The American Dream Is Alive in Finland

Re:The American Dream Is Alive in Finland by lumberjack on Monday July 11, 2016 @04:58PM (#12074554)

>Individuals don't care about their ability to change their percentile, they care about their ability to change their total income. I think most individuals would prefer a "non-mobile" $60k increase in income versus a "mobile" $40k increase in income. You can't spend percentiles.

I highly dispute this. Take it as a completely different world view but I think if people were given a choice:

1 >a nominal income of $100k for you and a nominal income of $200k for all your neighbours

2 >a nominal income of $75k for you and a nominal income of $60k for all your neighbours

A lot of people would opt for choice 2. I myself am not sure whether I'd go for 1 or 2.

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Re:The American Dream Is Alive in Finland by jazzyk on Monday July 11, 2016 @06:26PM (#12075284)

Yes, the Economist has an article on this relativity every two years or so :-)

There are two reasons for why people invariably choose 2>

- people are competitive and want to feel superior to others (or at least above average)

- the price of everything adjusts to median income, so if you live in a $60K state/country with a $75K income, everything is more affordable for you.

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Re:The American Dream Is Alive in Finland by sanoli on Monday July 11, 2016 @05:07PM (#12074629)

Depends. Can I opt for the $100k income and then move to the $60k neighborhood?

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Re:The American Dream Is Alive in Finland by jawbone3 on Monday July 11, 2016 @05:28PM (#12074840)

Yes, that is choice 2

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