1%'ers check in here.

[alkemyst]

Regardless of earning it or not isn't really a factor IMHO.

I am up there and most of the time I have a 40hr work week, but like the last 4 weeks and next 3 weeks I will not be home due to responsibilities.

I know some that didn't spend a lick of time in college and hardly work that make far more than me and then those that spent 10 years+ in college, work 80 hours a week and probably make close to what I do.

It's sad in the US of all places we want to punish anyone that makes more than us.

 

[TallBill]

Regardless of earning it or not isn't really a factor IMHO.

I am up there and most of the time I have a 40hr work week, but like the last 4 weeks and next 3 weeks I will not be home due to responsibilities.

I know some that didn't spend a lick of time in college and hardly work that make far more than me and then those that spent 10 years+ in college, work 80 hours a week and probably make close to what I do.

It's sad in the US of all places we want to punish anyone that makes more than us.

We don't want to punish them. A small group of citizens do.

 

[Apple Of Sodom]

Regardless of earning it or not isn't really a factor IMHO.

I am up there and most of the time I have a 40hr work week, but like the last 4 weeks and next 3 weeks I will not be home due to responsibilities.

I know some that didn't spend a lick of time in college and hardly work that make far more than me and then those that spent 10 years+ in college, work 80 hours a week and probably make close to what I do.

It's sad in the US of all places we want to punish anyone that makes more than us.

I agree. I acknowledge that a lot of what happens in our careers depends on luck. Luck, however, does not just mean the dice were rolled a certain way and you win the lottery. Luck comes from opportunity meeting preparation. If I wasn't prepared to take my day job (e.g. wasn't in college for CS) then I never would have been promoted to it. There was an opportunity presented to me and I was prepared to take it. I'm sure there have been plenty of opportunities I wasn't prepared for that I never got a chance to jump at.

I work pretty hard, but nowhere near as hard or as much as your average physician, and I make more. Of course, I took more gambles than they did and they paid off.

 

[highland145]

I want to know, to everyone who's complaining at AppleOfSodom, how many hours a week you work? I want to know how many hours of education you put in? I want to know how many hours you worked total in your life before you were age 30? I want to know how much of your savings you risk on your own work (if you quit your job tomorrow, would you not get a paycheck? Or would you lose your house because you have $200,000 invested in your business?) I want to know how many other people's salaries you pay.

High risk, potentially high reward. You may work 60 hours or 80 hours a week, but people who own their own businesses sink way more than their time into their work. It's a huge gamble and the few times it pays off, they've usually EARNED their reward.

Props to AoS. Thread in P&N, I said it looks like he's counterbalancing 20+ families that aren't paying any or have a negative fed tax. What are the haters doing?

Same here. I begged, borrowed, saved, mortgaged my house, sold my rentals, pawned my 1st born to be self employed. After 6 years, great. Could easily go south with more government regulation.

 

[Apple Of Sodom]

Could easily go south with more government regulation.

No shit. It is a constant worry for small business owners. What happens if the economy tanks? That's why we save, I suppose. I could easily adjust to living a life with median income. Things would be different for sure but I happen to know that our happiness thermometer will adjust. There is a book called "The Paradox of Choice" that has helped me on many levels, including easing my fears about the fact that it could all go downhill at any moment.

 

[CrazyAznDriver]

Sounds like your family's income is way higher than it needs to be. No sympathy. Try donating something to a charitable cause to ease the suffering of others who are not so well off. You'll be much happier.

Wat? How can someones income be to high? We donate quite a bit as well, time and money. We both sit on a board of a charity as well . Glad you read into the our situation though

 

[halik]

Stop whining. If you make more then you should pay more. There's no free ride.

I'm not the one lounging on an air bed in lower manhattan, bitching about my 40K of grad school loans...

Progressive tax rate follows the marginal utility of money; vilification of success does not.