Nearly all people, rich and poor, make decisions for personal gain.
Like Czarina Ekaterina said, oh I do not understand what is wrong if you have no bread, you can always eat some cookies.
Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
21–30 of 228 posts
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#22Does "unjust and dysfunctional" = "u r a fag" [DH0]? http://paulgraham.com/disagree.html Let me try and do a little better: I would argue that this kind of rhetoric is not significantly different from social movements in various countries of the 20th century, the end results were not quite as benign as its supporters anticipated: 'During the land reform, a significant numbers of landlords and well-to-do peasants were…
Erm, how is "u r a red" any different?
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#23Part of the reasoning here is that rentiers are not contributing to wealth creation and therefore their earnings on the rent are parasitic, therefore 'unjust and dysfuctional': "Since it’s a payment for nothing that didn’t already exist, it’s a deadweight cost, and so not only unjust but also dysfunctional for the economy. " The practice of renting exists as an option to owning. By renting, renters can engage in an a…
There is a value to time that is often discounted in naïve valuations. Why is rent justified? Because using land for a day, and using it for a year have very different values. Its not just land that's being paid for; its land use over time. This raises its ugly head in discussions worldwide. Folks must come to understand that time is truly money.
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#24remember 1917 in Russia, and how much the SovietUnion did for the world and its nations until 1991, by just removing the rich and concentrating power with government, led by proper ideology. Stalin got the country of illiterate peasants with ploughs and left it with 100% literacy, and the nukes.
And many millions of innocents dead.
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#25remember 1917 in Russia, and how much the SovietUnion did for the world and its nations until 1991, by just removing the rich and concentrating power with government, led by proper ideology. Stalin got the country of illiterate peasants with ploughs and left it with 100% literacy, and the nukes.
I like good old propaganda. Looks like a citation from "Pravda".
'Pravda' stands for 'The Truth'. If you have rich, there will be a lot of poor. Maintain the lifestyle when being rich is immoral, you have no poor, everyone has a job and the streets are safe. This is my impression of the USSR of the 80-ies.
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#26Does "unjust and dysfunctional" = "u r a fag" [DH0]? http://paulgraham.com/disagree.html Let me try and do a little better: I would argue that this kind of rhetoric is not significantly different from social movements in various countries of the 20th century, the end results were not quite as benign as its supporters anticipated: 'During the land reform, a significant numbers of landlords and well-to-do peasants were…
Yes, it is precisely that. It's very easy to take shots at extremely rich people, because they won't bother to show up and defend themselves and nobody else will either.
The main problem I have with this is that it's not very interesting and doesn't solve anything.
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#27Part of the reasoning here is that rentiers are not contributing to wealth creation and therefore their earnings on the rent are parasitic, therefore 'unjust and dysfuctional': "Since it’s a payment for nothing that didn’t already exist, it’s a deadweight cost, and so not only unjust but also dysfunctional for the economy. " The practice of renting exists as an option to owning. By renting, renters can engage in an a…
Unless subsidized or losing money, the rent is more than a mortgage payment would be. If we had low enough transaction costs it would be better if everyone just owned their homes via mortgage for even short time frames.
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#28Does "unjust and dysfunctional" = "u r a fag" [DH0]? http://paulgraham.com/disagree.html Let me try and do a little better: I would argue that this kind of rhetoric is not significantly different from social movements in various countries of the 20th century, the end results were not quite as benign as its supporters anticipated: 'During the land reform, a significant numbers of landlords and well-to-do peasants were…
Yes, it is precisely that. It's very easy to take shots at extremely rich people, because they won't bother to show up and defend themselves and nobody else will either. The main problem I have with this is that it's not very interesting and doesn't solve anything.
Should extremely rich exist as a thing? What benefit does it bring humanity over the alternative?
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#29Very rich are just average people; meaning there's a mix of types of people that are very rich; aka billion or more.
Feel like most people have never known anyone super rich or for that matter, very poor.
Lastly, while it's true that there are more super wealth individuals than likely any point in history currently - the quality of life is also better on average too.
Re: Challenging the myth that the rich are specially-talented wealth creators
#30[deleted]