• BillyClark@piefed.social
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    1 month ago

    If the topic really is “a luxury I can’t live without,” then quality coffee is a great example, and a private plane is a profoundly bad example.

    It’s so shockingly wrong that it’s hard to imagine it’s not just a bit that they worked out ahead of time.

    • Soup
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      1 month ago

      The rich will claim you’re driving them to abject poverty if you tax them into only having a million dollars.

      • BillyClark@piefed.social
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        1 month ago

        My bare minimum standard for calling a person “rich” is whether they can live in luxury purely on the passive income from their investments. By that standard, a person with only a million dollars would not be rich. You probably need more like 10 million.

        I agree one million isn’t abject poverty, but it would be a giant change in lifestyle. They’d either have to give up on most luxuries and live somewhere cheap, or they’d have to actually work for money.

          • Ava@piefed.blahaj.zone
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            1 month ago

            A safe withdrawal rate on funds invested is usually 3-4%, not 6%.

            Not that $300k isn’t more than sufficient for a high quality lifestyle. Your point is more than valid.

          • BillyClark@piefed.social
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            1 month ago

            I’m not sure you’re trying to say that I did, but I didn’t mean that 10 million was the minimum needed to say a person is rich.

            I was saying my standard for rich was in the neighborhood of 10 million, compared to 1 million. If you have 1 million, your 6% would be 60k, but you don’t get interest on your house where you’re living, so if you purchased a house in today’s market that might be 250k, and now you’re down to 45k. Certainly not a salary where you can live in luxury.

        • Soup
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          1 month ago

          Like, sorta, but also no. “Most luxuries” and “live somewhere cheap” are both insane things to say, too.

          I know what you’re trying to get at, and I get it, but to say that someone who can still drive any car they want, live pretty much wherever except for some very specific places, get into whatever niche hobby their heart desires, and never needs to fear unemployment is not rich is just silly. I also said “tax them”, which means they’d still have everything else they currently own and could make money on that stuff, too.

          A person with a million dollars is a person without any meaningful restriction on their life.

          Edit: Goddamn, a lot of ya’ll really upset about this comment. Too bad, learn to read, and, failing that, find a high bridge over deep water ‘cause dealing with ya’ll just ain’t worth it.

          • BillyClark@piefed.social
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            1 month ago

            You said “tax them into only having a million dollars,” which I cannot reconcile with your latest statement “they’d still have everything else they currently own and could make money on that stuff, too.”

            If you are talking purely about how much cash they have in the bank, then every person would just buy stocks until they had under that amount. Almost nothing would change.

            • zikzak025
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              1 month ago

              FWIW, stocks also need to be taxed a lot more than they are, or sharply limited in their trading potential and/or as compensation. Compensation in stock is how most of the billionaires of today amass their wealth, and it needs to stop being the loophole that it is.

          • Grail@multiverse.soulism.net
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            1 month ago

            Isn’t a million like the price of a house these days? I get that we’re all poor and we’re never gonna own property, but the price of a house isn’t enough to live in luxury for life.

          • lad@programming.dev
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            1 month ago

            Well, if I had a million right now and stopped working, and everyone in my family would not work either anymore, that million will not last us even until my retirement age, that’s also if the inflation is 0% until then. A million 50 years ago would probably be enough for that, but not now

      • surewhynotlem
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        1 month ago

        To be fair, a million dollars in some parts of the US gets you a decent size house and one car. You still need to work every day. You can still be bankrupt by medical debt.

        Contrast that with actual rich folks who can burn a million dollars in a bon fire every morning and still have more money at the end of the year than they started with.

        Point is: The former are more comfortable than many. The latter are a literal cancer on society that must be addressed.

        • Whelks_chance
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          1 month ago

          I guess it depends what people consider the “millionaire lifestyle”, which must go up with inflation like everything else.

              • surewhynotlem
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                1 month ago

                Oh, I’m still not seeing it. Sorry.

                The top 1% are cancer on society. Quite literally. They consume resources and expand to the point where it kills the host.

                People in the top 20%, excluding the 1%, aren’t like that. They’re surely more comfortable. They surely have better opportunity. But their existence doesn’t threaten the rest of us.

                • huppakee
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                  1 month ago

                  The comment you replied to states “The rich will claim you’re driving them to abject poverty if you tax them into only having a million dollars.”

                  You say people with $1.000.000 still have to work, they are not “actual rich folk”. But that’s not relevant to the comment you reply to, since them “having to work all day” and them still being able to be “bankrupt by medical debt” still doesn’t equal the abject poverty the rich claim they’ll be driven to. In other words, it doesn’t matter that people with one million are not in the same position as the people with ten million, because neither would be living in abject poverty; ergo my comment.

        • Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month ago

          I know man but with a million bucks you can choose to move somewhere cheap to live. The rest of us can’t do that because there aren’t good jobs in the cheap areas. There’s plenty of beautiful homes for $200k in my state but there all in the middle of nowhere 3 hour drive from the closest city that has a hospital.

          • surewhynotlem
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            1 month ago

            Okay, let’s say I move somewhere cheap. Now I have a million bucks.

            I can’t retire. Still got to work. Still need health insurance. Still at the whims of the fate of the universe.

            Is it more comfortable? Sure! I’d love that. But these people aren’t the problem. The yacht with the garage for a smaller yacht in it is the problem.

            • Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works
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              1 month ago

              I mean yeah it’s cheap so you can retire there lol, but those people are a problem because they’re still trying to become billionaires and also they’re the soldiers of the billionaires. For $100k a year theyre the ones denying good insurance claims and areesting peaceful protestors, Bezos and Musk themselves don’t hurt society with their own bodies, they pay upper middle class folk to do that for them. Then they retire with a mil or two in the bank and try to blame the people they agreed to work for their whole lives.

    • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 month ago

      Larry King is a well known numbskull, he would literally avoid researching his interviewees before because he thought it made for better interviews, but it ended up just making him look ignorant

      • VitoRobles@lemmy.today
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        1 month ago

        That was one thing I did like the concept of, but it is terrible on TV.

        I like it because it’s like being at a party and just chatting, only to discover you’re talking to a world famous heart surgeon, but they’re too humble to explain it all. It may also be refreshing to them, as they’re so used to getting all the attention and here is this person interviewing them who isn’t a stan.

        Larry though kind of has a chip on his shoulder. He is always bragging and name dropping. Which makes him intolerable to watch.

    • Agent641
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      1 month ago

      The fact that we can buy quality coffee, spices, and salt for such cheap prices would be unfathomably luxurious to almost every other person from human history pre-1910.

        • HurricaneLiz
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          1 month ago

          I remind myself of these things you and the person above you said every day. Plus, I would be dead without soap and antibiotics. I’m richer than most royalty throughout history and I’m on disability. I could be homeless and dead inside a month, I’m good right now, but there’s zero security. I tell myself I could be a Queen from back in the day living with an execution writ over her head if something goes wrong she has no control over, and try to handle things with as much grace as I can. The gratitude for all these things I can take for granted is profound though. Air conditioning is just amazing!

        • iN8sWoRLd
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          1 month ago

          “Sure, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health … what have the Romans ever done for us?”

  • pachrist
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    1 month ago

    I love asking people what their first irresponsible purchase would be if they won the lottery.

    Everyone has the day dream of paying off medical debt, your parent’s mortgage, new car, fun vacation. But that’s all responsible. I want to know what the unhinged thing you probably shouldn’t do is. My favorite answer was Baja Blast on tap bedside.

  • DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    I can’t tell if Larry King just assumed that Danny is wealthy because he’s an actor, or if he was really so out of touch with reality that he didn’t realize there are people out there who can’t afford private jets.

    • miraclerandy
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      1 month ago

      Yeah, this better because Danny tried again with nice running socks which also fits the description before Larry came in with the private plane. He should’ve realized his question was not what he thought it was at that point lol

      • RBWells
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        1 month ago

        I find myself in agreement with those luxuries. Nice socks, good coffee, and being able to get whatever food I want at the grocery do signal to me that we are well off. I can remember having only a bag of potatoes and 5 days till payday after paying rent & power & water, and our neighbor bringing us some vegetables he dumpster dived because he was worried about us, so comparatively rich for sure, but also I would argue that not having to worry about the household budget because there is enough each month is also objectively well off, and those things are luxurious.

        I am sitting here enjoying some good locally roasted coffee right now in fact and feeling so grateful for the position we are in at this moment. Will it last? Who knows? Maybe not. But enjoying it while we have it.

        Rich? It depends on how you measure it I guess. Compared to the median maybe? But neither of us could quit working and survive.

  • Kay Ohtie@pawb.social
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    1 month ago

    Wtf. Larry, do you know how expensive really good coffee is? It’s like $20-30 USD for 12 oz / 340g of really good, independently-roasted stuff. That shit is not cheap.

  • Bluewing
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    1 month ago

    I’m old, and I have learned that things mean less and less as you get older. I fact I’m trying to get rid of things now. It’s amazing as to what one accumulates over a long lifetime.

    If there is one thing I would buy irresponsibly, it would be tea. The finest and freshest DanCong teas, the ripest Sheng PuErh, and Rock Oolongs. And I would drink them everyday while listening to the sound of the loons in the early mornings.

    Or maybe a real vacation somewhere. Me and Grandma haven’t ever taken a vacation in over 40 years. She would love that I think.

    • wrinkledoo@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      I’ve actually become more materialistic, but in a “I want more tools so I can learn more skills and do more things” sort of way.

      I want to brew my own beer and make my own cheese. Experience tells me I enjoy things I make with my hands much much more than when I buy them.

      • Bluewing
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        1 month ago

        I used to brew years ago. I come from a long line of beer brewers, even before it was legal in my state. Look up Rocky Raccoons honeyed Lager some day. I quit because my wife was diagnosed with celiac, and we could no longer drink it together. Kind of took the fun out of brewing for me. I smoke pounds of bacon and such now. And I still try and build a new model steam engine every winter when I’m not ice fishing.

        Hobbies are a good thing. They keep your mind sharp and your hands functional.

      • SGforce@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        I got into wine making in the past 2 years and it is consuming me. I hardly drink any myself but I love tweaking the recipe and giving it away.

    • IMALlama
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      1 month ago

      We’re just barely over 40 and are taking stock over the massive quantity of things we’ve built up. We have a ton of stuff from previous times in our lives that still work, but we haven’t used in 5, or even 10, years. Some examples are easier, like college text books. Others are a bit more fraught like my original PlayStation, Dreamcast, and Xbox that all still work, but just aren’t getting used.

      • Bluewing
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        1 month ago

        It’s amazing isn’t it. The rule I try, (try is the operative here), to live by is if I haven’t used it in over a year, get rid of it. It’s often hard to follow on though.

        • IMALlama
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          1 month ago

          Completely agree. A decent amount of the clutter is aspirational. The kids will totally want to play my old consoles and not spend all their time on our PS5! That hasn’t really panned out and I’m coming to terms with reality.

          On the good news side, we’re going to have to get everything out of our basement to replace the floor. We’re going to be very choosey regarding what goes back down.

          • Bluewing
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            1 month ago

            Kids have a kaleidoscope of ever-changing interests that often aren’t the same as mommy’s and daddies. I highly recommend encouraging those quick changes of course.

    • iocase@lemmy.zip
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      1 month ago

      Yes yes yes to the tea!

      Also good tea sets in a variety of forms. I have a teeny set for travel, large set for hotels and where I have luggage to carry it around, and I want to eventually get a full GongFu tea table with integrated drain and kettle filling station.

      What I love about it is it’s really cheap. The most expensive tea I have is $4 per session and it’s delicious 😋

      • Bluewing
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        1 month ago

        I tried Gong Fu, but it’s not for me. My personality is wrong for it. Too much action and not enough stillness I guess. So I brew Grandpa style. I’m jelly of you! And there are all kinds of decent and good teas that won’t break the bank. And half the fun is looking for them.

        Remember: Drink the tea you like the way you like it!

    • GoofSchmoofer
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      1 month ago

      I just went through a big purge of stuff a few years ago. At first it was difficult to let go of the I-may-need-it-someday thoughts about things I haven’t used or seen in 5+ years. Then it occurred to me that if I do need this thing I can always buy it later. It became much easier to donate most of the stuff. And honestly, today I couldn’t even tell you what I got rid of, which tells me how unimportant it really was in my life.

    • Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      I’m old, and I have learned that things mean less and less as you get older.

      I was gonna agree with you because at first I thought you just meant like words haha.

      Nothing means anything, people just say make sounds with their mouth and the dictionary is useless. But yeah physical things also, we’re all flesh and bones, just cherish that while you can, seen enough shiny pretty things in my life that im over them.

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    As long as they can afford it, anyone can book a private jet with little to no effort. The same cannot be said about finding a proper good cup of coffee.

    • dohpaz42
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      1 month ago

      Considering most everyone I’ve ever met drowns their coffee in HFCS “flavored creamer”, I doubt many people know what a good cup of coffee tastes like. Even those so-called gourmet shops can’t do a decent cup of coffee. 🤮

      • T156
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        1 month ago

        It is a very regional thing. Creamer might just be popular where you are. In Hong Kong, for example, it’s not uncommon to mix your coffee with white tea.

        But good is relative, since it’s a matter of personal taste. Some people like the taste of powdered instant coffee, others may not.

        • Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month ago

          But good is relative, since it’s a matter of personal taste.

          Well, i do think there’s a level of intelligence involved so that you can recognize something is good or bad despite your personal preferences. Like i can taste a high quality roast coffee with strong floral notes, and I just don’t like floral notes on my coffee it doesn’t sit right on my tongue, but i can still appreciate it’s a very high quality coffee and recommend it to my friend who loves those kinds of coffee.

          At the same time, i have a weakness for mcdonalds coffee black, it’s not good, it’s bad, but for some reason i drink it it reminds me of childhood and i feel good.

          And i dont think that’s a lot to ask of human intelligence, like you dont even need 100 IQ to just understand the concept that there are high quality and low quality coffees, but any individual can prefer the taste of any of them.