Preview

Graham Hill's Living With Less

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
962 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Graham Hill's Living With Less
Being rich and part of the one percent is something most people strive for in order to gain happiness. In most cases, having a lot of money and being able to buy expensive devices, cars, and clothing doesn’t always make a person truly happy. Graham Hill is a person who wrote, “Living with Less. A lot Less” where he explains the reasons for getting rid of a luxurious lifestyle and settling for less. He realized that living with less was a lot better even though there might have be people who think he used his writing to show off. Richard Kim wrote, “What’s The Matter with Graham Hill’s ‘Living with Less’” in response to Hill. He believed that Hill used his platform incorrectly and also took the opportunity to bash him in his response. Although …show more content…
In Richard Kim's writing, “What's the matter with Graham Hill’s ‘Living with Less” he discusses the idea of Hill using his platform to show off rather than focus on other important things. He also seems to take the opportunity to bash Hill and use sarcasm throughout the essay. He states, “ In a majestic display of guileless narcissism, Hill, an Internet multimillionaire, congratulates himself for downsizing his life and getting rid of all the stuff—the homes and cars and gadgets and sectional sofas and $300 sunglasses” (1). Kim assumes that Hill is trying to show others all of the nice things he had. Kim believes that there are other important things such as the fact that the middle class works very hard and continue to struggle. He doesn't blame the people for wanting to buy stuff instead he blames the issue on the facts that things are not very expensive. Kim states, “and the Internet has already done a great job pointing out how obnoxious it is for a multimillionaire to hold himself up as a model of moderation when so many Americans are being forcibly downsized from already cramped lives” (2). Kim interprets Hills writing incorrectly. Hill was just trying to help others understand how much better and less stressful hey can live with

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    First, Americans are becoming over materialistic because of competition. Source number five, “The New Consumerism”, an essay written by Juliet Schor, explains the concept of competition between Americans, which leads to dangerous effects. In the essay, Schor explains how the American neighborhood led to competition in the middle of the twentieth century. Schor states, “In the 1950’s and 60’s, when Americans were keeping up with the Jones down the street, they typically compared themselves to other households of similar incomes” (Schor ¶ 3). This explains competition because even though each family has similar incomes, the competition to have the same possessions may develop in the neighborhood, even if they don’t need it.…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Frank Too Big Too Ignore

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Robert Frank, a professer at Cornell University, published an article for the New York Times on October 16, 2010. The title of the article was "Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore". In "Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore", Frank argues that there are differences in the social classes of the American people and that it is having a negative effect on our economy's growth. Frank explains that middle class citizens are in a struggle to maintain a good financial position. Meanwhile, the upper class citizens are spending copious amounts of money which makes it increasingly more difficult for the middle class to meet their basic needs. He says that the middle class are looking toward upper class citizens, comparing their posesions as well as their financial positions which makes the middle class feel financially unstable.…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Take present-day celebrities such as Kim Kardashian for instance. She lives in a lavish house rumored to have cost upwards of twenty million dollars, has an estimated worth of around $45M, and has her own boutique shop and clothing line (Bio), It is clearly evident that Kim Kardashian does not need to necessarily live such an extravagant lifestyle in order to survive and be content. It is safe to say that majority of her possessions are of sentimental value or help to prove her high societal status. Eigner states his “desire to grab for the gaudy bubble that has been largely sated” and that is “is an attitude I share with the very wealthy”. The rich, however, know they are well-off and have anything they could ever wish for right at their fingertips. In addition, celebrities and other famous people such as Kim Kardashian hold onto so many expensive items that realistically have no practical…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    tim blixseth essay

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When I was younger, I thought money ruled everything but in reality it doesn’t. Working hard doesn’t apply anymore in today’s economy. Most of the people who are wealthy have grown into the money or inherited from their ancestor. People hold the wealthy to a higher standard/power therefore they think they are better than the middle/lower class. Even though money is a great asset to have, it can be a liability. As I read the essay about Tim Blixseth, he was an individual who was not impressed or got excited about how much money he and his family had. He wanted to be low key, an average middle class person who worked hard for what he got not just given. In the story “Living It” he tells us how he would wake up in different locations each night.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is shown in the fact that 68.7 percent of the world’s population only holds three percent of the wealth in the world and only 8.4 percent of the world’s population has 83.3 percent of the wealth of the world (Doc 6). The 68.7 percent of the world with the least amount of money often works in factories for very low wages, these factories being owned by the most wealthy. This relates to how those who get ahead have to step on others, with the wealthy exploiting the poor for their wealth.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    That was always my experience—a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton.... However, I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works."…

    • 1582 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hard Working Stereotypes

    • 1969 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In the book ‘America’s Poor and the Great Recession’ by Kristin S. Seefeldt and John D. Graham, the reasoning that in a post-recession world, having two sections of an extreme poor and an extreme rich are becoming commonplace. The book talked about how the recession was just a reaction to how much power the 1% are getting, and how their recklessness caused an economic crisis America hadn’t seen since the 1930’s. In conclusion, the authors came to the answer that not only is becoming easier to fall into the hole of poverty, it’s becoming harder to climb out, and all because of the higher-ups. It may be because the middle class are afraid to fall into the hole of poverty themselves, and the myth makes them more comfortable, knowing that they are not “lazy”, or “undereducated”. The upper class, on the other hand, might be trying to deflect the blame. “It’s not OUR fault!”, they…

