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I'm the 20k making guy in that scenario. Yay philosophy lol. Is it fair? I don't know, maybe not..
But since when has life been fair? If you do a lib arts degree expect to either hustle or struggle for a bit. I did philosophy and though money is tight to non existent, I have no regrets. I did it because philosophy is where my talents were strongest. What's funny about this is, it's literally like a year of school and I could get a math degree, a bio degree, a business degree...I've taken most classes those majors have, it's just the name on my degree is different. I opted for a broader degree because I didn't want to feel pidgeon holed into a certain track back then. Like, right now I'm only 25 and I can get into most fields within 3 to 4 years, if that..so I actually like my position. Fine, money is tight now but money is coming.
And I have lots of diversified experience at this point, I have learned so many jobs, that I honestly think I'm up for any challenge. I've worked from vet hospitals to business inventory, from sports management to test proctoring. From offices, to warehouses, to parking lots to stadiums of 20k+.
Anyway, life isn't fair. 20 years from now, if I'm at the top "despite" being trained in the liberal arts when my peers are stuck at 100k in engineering, it won't be fair either..that I had the sense to avoid that.
My rationale was simple actually. I'm either dying poor or rich, I will never die middle class. And that's where those degrees take you..middle class America. But with me, I'm either dying poor because I put myself in a position of having to try on my own and I continuously failed, or else something took off and like Mr. Trump "I'm really rich" lol. For me, not trying and just going with it isn't really an option. If I don't try, I don't eat.
Right now I don't even know if I make 20k a year, but the other thing is...since it isn't an important job, I don't even stress about it. I mean, I haven't even gone to work in a week lol. Too busy on my own projects so work takes a back seat and is done as needed. Starting companies, building websites, partnering and investing is what I do most often. Meanwhile on paper it looks like I'm doing two jobs actually, so the experience is just building up for pretty much free.
To me, it beats the hell out of the extra $40k people are making while giving people literally only the weekends off. How do people live that life? That's just not for me. Well, maybe if I had kids..
Some people, like myself, would go crazy if we don't work. I work in the technical field and I absolutely love my career.
Assuming the accounting nephew is working 75 hours per week at E&Y (for that he'll be considered a slacker) and the communications nephew is working 40 hours per week, they are both making about 10 dollars per hour. Of course if the accounting nephew can survive 2-3 years and be promoted to senior, he'll be at $100k+ and have the mobility to move into a 50 hour per week job (which will feel like part time for him). Unless and until that happens, the accounting nephew has the raw deal.
Numbers versus the history of the world. I know which one I would have a more stimulating conversation with.
I know what point you think you're making, but what you're actually doing is trumpeting your ignorance of mathematics.
That's understandable, because math is not as easy as history. Therefore, it's a lot harder for laypeople to talk about it. Those who actually study it, however, find in it a rare kind of beauty that outsiders can never even dreaming of seeing, because they've never seen anything like it before. My own work is at least as beautiful as anything a historian has ever done, and it's a lot more beautiful than anything someone with a mere bachelor's degree in history can brag about. It's not my fault that many people aren't educated enough to discuss it, though I'm still more than capable of bringing up plenty of beautiful subjects that are simple enough for anyone to learn.
That's aside from the fact that most math majors have diverse interests, both because they're required to take liberal arts courses while at school and because most math people naturally gravitate toward the higher forms of art for the same reason so many of the great artists of the past felt drawn to math (for example, the way the field of projective geometry originated with painters). I don't know too many mathematicians who aren't also deeply passionate about art or music or literature or poetry or something like that. History, too, since knowing the origin and development. of math requires knowing a lot about the context in which it grew up.
Assuming the accounting nephew is working 75 hours per week at E&Y (for that he'll be considered a slacker) and the communications nephew is working 40 hours per week, they are both making about 10 dollars per hour. Of course if the accounting nephew can survive 2-3 years and be promoted to senior, he'll be at $100k+ and have the mobility to move into a 50 hour per week job (which will feel like part time for him). Unless and until that happens, the accounting nephew has the raw deal.
In the long run, having more money in the short run reduces expenses. Even if the accounting major received the extra $40k per year as a long instead of as compensation, it would still be worth quite a bit more than that in the long run. Having money allows one to invest, to get out of the rent trap, to develop skills, to start a family earlier, and to have a cushion for emergencies and for retirement. The accountant has the option of working extra hard for half a decade, living the same lifestyle as the cinema employee, dropping the extra money into a house, then finding a job selling popcorn for 40 hours per week and living a semi-retired lifestyle indefinitely. The former accountant would then have a richer lifestyle while earning roughly the same amount as the other kid, since the accountant won't ever owe rent again.
Or, the accountant could invest all of the extra money somewhere else and drop down to popcorn-making with ten times the other kid's net worth all in a safe, cozy nest egg. It's a lot easier to make minimum wage when you have $300000 in the bank. It wouldn't be too crazy to get $15000 to $20000 per year in investment income, at that point.
They both have the option to pursue better jobs, of course, with the accountant having an advantage. A solid, middle-class income will continue to build on itself, and that will make it easier for the accountant's future kids to go to school with no debt.
All this is at the cost of a few years of hard work; those years could save the accountant a bunch of stress later in life, and they'll make it a lot easier to take care of a family later on.
Of course, the other kid is not likely to work at a movie theater for long, but the difference in incomes is magnified at that age.
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