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Comment by meroes | Hacker News Reader

Anyone tried to buy paint recently?

$611 for 2x 5 gallon buckets just to do my garage.

God bless the Trump administration. Sounds like that’s a bunch of my summer task list checked off as No Longer Viable.

You just discovered why your gdp is so high... American prices make no fucking sense to me, some of your double car garages are more expensive than a full high end house in central Europe

People just make a lot more money in America. A decent job these days starts at $200k. That's fresh out of college or shortly after. Obviously not everyone makes that much, but it's not unusual at all in tech.

> People just make a lot more money in America. A decent job these days starts at $200k.

This is an extremely HN specific and tech industry specific comment. Go for a day-long drive through middle America, like from Nebraska to Wyoming or something, and 95%+ of the people you will see are living on less than $60,000 total family income per year. A very small selection of very specific jobs start at $200k a year.

These people are in a massive bubble. People with STEM degrees from good schools even with a few decades of experience would often consider $200K in compensation pretty good in a lot of places in the US in a lot of jobs. The developers at Facebook (who are still employed) are really the exception.

Wow you are out of touch. A decent job in the US is not paying $200k

* p50 ~$66,000

* p75 ~$102,000

* p90 ~$155,000

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/median-weekly-earnings-109...

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t09.htm

> but it's not unusual at all in tech.

But tech workers are a tiny sliver of the population so no, $200k starter jobs are extremely unusual in USA.

Even among tech (incl big tech) workers, most entry level eng are not starting at $200k

> A decent job these days starts at $200k.

Bruh

> That's fresh out of college or shortly after.

Bruh

> Obviously not everyone makes that much, but it's not unusual at all in tech.

Triple bruh.

Maybe in some heavy tech based tiny regions like SF or NYC.

Even in second tier tech hubs like Boston new grads are doing great if they break 120k.

And tech jobs are a small minority of all jobs. The only way I could understand your description of a “decent job” is if you think the vast majority of jobs aren’t decent, much less good.

Total comp is complicated etc. etc. But, yeah, even in markets like the broad Boston area--I'm not in HR--but $200K would seem like a really good salary for someone just out of school. And I did have salary discussions at work when I had a lot of experience and I did seem comfortable but not in the ridiculously high range some people seem to throw around.

Total comp in most companies isn’t complicated.

Most companies either don’t give equity or aren’t public and you can value those options with their twelve levels of caveats at effectively zero. The bonus component is the most common portion of compensation that actually varies from year to year and isn’t a large fraction of anyone’s comp unless they are high up in the company hierarchy.

Edit: and to be clear, 200k in a market like Boston is a good/great compensation for _anyone_. It would be amazing for a first job out of school. The original poster saying 200k was what decent jobs started at is incredibly out of touch.

Benefits factor in too as do various other things including bonuses and RSUs at public companies but I don't really disagree in general. For most people, base salary is often your comp and something over $100K is probably the norm for a good professional job.

I find it interesting that only a few days ago you were arguing that oil is very important because EVs are too expensive and nobody can afford them.

So is America rich or poor? Because Europeans, that you claim to be dirt poor, can afford EVs just fine?

All of these statements are true. America is far richer than Europe overall. Oil is still immensely important, and energy independence is clearly important for strategic reasons. EVs are also still too expensive. The Slate truck might change that, but until then a used gas car probably makes more sense unless you really value the EV driving experience and are willing to spend the money for it.

I spent $111 for two quarts

Dunno, it depends on what brand that is. $60 per gallon sounds about where Sherwin Williams paint has been for a while.

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