Below what dollar figure does your sense of compassion kick in?

[Bill McBlueState]

For many of us, someone's annual income has to be below a particular level in order for him/her to deserve our compassion. I thought I'd take a poll to get a sense of the average figure. If your answer isn't listed, just round to the nearest one.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. You trying for some kind World's Dumbest Poll contest?

If so, you've got a pretty good contestant here.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. To be fair, this is really a cloaked criticism of some DU members

Check the link provided. Little sympathy there for a rich couple having to live with about half their customary salaries. I also notice little sympathy on here for renters and anyone below that level. DU appears more interested in property owners and up to about 70 thou a year... above, you're the enemy, and as a renter, you simply don't exist and both groups are certainly not worthy of any tax breaks, according to the majority of DU posters, it appears.

[lonestarnot]

10. That is so not true.

:spank: :spank: :spank:

[Bill McBlueState]

12. I didn't think it was *that* heavily cloaked

Shows what I know.

[Cronus Protagonist]

14. lol I thought so too, but apparently it had to be said

I do know that if I had posted this thread, it would have been locked, though. :)

[BlooInBloo]

17. Seemed obvious to me.

[Jackpine Radical]

33. I guess it helps to have followed the link before critiquing the OP.

Gotta admit I was somewhat deceived by the fact that people were actually voting on it as if it were a serious query, though.
:dunce:

[MercutioATC]

2. It's going to be interesting to see if people are honest about this.

I've seen plenty of "screw the 6-figure people who lose their jobs" comments on DU. Will any of them post here when the question is worded differently?

[hfojvt]

18. screw them?

In the example given, this poor guy has to now scrape by on a mere $66,000 a year. DO NOT expect anybody who makes less than $30,000 a year to feel sorry for him. He basically says "I got used to living like a king, and now I have to live like a mere Duke". Excuse me if the peasants hope he chokes on his grey poupon.

[MercutioATC]

32. Actually, the direct quote was "Fuck em".

That's a far cry from a rational explanation that at least he can still put food on the table, so he's not nearly as bad off as many others.

My point is that there's a small but vitriolic set of people here at DU who are openly hostile to those with decent incomes. You see it in the mortgage threads, the auto threads, and now the economy threads. It's unfortunate.

[hfojvt]

35. it's not that far off

just a very shorthand way to say "it does not look like they have a real problem since they are still making $66,000 a year".

[MercutioATC]

37. "Fuck em" (to me) is much more hostile

It implies that there is a reason to hold these people in disdain.

I agree that people with no money for food are a much bigger problem than people who have to pull their kids out of private schools, but I don't agree with the kneejerk hostility toward the affluent.

[hfojvt]

38. because it is shorthanded, it is not clear

"fu$% them, they don't have a serious problem" or
"fu$% them, I don't care if they have a serious problem"

Although I do agree that that comment was excessively hostile and uncalled for, it also was not the typical response.

[juno jones]

39. One of the guys in the article dealt in mortgages

Having been personally screwed by one of his comrades *fuck him* rolls from my tongue perhaps faster than it should.

The thought of that bastard (the asshole, not the guy in the article) having to find a *real job* at a signifigant cut in salary warms the cockles of my heart.

[Naturyl]

29. I was.

I voted 30k.

Sorry, but someone going from 125k to 66k doesn't trigger any waterworks for me. Everyone I know personally put together doesn't make 66k, and that includes both sides of the family.

[begin_within]

3. Below my own income level.

Which sadly, for 2008, was the first choice in your poll...

[Forkboy]

4. Money isn't a factor in where my compassion goes.

[Iggo]

6. People with less than me get my charity.

My compassion knows no bounds.

[Warpy]

7. I was a nurse for 25 years and I can tell you

that rich folks hurt as much as poor folks do.

[NashVegas]

13. Yeah, It Really Sucks to Have to Decide Between Health Insurance or a Botox Injection

Let me tell ya.

[Warpy]

21. There were people dying of AIDS in the VIP wing

at Mass. General Hospital.

Thanks for missing the point completely.

I guess everything is about money to some people.

[hfojvt]

26. you seem to miss the point

and you were the one who said that "rich people hurt as much as poor people". That may be true when they are both hit by a huge catastrophe such as AIDS, but even there the rich person has access to the best medical care and fewer worries. Who will take care of my children? If you are really rich, you know the butler and the maid will still do that after you are gone.

Then there's the hurt of daily life. Poor people are often scared, hungry, cold, hot, wet, and otherwise in pain (since, of course, poverty means you do not have proper nutrition, and are exposed to the elements and to various toxins, which by NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) end up in poor neighborhoods, makes it more likely to have a chronic medical condition). No, I think it is ridiculous to equate the two.

People can be unhappy because they don't have fancy shoes, or because they don't have any shoes, or because they don't have any feet. Those are not the same level of hurt.

[NashVegas]

34. I'm Not Talking About People With Genuine Medical Difficulties

I'm talking about people who obtain unnecessary medical procedures for cosmetic reasons. Some of whom manage to get their insurance company to foot the bill.

injectionPatients may be cutting back on some treatments amid the recession, but they’re not letting slimmer pocketbooks take their Botox away from them.

“It’s like comfort food,” says Maralyn Burr of Omaha, Neb., who in June lost her job as a district sales manager for Borders bookstores. With $140,000 in debt from her 22-year-old daughter’s musical education, Burr told the WSJ she’s slashed spending and all but stopped eating out. But she hasn’t given up her Restylane and Botox injections.

