>People move up and down in economic status all the time.

Entropy. The fact that change happens doesn't prove that we control it.

Your wealth and health are randomized when you're born. What you do later has miniscule influence.

Do you think you could deliberately become poorer if you wanted to? If you do, why do you think you couldn't deliberately become richer?

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krisoft 3 days ago | parent [-]

Imagine someone running on a long conveyor belt. The belt is just fast enough that they can keep up with it, but any small mistake, hesitation, or fall means they are dragged behind. On that conveyor belt falling behind is the default state. To stay in one place one must do the right things at all times and also be lucky enough that no bad things happen to you.

This is the experience of many. The speed of the conveyor belt is why people can easily imagine falling behind (thats the diffult state!) while moving ahead is almost impossible. (It doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. From time to time someone finds a jetpack and propels themselves onto places where the conveyor belt is working slightly differently, but thats not going to be the experience of everyone.)

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imgabe 3 days ago | parent [-]

In reality, you choose the speed of the conveyor belt. You choose what expenses you take on and therefore how much you need to make each month. To a large part, you can slow the belt down if you like. Options like boarding houses would allow people to slow it down even more precisely if they wanted without falling off entirely.

> To stay in one place one must do the right things at all times and also be lucky enough that no bad things happen to you.

"do the right things" is really not that hard. It mostly involves not doing things like getting arrested, getting addicted to drugs, or otherwise making bad choices. It's not some crazy delicate balancing act that you're making it out to be.

	▲	bombcar 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		It's an almost immutable part of human nature to get into a position where you're "just getting by" - but if there's someone out there in a similar situation making less than you, you could match them dollar for dollar and have some to save. Which means that for many it's not a financial problem, it's a self-control problem. I can't afford to save, but I can afford to pay 10-20% extra on everything through credit cards.