From: JTS - MCDLXXXVI (jts7@duke.edu)
Date: Tue Jun 20 2000 - 08:41:34 PDT
On Tue, 20 Jun 2000, Gregory Alan Bolcer wrote:
> The only problem I have is when they start rounding off
> to the tens of millions spot. $27M or $30M what's the difference?
10% - a decent annual pay increase as far as I can tell. People who get
less than 5% increases often quit because they are "underappreciated".
> In fact there's a *huge* difference. It's at the point people
> can't comprehend the difference is when you know you've gone too far.
Perspective. From inside, one can always tell the difference, I'd
imagine. The transition happens. I am confident that everyone, at some
point in a $10/hr job, looked at their paycheck and thought "Gee, this is
pretty good money, but if I could make $50,000 a year that would be so
awesome!"... or something similar. By the same token, the investment
banker wannabe in Manhattan has no less valid a gripe when he bitches
about "only" getting a $150k bonus when everyone else got 250k this year.
My professional goal, as previously stated, is to completely and utterly
lose all perspective (relative to my age-bracket peers) on income, salary,
and all other money-related matters. A good benchmark on this is to
observe my current money concerns and run an "incredulity check" using my
financial status of 12 months ago. The higher the WTF meter goes, the
better my progress.
It's not the point at which "people" in general can't tell the difference
that it's obscene. It's the point at which the "person" in question can
no longer substantively tell the difference. At this point his earnings
growth has exceeded his curve for perspective and consumption, and has
become obscene.
JTS
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