Lex Fridman: preference

Transcript context

…Well, it’s a good question. And obviously growing up in a working-class family has been maybe the most singularly significant aspect of my politics. I grew up without money in a family that lived in a rent controlled apartment in Brooklyn New York. So that has impacted me. I’ll tell you, I don’t really give a damn about money. I drive a car that’s 11 years old. It’s an old car and money… Here is my jewelry. It’s a solar watch and my wedding ring. That’s about it. I don’t have a Rolex watch, would not be interested in it. But I’ll tell you what has impacted me, my wife who also grew up in a working-class family will tell you the same. We don’t worry… You raise that issue. If we have to go to the doctor, if our kids have to go to the doctor, we go to the doctor. I don’t stay up nights worrying. There was a time I have to worry about how to pay my electric bill. I don’t worry about that anymore. So what has happened that stress, that economic stress of not worrying about a financial disaster, that’s gone and that is enormous. I maybe as much or more than any other member of the Senate work hard not only for, but with working-class people. I’m chairman of the committee deals with labor issues. We have been involved probably in dozens of strikes all over this country. I’ve been on picket lines. So I do my best. It’s a very easy trap to fall into. You can get separated from ordinary people and their struggles. Not hard to do. I try as hard as I can not to do that. So sometimes people say, can money buy happiness? I think I agree with you that worry, sort of being able to fill up your car and not worry about how much it’s going to cost or be able to get a- And not worry about how much it’s going to cost or be able to get food for dinner and not worry about how much it’s going to cost. Or even, I’ve been poor most of my life, but I’ve been very fortunate recently to have enough wealth to not worry about healthcare, to have insurance, and be able to afford an emergency room visit. And that worry is just such a giant lift off your shoulders. Lex, I think you said it very well. I remember even I saw this change in myself. When I used to go out, and I do the grocery shopping. My wife does a lot of the cooking, I do the grocery shopping. And I used to look at the prices of everything, I do that less now. I said, “What the hell? So what? It costs 50 cents more for this can of stuff. So, what?” But that’s a luxury you have when you don’t have to worry about that. And I don’t have to worry about that. But your point is, again, to me, I don’t like big fancy cars or big fancy homes, don’t go on… My wife will tell you we’ve not been on a real vacation for God knows how long, because I work pretty hard. But the major thing about having money, which is enormously important, is just what you said. I don’t have to worry. If somebody in my family gets sick, I don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have to worry about putting food on the table or paying the mortgage. So, that’s what money has done.…

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