sleeperkid
9966
787
18
Sep 9, 2026 1:21 PM
sleeperkid
9966
787
18
EroticZombiePants
"David's" screen name sounds very much like a joke troll account instead of a real person.
tinyfootprints
I have zero discretionary income. Some nights I have to go to bed hungry because I can't afford to eat enough. But I feel rich in spirit. I sleep the sleep of the innocent. I don't have to look over my shoulder to see if anyone is coming for revenge. Just the same, it would be nice to have a little extra cash once in a while.
haywirehalo
This logic has deeper roots than hustle culture. The Catholic church's Calvinism’s doctrine of election helped turn worldly success into perceived evidence of divine favor: the prosperous looked disciplined, virtuous and “chosen,” while the poor could be blamed for their condition. Strip out God and you get the modern version: Wealth as proof of intelligence and moral worth. Prosperity theology for people who think they’re secular.
MrSafely
Honestly, the best answer to that question is: I choose to use my “smarts” for things more important than money. This blows their minds, because they think money is the most important thing.
Kazpur81S
I always scoff at the “pulled myself up from the bootstraps with a $1 million loan from my father” stories
Kc0125
Smart people don't have high salaries, big mouthed extroverts typically do.
Aleshio98
Not me living on 3K/month already :(. And that's Canadian CAD, so more like ~2.2K/month USD....I currently live with my mom
lildude52ca
what the fuck. i don't think i've ever made 3k a month. also if you adjust for inflation (assuming this is american) it'd be more like 5k/m
urusername2
And billionaires care only about themselves, and what their billionaire ranking is, and how many toys they have!
morninggloryshade777
There are waaaay too many not bright 'wealthy' folks to support this...and most of them stole, grifted, lied to gain that wealth.
MarkusAwesomesauce
Why isn't Albert Einstein the richest person in history Dave????
Arbitrarynamehere
He clearly wasn't on that grindset (wasn't generationally wealthy already)
akafluffy
Nicola Tesla died broke in love with a wild pigeon
lovehandlesmessiah
Don’t even get me started on Tesla.
barstr7
When you look back at history's smartest people many were poor their whole lives and died destitute. The accumulation of wealth as a signifier of intelligence only came about in the last few decades. Obscenely wealthy people were seen as foolish and morally corrupt in most past versions of society the world over. They were mocked, not worshipped.
MassiveCollisionY
Depending on who you ask thats still the case. But yeah that sadly has swung a bit into the wrong direction.
Heisanevilgenius
I certainly don't mean to idealize the past but there are certain aspects of the past I'd like to see come back. Like how rich people had a high standard of generosity and would flex their wealth by taking care of others. These days cruelty is seen as a virtue to some of these pricks
SJBSavageInk
Because all "his" good ideas stopped coming when he divorced his wife who actually helped develop all the theories but didn't get any credit?
cullingg
Ah, so she was fabulously wealthy?
crateo
So... the General Theory of Relativity is not one of the good ideas? Or the Bose-Einstein statistics? Or the discovery of gravitational waves?
Filanwizard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co. Is interesting enough another barrier to paying employees well in the USA.
OhIfIMust
Not only that, but genuinely smart people are often the obverse side of the Dunning-Kruger Effect that people tend to not think about: They are more self-aware, and tend to *under*-estimate their abilities, and don't have the kinds of "Screw-it-all" confidence that many rich idiots have, and therefore are much less likely to take the risks to start businesses, push themselves to the top of the ladder, etc. They make everything work, while the stupid greedy assholes take all the money and credit.
GlutenFreeCocaineWaffles
Also growing up as the smart kid isn't like being a YA protagonist. You get told to shut up a lot.
Mirrormancer
What a fucking cliche, that David.
Legomaniac91
"How much is a good night's sleep worth? Now there's a riddle for you."
yalczero
Sadly there's no Riddler to terrify the ultrawealthy like there was to terrify Mockridge. So all of the ultrawealthy sleep very well at night.
UncleMartha
Uncle Kurt knew the score.
unfortunatelynotdeadyet
The reality is there for all to see. The majority of rich people are thick as pig shit and evil as hitler.
Goldensands
Unclescam
Inbreeding. I give it 3 more generations before the hapsberg-esque stuff really starts to show.
akafluffy
it'll never show through all the plastic surgery, hence the plastic surgery.
bananabonanza3
Truly. It’s one of the biggest lies MAGA believes. They can’t comprehend the concept of wealth not obviously equaling the best, most deserving Americans.
