this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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Relocating to access a lower cost of living as a worker is a fallacy. The survival margin is the same everywhere. The cost is a measure of opportunity. Exporting wealth risks marooning one's self. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Struggling to live in an expensive area is a measure of one's access to the average opportunities available to others.

Merchants able to transport wealth are an ancient tradition. Many have profited greatly from the endeavor. Many have also died along the journey or been forced to establish a new living standard for themselves in a place of lesser opportunity when they are confronted with an unexpected challenge and can not return. The journey down is easy, but mobility is not symmetrical.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see arguments like this for why everyone has to go live in cities where a single family home is a million bucks.

It's categorically wrong. Of course if you go to live somewhere with a cheaper cost of living, there's going to be a cheaper cost of living. The data does not bear out the idea that a high cost of living also necessarily means a commensurate wage.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Cost of living is not magical. It is created by the opportunities available. If people can pay more for the house or rent, the market will adjust to it. The regulating factor is simply the opportunities available. All other factors are peripheral.

If you can export money by working remotely, you're floating on a rare exception to the rule. If everyone could do the same, the cost of living would adjust to compensate. You are essentially taking the same risk as an ancient merchant on a ship. When the circumstances change, you can easily find yourself stuck in a place without any opportunities.

The fallacy is looking at cost of living as some kind of magical random generated number. It is not. It is a direct measure of the opportunities available to the average person. It doesn't matter where you live, how poor or how rich the area seems, the average person is encountering the exact same pressure and stress about simply staying afloat. The grass is not greener on either side of the fence. The only difference is the availability of opportunities for the average person in an area.