[davidzweig]

I spend a lot of time in the Ukraine and talk with people. A friend of mine earns $140/mo ($1680/yr) as a skilled machinist. He has probably as much accumulated skill as me and sweats at his work. I sit around and type out some JS and drink coffee, and make an order of magnitude more money than him. I drove a $500 car (on vegetable oil - cheaper). Live in one bedroom appartment with a Hungarian family. Outside the window are people shooting themselves up. I worked for a couple of years out of a McDonalds with earplugs so the music didn't distract me. I maintain a complex software stack that services nearly a million users with a software they love. I don't want to be doing anything else.

I don't like the IQ/talent fetish that seems to pervade Anglophone culture. Some people have a stronger natural predisposition to sit and stare at a screen and figure out puzzles, and that happens to be sought after on the labor market. Doesn't mean others have less inherent value as human beings.

Would be nice to have a small appartment one day. I just try to offer some perspective.