Club 33 Woes

[Vegas Disney Fan]

After working through the entire pandemic without missing a single day due to covid and having my pay frozen because of the pandemic while inflation goes crazy, I guess I'm just not sympathetic to all the people who just got a year paid vacation at more than their regular salary from unemployment. All of these "they don't get paid enough" arguments feel pretty hollow to me when I would love to have had all the paid time off that they ended up with.

That’s a broad brush but generally I agree, paying people more in unemployment than they normally make made no sense to me either, the IRS knew how much people made, they could have capped unemployment at 100% of the previous years income. Paying someone $600 a week in state and federal unemployment who normally makes $400 a week was an odd decision.

That said I’d hardly call being layed off due to a global pandemic a “vacation”. I was out of work for nearly a year and even with the extra federal money lost a sizable chunk of my income, I spent 99% of last year sitting on my couch thinking how nice it would be to have my normal income, and no travel restrictions, so I could enjoy that time.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Not to mention those who where laid off and aren’t able to get back their previous job. Only current source is these abundance of low paying jobs, I would rather stay unemployed too if I where in their shoes. It not worth the stress on top when they have kids not in school still.

Not much sense to take a lower paying job when you know you will be recalled any day either, my employer was in constant contact with us, our reopening got delayed from Nov to Jan to March but we always knew we had a job to go back to.

 

[TP2000]

Here, I've boiled down your argument for you in a handy image form:

Like, yes I live in our current society? Yes I have spent money on frivolous things before? That doesn't actually take away from the argument that greed, especially from the mega-wealthy investors and corporations, is not actually good for society. All you're doing is trying to point to a hypocrisy that doesn't actually exist in any meaningful way, as I am not a millionaire by any stretch of the imagination.

Got it. You spend discretionary income on frivolous luxuries. But when someone else does it, that's "greed". Your greedy Disneyland vacation and air conditioned home with WiFi is not nearly as greedy as Bob Chapek's Gulfstream 600, etc.

I spend discretionary money on frivolous things all the time. The $90 I spent on a bottle of good Japanese whiskey last week could provide medical supplies for several families in Africa. But I still bought the whiskey. And I've enjoyed it every night I've had a shot or two of it.

Greed is a mortal sin. And it's a sin almost all of us commit every single day. I think the difference between you and I is that I could care less how much I commit the sin of greed, so long as the expensive whiskey is good and the expensive day at Disneyland is fun.

For the record, I don't own a Gulfstream 600. I can't afford it. But if I did own one, I would admit to it happily. Without a shred of guilt.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Got it. You spend discretionary income on frivolous luxuries. But when someone else does it, that's "greed". Your greedy Disneyland vacation and air conditioned home with WiFi is not nearly as greedy as Bob Chapek's Gulfstream 600, etc.

I spend discretionary money on frivolous things all the time. The $90 I spent on a bottle of good Japanese whiskey last week could provide medical supplies for several families in Africa. But I still bought the whiskey. And I've enjoyed it every night I've had a shot or two of it.

Greed is a mortal sin. And it's a sin almost all of us commit every single day. I think the difference between you and I is that I could care less how much I commit the sin of greed, so long as the expensive whiskey is good and the expensive day at Disneyland is fun.

For the record, I don't own a Gulfstream 600. But if I did, I would admit to it happily. Without a shred of guilt.

Arigato.

 

[cmwade77]

Where is this math you speak of? You have yet to provide it.

I did, look above, although, remember to cut annual revenue in half of what I posted, which really proves it can't be done.

 

[cmwade77]

Got it. You spend discretionary income on frivolous luxuries. But when someone else does it, that's "greed". Your greedy Disneyland vacation and air conditioned home with WiFi is not nearly as greedy as Bob Chapek's Gulfstream 600, etc.

I spend discretionary money on frivolous things all the time. The $90 I spent on a bottle of good Japanese whiskey last week could provide medical supplies for several families in Africa. But I still bought the whiskey. And I've enjoyed it every night I've had a shot or two of it.

Greed is a mortal sin. And it's a sin almost all of us commit every single day. I think the difference between you and I is that I could care less how much I commit the sin of greed, so long as the expensive whiskey is good and the expensive day at Disneyland is fun.

For the record, I don't own a Gulfstream 600. I can't afford it. But if I did own one, I would admit to it happily. Without a shred of guilt.

Except that bottle of whiskey, provided jobs to several people who produced it. Buying a Gulfstream 600, would provide jobs to miners who mine the minerals to make the metal, metal works who make the body of the plane, mechanics who make the engine, etc.

Spending money on frivolous things actually employs far more people than we think about.

So, why should anyone feel guilty about working hard to earn an income and spending it frivolously, which actually.keeps people.employed rather than living off of handouts?

 

[TP2000]

Except that bottle of whiskey, provided jobs to several people who produced it. Buying a Gulfstream 600, would provide jobs to miners who mine the minerals to make the metal, metal works who make the body of the plane, mechanics who make the engine, etc.

Spending money on frivolous things actually employs far more people than we think about.

So, why should anyone feel guilty about working hard to earn an income and spending it frivolously, which actually.keeps people.employed rather than living off of handouts?

I couldn't agree with you more.

But if you spend money on luxuries, some folks think you are "greedy". But the definition of "greed" is malleable, and can instantly bend so that it never applies to the person accusing someone else of "greed" for having too many luxuries or frivolous objects in their lives.

A Club 33 membership is inherently luxurious and frivolous. I can't think of any other way to explain that purchase.

But it penciled out for some folks. All of whom that I know personally worked very hard their whole lives to create small businesses and family run firms who created a comfortable lifestyle for themselves. But now, with an uncertain future and a stunning lack of communication from TDA on what the future holds for their investment, many Club 33 members are saying goodbye.

 

[el_super]

Paying someone $600 a week in state and federal unemployment who normally makes $400 a week was an odd decision.

They wanted to encourage spending to keep the economy running. It wasn't so much about giving people something for free as much as it was about keeping people who were employed, still employed. Without the stimulus we would have been looking at a chain reaction of smaller businesses going under and taking out more medium businesses until nothing was left.

In all honesty, and to make sure this gets back on topic, I am pretty convinced that people going to Disneyland now are doing so in part because they had stimulus money saved up, and felt comfortable with the condition of the economy to make a luxury purchase. Something like a Disneyland trip is usually the first thing to get cut from the budget when one is concerned their job is on the line.

 

[PiratesMansion]

I did, look above, although, remember to cut annual revenue in half of what I posted, which really proves it can't be done.

I see no math, just hypothesizing based upon nothing, so far as I can tell.

 

[cmwade77]

Some might of gotten paid more but quite a few didn't. I actually made less on unemployment and now being back to work and reduced hours I am making less than unemployment. Luckily I saved any stimulus for this situation.

I would have made substantially less on unemployment, but luckily my job just got busier during all of this rather than less busy, so it wasn't an issue for me. But for those making $15 an hour or less, many have been making more on unemployment.