To quote someone who said it better than me:
"If you don't make at least a little money in the process, how can you be sure that you're creating value?"
Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
121–130 of 146 posts
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'd been a typical HN-reading, Ayn Rand-quoting, John Galt aspiring-libertarian. Slowly, I began to realize the role of luck and circumstance. I used to look down on the poor, writing them all off as lazy and not willing to work. "How dare they be poor and have a TV!", I used to think. Wow. I've come to expect a certain level of hypocrisy from a lot of libertarians, but this is a pretty stark example of it. By all…
I've come to expect hypocrisy from anyone with a strongly held value set. Progressives touting 'diversity' while living in the suburbs and paying exorbitant amounts to send their kids to all-white private schools, conservatives railing about government overreach while trying to enact 'morality' laws, libertarians looking down on moochers while living under a different safety net. This happens because we hold values.…
This is why I embrace being a cynic and a nihilist. :)
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Virtually every legal way I know of making money helps society." Gambling does not help society, and it is legal: Buy a house for x, sell it to a fool that will pay 4x, who will sell it to a bigger fool for 6x. Now houses go back to x. The only problem is that the bigger fool is the normal American or European middle class that in not an expert on economics and it has been fooled will all their savings from experts…
well, in the state I live in, gambling losses in the state lottery fund the education system.
what rich irony.
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#124I believe this question is relative to an individual's current position in life. Let's face it, if you have been living in a really challenged position always hiding from creditors and living meagerly for some time the pressure to just get "Family Money" is at the forefront of every venture. There is nothing wrong with that. I am working 7 days a week on my startup and I have yet to get the family money. I want to make a difference in the world with all my heart and soul, and I would really love to get the family money out of the way so I can focus on making that difference. It is ok to want a little bit of comfort, that will give you the physical presence you need to make a difference.
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
> $7 for a movie? Worth more than $7 in entertainment to the person buying it... or they wouldn't buy it. What if the movie sucked but the person didn't know it beforehand? > You don't get to be a millionaire by making people miserable. Why not? I can think of several ways. You could make them miserable first by advertising, them sell your product as a remedy. Or sell a positional good and let your customers have bid…
I work in Advertising. I make very good money. I am quite sure my work has little benefit to society. Most of what I do is deception.
Can you give some generic example of the deception that you do? Obviously mention no brands and change the products, but I'm curious to know what you consider deception.
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#126> you need the opposite temperament: a hunger for money.
Wrong. It's easily leads one to make money a self goal, which a grave pitfall.
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree completely. Why does the US have so much crime? Because there's no safety net. (The War on Drugs also contributes in a major way.) This ends up being foolish, because we pay more to keep people in prison (over $30,000 per year) than we would by providing them with education and training. We have the resources to get rid of poverty, but we're spending what we have in phenomenally stupid ways.
You have two separate arguments twisted into one. 1) Getting rid of the war on drugs would be a good thing. As it would save money and not cause as much crime (drug war causes crime). 2) You can spend money on education and training to reduce poverty. Please keep your arguments separate rather than using one issue as a support for another. That 30K per prisoner could be spent on any number of things, or simply not co…
(drug war causes crime)
I phrase this as "the drug war is a collection of laws that are not required for the proper functioning of society."
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#128Perhaps it's wrong place to ask, but ... Does anyone have an idea how to get this "hunger for money"? I get no pleasure from earning money and almost no pleasure from things I can buy. I find it hard to motivate myself to get rich despite the fact that I consciously know that it could make my life bit easier.
Think about the specifics. If more money really would make your life easier, bear the details of this in mind as you're earning it - even to the level of thinking "this hour got me the xyz", if you like.
Thanks for the idea. Keeping firm grip on income and expenses could help. I noticed that my motivation declined when each piece of income added to the pile that was shrinking at the same time due to unspecified expenses.
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> I've come to expect hypocrisy from anyone with a strongly held value set. I think that succinctly sums it up. The problem with "values" is that they are an excuse to never have to think critically. Something comes up, you just tag it with a "value" and act accordingly. It simple, it works, and you never have to think! I don't understand what part of thinking is so taxing that you can't take a couple minutes to mak…
I get where you are coming from on this, but honestly sometimes things are just subclasses (in the programming sense) of something that you have thought a lot about and ultimately completely rejected. For example: "The government should sometimes run things that private industry can run and compete upon" is the super class of "the government should run envelope delivery" so why should I not just dismiss the second st…
Arguably, a 'superclass' of that is 'The government should run everything the private industry could'. Is it still correct?
Re: Is it OK to Want to Make Money?
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://dreamflesh.com/blog/2007/06/the-millionaire-and-the-f...
It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself that you don't want money, rather than the opposite. Is the only thing you want to do with your life to sit by the seaside, squeeze out a couple of kids, and die peaceful and unknown? If so, fine, no need for money. If you have any speck of ambition in you, though, chances are you want to make some sort of positive difference to the world out there. Money is a tool th…
I have nothing against millionaires. Especially those that improve environment around them as a side effect of their efforts to get rich and stay rich.
The way I feel is much closer to the fisherman but I don't have his confidence to make an argument that his lifestyle is good.