Nevermind that the kind of obscene wealth you need to accumulate to be in the top 100% is almost always generational and impossible to obtain within your own lifetime without being an inhuman fucking ghoul that doesn’t give a shit who suffers if they get their billion.
SteveTheEgg
It's the prosperity gospel. They literally believe that god makes people rich to reward them, despite their so-called savior loudly denouncing wealth and claiming that it prevents people from entering Heaven.
ProjectDA
theres a lot of things they choose to ignore in the bible, and sometimes rewrite.
modus0
To be honest, MAGA believe those inhuman fucking ghouls are the "best, most deserving Americans."
Gruesslibaer
Sonicschilidogs
I'd go a step further and say it IS impossible to obtain in a lifetime without generational wealth, ghoul or no ghoul. Name one billionaire, ghoul or otherwise, that didn't have generational wealth. You could be an African warlord, come from nothing, take over an entire country, or several, with child soldiers and slaves and still not be a billionaire.
akafluffy
it is now, but all Dolly Parton had to change to become a billionaire was give less to charity, and she was indeed literally from nothing.
Sonicschilidogs
Fair point, I was just thinking in today
akafluffy
Yeah, it's amazing how much harder things are nowadays and yet boomers are incapable of noticing, my dad dropped out of college paid for a stay at home wife and two kids on one income, and he's like why are you struggling when you graduated have a wife who works and no kids? Your brother who is a nurse and makes more than I ever made is married to a doctor has (slightly less than) what I had on one income, why will you never own a home? You must be failing.
Nanntuckett
Most wealth is just inherited or made from already existing money. When we don’t have enough to live, we can’t save any. Most of the money I save goes to my mom, who wasn’t able to accumulate wealth. That means I can’t save, etc.
lostlittletimeonthis
There's also the random ass luck effect... Yes you can be hardworking and a genius, but born in Gaza and you don't get a life as a millionaire, or you get the wrong partner in a company and you get screwed
micuu
Wealth has become completely detached from actual money or productivity and that is not a good thing.
nihiltres
The extremely wealthy must be taxed to the point where they must be as intelligent and hard-working as they claim to be simply to *stay* wealthy, with those taxes dedicated to eliminating the suffering of poverty, starting with minimum standards for food, housing, and healthcare that everyone should be guaranteed. This is because it’s easier to make money when you already have money, and harder to make money when you don’t, which moves things slowly towards neofeudalism if unchecked. Fuck that.
soThatWasThat
And this generational wealth came when modern society was young and ripe for ownership. Get that land, lay the railroads, patent that invention, squeeze everyone else out. Nearly impossible to start small and grow into something big in today's society.
dudeinjapan
To paraphrase Terry Pratchett: The two main paths to wealth are theft and inheritance. In the best case, your ancestors commit the crimes and you just inherit the results.
morninggloryshade777
Start w small regular Index Fund investments. You can do them yourself or often start thru sm employer programs. Slow & steady builds over the years!!!! I raised a kid alone but started him saving very young & investing by his teens. In his 40s now he's sitting pretty good...even in T's economy.
HarryDresdenIsMySpiritAnimal
See, this is why I chose to have a horrible mother who never loved me. That way I don't have to save money for her. You should have done what I did and had a horrible mother then you'd have money for savings. (This is a joke... Except for the part about my horrible mother)
welluhwhatdoyouwantmetosay
Bill Gates got his start with a product he didn't produce, and because his mother was on the board of IBM.
kal1097
Which product did he not produce initially? He definitely had fortunate circumstances(money, connections to IBM, etc.), but as far as I know he and Allen developed their initial products.
onecowboytoo
DOS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS#:~:text=command%20processor%20program.-,History,-edit
welluhwhatdoyouwantmetosay
86-DOS was licensed by them before being rewritten by them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86-DOS
colderfish
I have a small business and my people get pretty much unlimited PTO and sick days. Believe it or not, they control it themselves. They never ask for bonuses or raises, but I give what I can. I've had the same developers for over a decade. But I'll never get rich.
ToenailClippingsJar
I think you already are. Youndon’t sound like there are money problems, younand yours can live happily without overworrying, and you have a business where people want to work. That’s another form of rich, but nonetheless, rich.
Caughtintheconcentricelipsesofchaosanditsinnatemadness
Exactly, bank balance/net worth isn't everything. But it definitely helps!
ToenailClippingsJar
Well there’s that as well. Hahaha.
But having enough is its own richness