Good for you. I bet you have to drive everywhere and you don’t even realize that the cost of the infrastructure to make your life convient is bankrupting your closest city.
Look, I’m glad you’re advocating for good things. People need to be doing that. I’m done with the US and I really have no hope for it so it really doesn’t matter anymore to me either way. I’m lucky enough that I never have to come back.
It fucking sucks getting gentrified out of places you lived when you’re making over $100k, and its absolutely absurd. I live in the Netherlands now. Because there’s a functional tax system my neighbors are bike mechanics and students, instead of literally everyone either being a boomer who bought their house in the 80’s or a tech bro on a single income. People should be able to live in cities, and cities should be high density. If people say they’re struggling on $150k/y then believe that what they’re saying is real, because it is. If people are struggling on $150k/y then theres a huge problem. But you know what’s nice? It’s not my problem anymore.
I really hope your volunteering works out because it’s needed.
How were you able to move there? On paper I’m absolutely worthless… I’m stuck in a place I can’t afford to stay in, but too poor/undesirable to be welcomed into another country.
I’m really privileged and I sacrificed a lot. It’s not an option for most people and if I didn’t work for a big evil company I probably couldn’t do it. They paid for most of it and organized a lot of it, but it was still a ton of work that we couldn’t have done without a bunch of help from our family. Also being fueled by pure terror helped.
As much as I say I don’t care, I have so many friends who couldn’t do the same thing and are stuck like you. If I thought I could help by staying, I probably would have. I thought about leaving when Trump got elected, but decided to stay and try to make things better. Then I got shot by a Trump supporter. So this time my family and I figured out an exit plan and left. Well… My partner and kids got out, but everyone else is still in the US.
Everyone should have the opportunity to live in a place that makes sense. I wish I could make the US a place with living in. I wish that borders didn’t exist.
But if you want to escape to Europe, you want to figure out how to get citizenship in a place in the Schengen zone. The easiest to get in to legally are Spain and Portugal, which are a lot cheaper. It’s also easier and cheaper to move if you’re not taking anything and not supporting any kids or a partner.
I appreciate your abrupt change in tone and your effort to engage with me as a person. I feel like we share many of the same goals and ideals, and are not as far apart as pithy comments may make us seem.
I hope the Netherlands is as kickass as I’ve heard it is from friends
A lot of people like not commuting several hours a day, or having access to actual culture, or not being constantly robbed by meth heads, or not being murdered because of their Identity, or about a million other things that are difficult to impossible outside of cities…
But fuck all the queer and trans people who escaped to the safety of cities. If they can’t afford t, they shouldn’t be there, right? /s
We have to create that culture. You’re not alone. That’s the world that most people want to live in. The more we talk to each other and the more we’re able to connect, the more we can work together to make that happen.
There’s obviously enough for everyone, but we choose to pretend there isn’t. We choose to pretend that the people who artificially restrict access to things people need to survive are ligitmiate and have the right to restrict access to food and housing. We pretend the people who enact that violence on behalf of these borders are heros. We pretend the imaginary rules they enforce on us have power. We pretend paper and imaginary numbers should dictate who lives, who dies, and who has the right to dictate the actions of others.
We’re playing a game together with made up rules. We pretend that there isn’t enough so that people who have too much can take even more from people who don’t. This is a stupid game that we should stop playing. Just by being aware of this, we can start to change the rules.
Go look at a mortgage or even rent in any major city.
I own a home just outside of a city and my mortgage is 1060/mo. 3BR, 3 bath, finished basement, on a half acre.
Good for you. I bet you have to drive everywhere and you don’t even realize that the cost of the infrastructure to make your life convient is bankrupting your closest city.
What a dumb shit comment lol.
I literally volunteer on campaigns to change local zoning to be more dense and contain more public transport.
“You countered my point so quick let me think up some way to attack you as a person” lol.
Telling people to “go move outside the city like I do” does exactly the opposite of what you say you’re trying to support, so why even bring it up?
When you advocate for density, you are de facto arguing to have more people where you are.
Look, I’m glad you’re advocating for good things. People need to be doing that. I’m done with the US and I really have no hope for it so it really doesn’t matter anymore to me either way. I’m lucky enough that I never have to come back.
It fucking sucks getting gentrified out of places you lived when you’re making over $100k, and its absolutely absurd. I live in the Netherlands now. Because there’s a functional tax system my neighbors are bike mechanics and students, instead of literally everyone either being a boomer who bought their house in the 80’s or a tech bro on a single income. People should be able to live in cities, and cities should be high density. If people say they’re struggling on $150k/y then believe that what they’re saying is real, because it is. If people are struggling on $150k/y then theres a huge problem. But you know what’s nice? It’s not my problem anymore.
I really hope your volunteering works out because it’s needed.
How were you able to move there? On paper I’m absolutely worthless… I’m stuck in a place I can’t afford to stay in, but too poor/undesirable to be welcomed into another country.
I’m really privileged and I sacrificed a lot. It’s not an option for most people and if I didn’t work for a big evil company I probably couldn’t do it. They paid for most of it and organized a lot of it, but it was still a ton of work that we couldn’t have done without a bunch of help from our family. Also being fueled by pure terror helped.
As much as I say I don’t care, I have so many friends who couldn’t do the same thing and are stuck like you. If I thought I could help by staying, I probably would have. I thought about leaving when Trump got elected, but decided to stay and try to make things better. Then I got shot by a Trump supporter. So this time my family and I figured out an exit plan and left. Well… My partner and kids got out, but everyone else is still in the US.
Everyone should have the opportunity to live in a place that makes sense. I wish I could make the US a place with living in. I wish that borders didn’t exist.
But if you want to escape to Europe, you want to figure out how to get citizenship in a place in the Schengen zone. The easiest to get in to legally are Spain and Portugal, which are a lot cheaper. It’s also easier and cheaper to move if you’re not taking anything and not supporting any kids or a partner.
I wish I could give you useful advice.
I appreciate your abrupt change in tone and your effort to engage with me as a person. I feel like we share many of the same goals and ideals, and are not as far apart as pithy comments may make us seem.
I hope the Netherlands is as kickass as I’ve heard it is from friends
Good thing there are plenty of places to live outside of major cities.
The only people who this isn’t a solution for are those who feel they’re entitled to live in places they can’t afford 🤷
A lot of people like not commuting several hours a day, or having access to actual culture, or not being constantly robbed by meth heads, or not being murdered because of their Identity, or about a million other things that are difficult to impossible outside of cities…
But fuck all the queer and trans people who escaped to the safety of cities. If they can’t afford t, they shouldn’t be there, right? /s
What makes them exempt from supply and demand?
“The invisible hand” is literally a metaphor for god. Sorry, I’m not in the capitalist suicide cult.
So… what do we do when there is scarcity?
Share
Totally. I wish we lived in a culture that valued taking excess from those who have it and giving it to those who need it.
We have to create that culture. You’re not alone. That’s the world that most people want to live in. The more we talk to each other and the more we’re able to connect, the more we can work together to make that happen.
There’s obviously enough for everyone, but we choose to pretend there isn’t. We choose to pretend that the people who artificially restrict access to things people need to survive are ligitmiate and have the right to restrict access to food and housing. We pretend the people who enact that violence on behalf of these borders are heros. We pretend the imaginary rules they enforce on us have power. We pretend paper and imaginary numbers should dictate who lives, who dies, and who has the right to dictate the actions of others.
We’re playing a game together with made up rules. We pretend that there isn’t enough so that people who have too much can take even more from people who don’t. This is a stupid game that we should stop playing. Just by being aware of this, we can start to change the rules.