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Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

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Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#171

Post by sulam »

djhn wrote: post #75
sulam wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And software engineers. :)

1% in terms of income, or in terms of wealth? A low-to-mid 6 figures household income? Definitely possible. 8 million net worth? You're gonna have to be a rather.. senior software engineer.

I've heard numbers for the top 1% in wealth for Americans being more like $14M. At any rate, most doctors and lawyers I know get there by saving their 1% incomes, which software engineers can also do (although I think it's easier for a lawyer/doctor to get north of $300K than it is for a software engineer, excluding stock)

And speaking of stock... you can get lucky that way, although you still need to save / diversify!

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#172

Post by wordbank »

meej wrote: post #98
littletimmy wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really liked this sentiment of Oscar Wilde on charity: “[Charity] is not a solution [to poverty]: it is an aggravation of the difficulty. The proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible…Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realised by those who suffered from it, and understood by thos…

This puts me in mind of Slavoj Zizek on charity. http://www.vice.com/read/youre-single-because-there-arent-en...

I think you meant this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#173

Post by meej »

wordbank wrote: post #172
meej wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This puts me in mind of Slavoj Zizek on charity. http://www.vice.com/read/youre-single-because-there-arent-en...

I think you meant this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g

weird, i wonder how that happened. thank you.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#174

Post by plonh »

analyst74 wrote: post #118
littletimmy wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really liked this sentiment of Oscar Wilde on charity: “[Charity] is not a solution [to poverty]: it is an aggravation of the difficulty. The proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible…Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realised by those who suffered from it, and understood by thos…

That's a silly notion. If all slave owners treated their slaves really well, provide them with decent housing, gourmet food, education, social activities and entertainment, vacations, and etc, with the condition that they have to work, then there is probably not going to be a rebellion, and we'd still have slavery today. Oh wait, did I just describe the condition what most of us live in? In the end, rebellions happen…

If all the 99% actually had the comforts you imagine, they wouldn't be so mad at the 1%

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#175

Post by plonh »

dreamfactory2 wrote: post #138
vijayr wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you give just enough, you'll keep the poor subdued. One could say the same about salaried employees - give them enough to stay. Too little - they revolt or leave, too much - they save the money and still leave after they've saved enough

Nobody in their right mind saves with current interest rates and cheap credit combined with consumerism keeps enough people in hock across the income spectrum

People in their right mind are able to not fall prey to consumerism and hock.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#176

Post by plonh »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #72
icebraining wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watermelon is good food? As far as I know, it's not particularly rich nutritionally, it's mostly expensive sugary water.

I beg to differ: https://www.google.com/search?q=watermelon+nutrition 1 serving contains 31 daily percent vitamin A and 37 daily percent vitamin C, as well as a good amount of iron, vitamin B-6 and magnesium.

You can get a month supply of these vitamins for $3 by buying a bottle of Flintstones. Protein and healthy fat is where to be concerned about the cost of nutrients.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#177

Post by Retra »

jsprogrammer wrote: post #169
Retra wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you allow yourself to be beaten if it meant your children could be free? Or would you rather let your children be slaves and neither of you be beaten? This isn't just about slavery: it could apply to any war-like situation. But if you aren't being beaten as a slave, how are you resisting slavery? Your owner just lets you get away with not doing what you're told? Because I really don't see how not resisting is s…

Surely there are other ways to resist slavery than being beaten? If there were some highly effective and rapid communication system, for example, the slaves could possibly organize and GTFO before their owners had any way to stop them. Yes, there's the chance that it could turn bloody, but I can imagine scenarios where it might end peacefully (as far as one can imagine such a hypothetical).

Even if such a thing were possible, it seems highly unlikely that a bunch of slaves could pull it off successfully. How's a slave going to gain access to a high-speed communication network in a way that doesn't immediately prompt retribution?

Slaves are either compliant or tortured for not being compliant. That's why slavery is so brutal; if your owner doesn't beat you, he'll either kill you or sell you to someone who will. There's really no other option for dealing with a slave who refuses to obey. (And I don't see how a compliant slave can help end slavery.)

> I can imagine scenarios where it might end peacefully

How? People who legally own slaves aren't going to just let their slaves walk away anymore than any company now is going to let their employees walk away with all their profits.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#178

Post by hellbanner »

LiweiZ wrote: post #55
hellbanner wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_theory in evolutionary biology.

Any nice book offering an overview of evolutionary biology applied to our society that you'd recommend?

Rap music.
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