cultivating a healthy longing to improve your own situation and that of the people around you should be the ideal. A lot of those slackers put money into the pockets of those who are less fortunate simply by spending it and in my opinion, that is being put to better use than if it's being invested the conservative way into the stock market or into more houses or whatnot. There are people who have money. The more adventurous shit they do with that money, the better for everyone of us.
Would there be no Williamsburg hipsters or trustafarians or whatever you want to call them, a lot of the stores, clubs etc. there wouldn't exist and we'd be stuck with all those formerly cool, nowadays disgusting places in Manhattan...
Haha -- that's true.
I am going to strive to make sure my children's life is better than my own, that they can spend as much time "figuring shit out" while daddy pays for their apartment ... in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That way, I can easily pay their $300 monthly rent while they find their footing in life well into their fourth decade on the planet.
I freely admit to being a hater of all things trustafari. I wish I could quibble about the frequency of my trust fund payments, while drowning my sorrows in pot brownies and single malts on a road trip to Cape Cod in my Range Rover.
Those kids are the third or fourth wave after the initial Cool shit was established 15 years ago.
So what?
I've also been here 14 to 10 years ago and I think that the Wburg club situation has only improved since.
i think that's pretty hilarious because no way kids today would ever dream of washing dishes in nyc.
ok, no more shooting fish in a barrel.
come on these kids are picking at the bones of something that barely exists as a construct let alone a reality anymore. if you live here you know it's f*cking awesome but it is a business town, no 2 ways about it.
as for this article it's pretty staggering, just the fact that this dynamic is so common that it has impacted the economy of the city and the real estate market in such a huge way is shocking.
God bless the child that's got his own indeed.
though i grew up comfortably mom has been a widow since i was 14. i mostly talk shit about these kids because i would love to feel the freedom known by these kids to be daddys little girl, just buzz about through life and play dress up and pretend to work and do my art and music shit all day. but in reality it's so much more liberating and satisfying to the soul to make your own money and do your thing- instead of asking for rent $ from mom dukes you can take her to your office and treat her to lunch and a pedicure.
i do still ask my mom to store a lot of my excess records in philly though.
i have one friend who's stepdad is a rock star who will go un-named but suffice it to say that he has become a very hard working and grammy winning producer and did very well for himself only being supported by his trust fund when he was in college, never after. very talented motivated dude. another friend who's dad is a shiek and could buy all of williamsburg, she has never worked a day in her life and flies between her ny apartment and her house in the bahamas and her life is shopping and parties and man problems occasional stints doing photography here and there and going to a few charities. she is rather bankrupt as a person even if she has access to a lot of dough she also has to get approval/permission any time she wants to do anything. it is crippling to her but not every rich kid chooses that path and some are really productive even through subsidies.
This is true. The world needs more douchebags.
Hey Frank,
Ironically enough, I grew up in a middle-class background. Still, my parents tied contingencies to the things I did (or did not) receive. For example, my parents paid my college tuition as long as my grade point average was 'B' or above. When it dipped below the standard, they cut off the funds! This is how you teach people real-world contingencies, that there are consequences for f*cking up. Being unable to go to school and having to bust my back loading trucks (i.e., I had to get a 2nd job because I was not attending school) taught me how valuable a college education is. Seeing old dudes, who I would become if I didn't get my shit together, hurting their backs on the dock taught me to buckle down. Needless to say, when my folks gave me a final shot at college, I earned 4.0 GPAs from then on until graduation (3 years)! Another motivating condition was that my parents WOULD NOT pay for me to attend graduate school. Instead, I had to earn my way there via fellowships and/or assistantships awarded for my undergraduate academic performance (which I did).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Seriously....what self respecting person would ALLOW their parents to support them into their 20's?
Growing up is about independence, not codependence.
But I guess the world needs more fodder for the likes of "My Super Sweet 16".
Stacks...if these folks are giving their kids $250K for a condo they are way beyond "Middle Class".
I grew up very much like you and if my folks even OFFERED me money I would turn it down.....for a variety of reasons.
Agreed, but it seem as if Frank assumed I grew up underprivileged or something. I was simply showing that meeting a kid's needs does not require spoiling them. I totally understand your stance on taking money from the folks, as the conditions tied to it (a lot of times) weren't worth the money itself!
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
yeah, Mark Ronson seemed like a cool dude the one time I met him
SPOT = BLOWN UP
You and Moist should get together to talk about the best way to quickly stuff things in your closet when your mothers insist that your rooms are cleaned before you leave the house, Mister.
Didn't assume that at all. I was actually talking about my own experience. I don't really put people in categories like "underpriveliged", "middle class" or "upper class". Fortunes can be lost and symbols of class are often owned by the bank. These things can vanish and situations can change from one day to the other. I grew up in a well-off family until my parents business (80-100 employees, big warehouse, etc) imploded before I was out of my teens. Lucky for me, I had never bought into the whole "we built this all for you" speeches and never had any aspirations to take things over. I guess it served me well having to make my own living and live independently but wouldn't I have had courage and oportunity to try something else but working (usually two, a 9-5 and a 6-10) construction or mechanic jobs to make ends meet my life would have been fucked... on the other hand not having had the experience of real labor, long hours and little pay, I probably wouldn't have had the necessary edge to do what came after those years of shit jobs. So yeah, I understand your points very well.
Still, I think it's good for a city to have a boheme of well-off, decadent young people and I won't hate on anybody simply for not having to work tough jobs or long hours because they're fortunate enough to be living on a trust fund.
There should also be no shame in families living together longer. I was raised with the idea that at 18, I was out whether I wanted to go or not. My wife, on the other hand, she and her mother bought a home together when my wife was in her 20s, and we live down the street from that same house her mother lives in. In this economy, hell in most economies, not everyone will be able to strike out on their own and afford their own anything at 18. The key is the cooperation and not simply sponging and expecting parents to pick up the tab, but too contribute to their own life. There is room for more than one path, and not everyone's situation can be summed up by one scenario, not even those with trust funds.
Maybe these folks with too much cash should pay more taxes and take care of some of the truly needy in your city instead of their spoiled "bohemian" brats.
Just a thought.
You seem to spend an awful lot of thoughts on how other people pay their taxes...
I don't really know or care much about what happens to the american tax dollar but I'd doubt that much of it is being spend on "taking care of some of the truly needy". But since money in a trust fund has usually been accounted for, it has also already been taxed. Spending it generates even more taxes and stimulates the economy. I can't see the harm in that.
Please explain why. You seem really heated at the idea of parents helping their kids financially. These days it would be very difficult for a single person in their 20s or 30s to buy a condo with one income. Even if this person is college educated and works full time with a job that pays a decent wage. What is so bad about parents helping a person like this buy a place if they have the money?
Thank you Frank. Well said.
It definitely seems to be a result of how I was raised and my age.
Consider me out of touch with the wealthy circa 2009 and how they raise their kids, trustafarians and their mindset.
I'm also not a fan of wealthy folks who don't pay taxes.
Who said anything about people who don't pay taxes? You are really mad at the way other people spend their money.
Maybe so.....and if the results are a generation of people who feel a degree of entitlement and are unable to fend for themselves if need be it might be justified.
Just this past weekend my daughter had a friend over who is 20 and I asked him about his job prospects since he dropped out of school.....he said "Why should I work, my parents gives me everything I want"....they are divorced, wealthy and "compete" for their kid's attention by throwing money at him...so today, yeah, my view may also be biased.