    • 1969 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Some people feel the rich do not pay their fair share in taxes. “The 95th/50th ratio in 2011 was $186,000 divided by $50,054, which equals 3.72. In other words, the income of houses in the 95th percentile was 3.72 times the income of households in the 50th percentile. Those in the top 25th percentile obtained a vast majority of the income in America (79.5% in 2007 and 75.9% in 2010.” (Evans, “Wealth”). This does prove that wealth is not evenly distributed among all Americans, which is an understandable thing to be upset…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, after graduating college in 2011, Eugene Lim spent around two years trying to find a job that involved his college degree. “After a serious mauling from a stray dog landed him in an emergency room, Lim was left with an $11,000 hospital bill he couldn’t pay” (Isaiah Poole). “That’s when he began to redirect his anger” (Isaiah Poole). Due to his current state of wealth, he eligible for Illinois’ Medicaid insurance program. He caught wind of Illinois Governer Bruce Rauner trying to cut the funding the state’s Medicaid program, while at the sometime trying to give tax cuts to corporation’s and the wealthy. As a result, Lim became frustrated and joined a Chicago community action group One Northside. This organization was a voice for the people who had little wealth. This organization would have fit well with the many groups during the Progressive Era. In short likewise, for the most part the rich will always look after each other and will continue to force the poor citizens to voice their…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the two essays, the main theme is inequality where the American society is highly stratified based on class. In both cases, the members of the lower class are unlikely to realize their ambitions not because they do not have the capacity, but because the ruling class does not give them an opportunity to do so. In his essay, Stiglitz observes, “Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret” (748). On his part, Singer is bitter with Bob for loving material wealth instead of caring much about human life.…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Freeland attempts to answer these questions by focusing on the culture, ideology, and biographies of the 0.1 percent while considering the significant changes in history that have allowed for their remarkable gain. Succinctly, our Second Gilded Age is the foundation of many of the greatest advancements in globalization, deregulation, and technology, and the new leaders of industry are predominantly “alpha geeks” working in the arenas of finance, management and technology. As a result, a secondary economy of “superstars” has developed to service these elite. Though, for the most part, at least in the United States, the middle class has been working much harder just to make ends meet.…

    • 881 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inequality In America

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    To a wealthy individual, the high standard of living is to be comfortable which they already are, while the typical person struggles to feel at ease trying to make ends meet. In The New Yorkers article “The Mobility Myth” by James Surowiekcki it states “Raising living standards for ordinary workers is hard: you need to either get wages growing or talk about things that scares politicians, like “redistribution” and “taxes”. But making it easier for some Americans to move up the economic ladder is no great triumph if most can barely hold.” (Surowiekcki 92). This particular quote from the article demonstrates how unduly the standards of living are. United States representatives are determined to change the basic living standards to a high standard of living for those who can afford it. This makes it even harder, for those who are barely making ends meet. By doing so, this illustrates that America expects too much from people who can barely afford to live here. Equal access to public goods isn’t optional. Public goods are a commodity or service that is provided without profit to all members of a society, either by the government or a private individual or organization. The article “The Decline of the American Public Goods” by Robert Reich it states “The slide really started more than three decades ago with so-called “tax revolts” by a middle class whose earnings had stopped advancing even though the economy continued to grow. Most families still wanted good public services and institutions but could no longer afford the tab. From that time onward, almost all the gains from growth have gone to the top. But as the upper middle class and the rich began shifting to private institutions, they withdrew political support for public ones. In consequence, their marginal tax rates dropped — setting off a vicious cycle of…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Class in America

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages

    2. Yes. the essay make a case that the wealthy are exploiting the poor. For example, the author stated that the wealthiest 1 percent of the American population holds 34 percent of the total national wealth. That is, they own over one-third of all the consumer durables and financial assets. The richest 20 percent of Americans hold nearly 85 percent of the total household wealth in the country. Another example, the author said that approximately 183,000 Americans, or approximately three-quarters of 1 percent of the adult population, earn more than $1 million annually. There are nearly 400 billionaires in the U.S. Today, more than three dozen of them worth more than $10 billion each. It would take the average American a total of 28,033 years to earn just $1 billion. In my opinion, from these number, it can proved that poor people have very little chance to be rich.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Choosing to wake up and do something or wake up and do nothing at all.…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Lapham states that “Men remain free to rise or fall in the world, and if they fail it must be because they willed it so”, he agrees with the suggestion that Americans see the rich as an example of being sufficient. This is because he feels that if Americans are not rich it’s because they chose not to be, this is inaccurate. First off, he contradicts the “absurdity” he finds in the idea that “…in the United states a rich man is perceived as being necessarily both good and wise…” He defends the respect toward superficiality. He then goes on to support the idea that Americans still have a choice in choosing the other direction that he claims is being deflected by social standards. America has intellectuals and artists that deserve the respect they would receive in other nations, but instead their respect is given to those who don’t deserve it.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays