It's Rich...

I know this is kind of ironic coming from me but we really messed up in society when we started identifying with the dragons.

Talking to Katie on Sunday and we were talking about the tax cuts from the Trump years and how she assumed they had benefited us. I had to disabuse her of her thoughts of the kind of money we have. We have don't have to stress in line at the grocery store money, we don't have tax cuts for the wealthy money. We, in fact, had a GIANT tax bill that year even though we tried to mitigate it with withholding adjustments mid year. We are the middle class. Maybe upper middle class, but we are the tax bracket that pays for everything. 

And let me make this really clear, I don't mind paying taxes. I think a really healthy, functioning society needs taxes to be paid. I think the government should be providing certain goods and services on a wide scale to all of us and that taxes are how we pay for those things. But what I do have a problem with is that is not what my taxes seem to go to. My taxes are a redistribution of wealth and it pisses me off. 

And let's be REALLY clear here, the redistribution that is happening is upward. 

The wealth gap is insane in this country. I've written about it a lot because it really bothers me. That level of money breaks something in your brain and you no longer understand enough. Enough just becomes more. 

I like having enough. I've lived through times when I did not have enough. I like having a cushion to protect us from times when it might be harder than others. Either due to work paying less or items costing more or the dreaded combination of both. Enough and a little extra is great. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. 

But when enough is out the window and it just becomes more it's a problem. 

When you are hoarder and you are poor they make you a horror show television program. Oh look at how disgusting this is! You don't want to be this! When you are a hoarder and you are rich they make you an aspirational television show. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Dream Houses of the Obscenely Wealthy. How many houses do you need? How many cars? How much money do you need in the bank, the stock market, the Cayman Islands? 

We praise people who make a lot of money with Airbnb or VRBO instead of shaming them for buying up the smaller more affordable houses making it more expensive for people to actually live in those areas. And you see it all the time. Lovely resort towns that depend on the service industry to keep them running and the people who work in those industries can't afford to live there. All the while there are 100 listings on vacation property sites of ENTIRE FUCKING HOUSES that are being rented out to vacationers. 

Airbnb started out as people renting a room in their house. Or maybe renting their house out while they were on vacation. Then it turned into people buying houses just for that purpose. Not for long term rentals, but just short term. Not even just buying a vacation house and renting it out while they weren't there. They can make back the mortgage and a healthy profit just over the peak tourist season in some places. Which they then turn around and use to buy more properties. All the while we have people living on the street. Because it's a cascade. You take inventory off the market and it increases the price of everything left. And eventually you run out of space that people can afford all together. But there are people still making a lot of money so it's fine. 

Because we don't understand what enough is. 

I get it, hotels are expensive. There isn't as much room. Maybe you like having your own kitchen to cook in to save you some money. But just understand that it's a lousy system we are encouraging. People in popular vacation places need someplace to live and if everything is going to investment properties that's a problem. 

We idolize the dragons. That's what dragons were in the old stories. They were hoarders. They sat on great big piles of jewels and gold. And they didn't have a use for it, it's not like they needed it to live, they just liked it because it was shiny. They just wanted it to have it. And they wanted more than any other dragon had. They were hoarders. 

And we've turned into a world that wants to be the dragon instead of the dragon slayer. 

We don't know what enough is.