[khalilravanna]

What’s wrong with paying money so others can live? I see a lot of life as chance. I’m lucky that I grew up upper middle class with parents who paid for college. Now I got a cushy job as a software engineer. I could have just as easily been born to a family with 0 wealth and had to start working at a young age and do that until I died. Why shouldn’t we have a safety net to at least cushion the blow of getting a bad dice roll at birth?

[reedjosh]

> What’s wrong with paying money so others can live?

Nothing if it's voluntary.

> I grew up upper middle class with parents who paid for college.

I didn't.

> I could have just as easily been born to a family with 0 wealth and had to start working at a young age and do that until I died.

I was and would likely not end up dead with 0 wealth if I can manage to keep some of what I'm now generating.

[swozey]

I grew up poor, was homeless at 16 for a year while still trying to go to HS, eventually had to drop out and climb up the career ladder with no formal education, now make well into 6 figures and I'm more than happy to help people NOT have to go through my situation. You should be as well. I am beyond lucky that I dug myself out of that hole and I know other people will not have my luck. If I didn't start programming as a kid because my school got computers early I would probably be in retail still.

And evidently your luck, as well.

[reedjosh]

Again, voluntarily sure. I view redistribution of wealth via force to be a net negative on the wealth of society.

> evidently your luck, as well.

I worked at a Burger King, a hardware store, an apartment complex (plumbing toilets and whatnot), and finally put my self through college. It was an exhausting climb the whole way and I _worked_. I was never let go, and I hardly (like a $1500 a pell grant once) received assistance because I _made too much_ in my day job when I finally did go to school.

I wasn't terribly lucky other than I `lucked` into a work ethic and I `lucked` into being born in a country that still had enough of a free market that I _could_ work my way up.

And thinking on it now I don't think I was that well served by my schooling. I feel if anything I was held back in an _almost_ deliberate effort to homogenize me.

[swozey]

If it were voluntary would you contribute?

[reedjosh]

I do contribute locally, and I donate to media sources and causes I believe in.

I should add that I also support local farms and businesses now that I have the funds.

[jameshart]

I have bad news for you: dead people can’t keep their wealth.

[reedjosh]

Dead people's families can. The parent poster talked about being `lucky` in that his parents could pay for his college. I want my kids to be `lucky` enough to afford housing and _if they really want_ college.