She’s not alone. Nearly three-quarters of plastic surgeons responding to a survey this fall said demand has increased or held steady for minimally invasive procedures, including the Botox anti-wrinkle drug, dermal fillers used to plump up lips and smile lines, and skin-smoothing chemical peels, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. At the same time, the survey found a steep drop in demand for plastic surgeries such as breast augmentation and nose reshaping. (See this post from early this year, which took note of a similar pattern.)

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/12/23/economy-be-damned-im-getting-my-botox/

[Missy Vixen]

27. Oh, that's funny

We lost our health insurance two months ago. My husband is on insulin for Type II. Of course, I'm sure most here don't give a shit about that. After all, we got what we deserved, didn't we? :sarcasm:

NOBODY in this house has ever had a botox injection, wears or carries Prada, drives less than a fourteen year old car, etcetera. You might want to set the income limit for that kind of behavior much higher than $125,000 per year if one lives on either the West or East Coasts. I don't believe anyone can live with any kind of disposable income anywhere in Puget Sound for less than $50K per year.

I'm sure it hasn't occurred to most of you brainiacs that those losing living-wage jobs are now not spending money in their communities, which helps small businesses and other retailers STAY OPEN.

Julie

[dysfunctional press]

20. there's something strangely comforting about that...

"rich folks hurt as much as poor folks do."

speaking as a disabled chronic pain patient, that is.

[BlooInBloo]

8. I certainly don't fit the hate-the-rich profile of your typical DUer....

But it does seem odd to focus on those who go from making 120% over the national median income to making 32% over the national median income.



EDIT: Typo fix.

[Bill McBlueState]

11. agreed --

The *focus* needs to be on people who can't afford dinner, clothing, or a place to sleep.

But the insults being slung at people who, though somewhat better off, are still hurting are pretty immature.

[hfojvt]

23. the "hurt" comes from having to tighten his belt from a pretty high lifestyle

Oh, boo hoo hoo, I got used to making $125,000 (and spending it all) and now I am hurting. He's not just "somewhat better off". He's (according to BiB's calculations) 32% above 50% of the country, and even further above if his spouse, or one of his kids, has a job.

[KharmaTrain]

9. Below? How About Above...

I've seen many a thread castigating someone for making too much. Dare someone admit to earning $100,000 or more and you're a rich pig. I'm more curious with how much money is too much.

Compassion should never have a dollar figure.

[JuniperLea]

15. It depends on where you live...

$80k a year in Los Angeles sounds like a lot of money, but not if you are actually paying the Los Angeles level of cost of living.

My cousin in Council Bluffs, Iowa, makes almost exactly half of my salary, and she is living in a much nicer house, driving a much nicer car, and she has a lot more disposable income. Her two-story, five bedroom, three bath (with den, library and formal dining room) cost her in total what I put DOWN on my three bedroom 1 1/2 bath townhouse.

[Christian30]

16. I didn't realize this was a trick question...

So I answered honestly. I grew up on welfare in NYC (real welfare, not the joke of social services we have now). My first full-time job was $28K a week and I moved in with my boyfriend when I made $41K. He made about the same. I also work with some colleagues in their 20s who make a salary in the low 30s and they seem to be doing okay. So to my mind, folks making below $30K draw my compassion SOLELY with regard to their economic situation. That doesn't mean that I don't feel compassion for wealthy or affluent folks who are suffering from disease, death in their families, etc.

So, while I do believe that class status is a very important (and often overlooked) aspect of American identity and should be more of a basis for organizing, I don't think money solves all problems. And I also know (I'm a fundraiser) some very affluent folks who are incredible generous and civic-minded. It's the John Thain's of the world that elicit my derision.

[dysfunctional press]

19. another question might be the income level at which compassion turns OFF...

a lot of people don't have much compassion for some of the people taken in by bernie made-off (with-my-nestegg).

how high does someone's income or net worth have to be before they are no longer deserving of compassion? :shrug:

[Sanctified]

22. You know I really don't care how much someone makes...

If they need help, they need help. A person who is a millionaire today could be broke tomorrow and someone who is broke today can be a millionaire tomorrow. Their wealth does not change that they are still human and we should love them no matter what.

[stray cat]

24. For me it depends on who they are and how they got there

I may be compassionate toward a nephew who got a college degree but has decided he doesn't want to look for a job and is living off his parents with no income but I'm not going to give him money to sit and watch tv.

[killbotfactory]

25. I don't feel sorry for the financial troubles of rich people who squandered their wealth

pursing a rich person lifestyle, surrounding themselves with what amount to little more than status symbols, and being forced to swallow their pride and cut back.

Not when so many of them are willing to blame people on the lower end of the economic ladder for their own troubles, as an excuse to justify not spending tax money or otherwise lifting a finger for any of them.

[Christian30]

28. That I have to agree with...

The assholes who blamed unions and the working poor for their own disastrous management of the economy get now sympathy from me.

[Mari333]

30. If you cant give up

going out to dinner
getting your hair or nails done
buying a new car every other yr
having brand new furniture
buying new clothes every year
going on vacation every year
having a huge house with every luxury in it
then i dont have much compassion.
these are all things people can live without.
food, shelter, and heat are things one has to have. thats about it.
edit to add: and health care, we all need that.
nonetheless, I know people who complain because they have to cut back on their masseuse sessions. and their nail sessions.
puhlease.

[natrat]

31. depends where you live-in the bay area 30k is poverty

[BlooInBloo]

36. I would have thought that 30k in the bay area = dead.

[Posteritatis]

40. "I reject the premise" should be an option in more polls (nt)