Lucky Larry Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 A Trumpeter told me that most Billionaires earn their money. My feeling is that most of them make it off of the backs of labour, schemes profiting from bank deregulation, and inflated military contracts, etc. In other words, unethically. What's your take? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 Who knows a billionaire? I certainly don't. Seems that this wouldn't be an easy question to answer without some insight into the details of their rise to wealth. And by "most" do you mean >50%? 75%? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 it's always fun to quote the father of capitalism in any conversation on wealth in a nation "Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions." this one seems appropriate for the man in question too: "All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind." - adam smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 we hear a lot about the 1% and about how these guys are the wicked global elite who rule the world. it doesn't take a lot to make it into the 1% it turns out. Net wealth (including property) of ~$70,000 or more puts you in the top 10% globally Net wealth, again including property, of $745,000 puts you in the global 1%. Who are the global 1%? Sure there are some evil supervillains in there. But there are just a lot of plain old boomer homeowners with a paid off mortgage in Van BC and SeaTac and PDX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21710771-new-analysis-how-worlds-wealth-distributed-you-may-be-higher-up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 to quote cheech n' chong: "things are tough all over" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete_H Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 The ironic thing is after factoring my mortgage and car and student loans, the bum on the corner with $1.50 in his pocket probably has a higher net worth than me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Don't be silly Pete. Loans are leverage. Leverage is wealth. Works for companies, works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Larry Posted March 3, 2017 Author Share Posted March 3, 2017 (edited) it's always fun to quote the father of capitalism in any conversation on wealth in a nation "Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions." this one seems appropriate for the man in question too: "All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind." From Russia, with Love :[] _Adam Smith,"The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to the revenue which their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state." Edited March 3, 2017 by Lucky Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 how dare you suggest the god of reagan would support anything other than a flat tax, sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 it's always fun to quote the father of capitalism in any conversation on wealth in a nation "Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions." this one seems appropriate for the man in question too: "All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind." - adam smith These CEOs who run huge businesses generally work massive overtime. Their life is their job. They live and breath it. They are unidimensional with not much else going on. To say they do nothing or live of the labor of others is BS. They work their asses off. But they are filthy rich and there is huge income inequality. Is a CEO worth 500X the average working? 1000X? Probably not. But they certainly work harder than the average joe in their company, and their skill set, vision, dedication and so on are just as rare as an elite athlete, actor, author, musician, and of course that means they'll make far more because their skill set combined with work ethic (and luck) is rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 defining "hard work" seems rather tricky, and comparing one man's labor to another more so - both the miner and the manager labor, but their labors are distinctly different at any rate, i'm hard pressed indeed to think ceo's like this have more "skill set, vision and dedication" or are "rare as an elite athlete" in comparision to the janitor cleaning their offices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 defining "hard work" seems rather tricky, and comparing one man's labor to another more so - both the miner and the manager labor, but their labors are distinctly different true, but try to consider my point. Most CEOs dedicate their lives to their company. They are unidimensional. at any rate, i'm hard pressed indeed to think ceo's like this have more "skill set, vision and dedication" or are "rare as an elite athlete" in comparision to the janitor cleaning their offices well that guy is a total POS. Does anyone even contest that? do you honestly think that a Microsoft janitor worked harder than Gates when he was CEO? Have you even met/known any CEOs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 i can't generalize, like all, i'm largely confined by anecdotal experience - my gut tells me they're subject to pretty much the same standard distribution of dickhead vs diehard-friend-of-the-people (just like the janitors i've know) my big bro is a bio-tech ceo actually n' has a mighty nice spread down in san franny - he loves his work and puts a lot of his life-force into it, but he's hardly a monk to his family... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 i can't generalize, like all, i'm largely confined by anecdotal experience - my gut tells me they're subject to pretty much the same standard distribution of dickhead vs diehard-friend-of-the-people (just like the janitors i've know) my big bro is a bio-tech ceo actually n' has a mighty nice spread down in san franny - he loves his work and puts a lot of his life-force into it, but he's hardly a monk to his family... Ivan, let's be clear, I did not say they are good people. I am countering the idea that they don't work hard. CEOs as a rule dedicate all their life energy to work. That unidimensionality does tend to make them weak in other aspects of their life. I'd even buy arguments that as a rule they are statistically more heavy on the sociopath spectrum. But they work hard. very hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Trump loves the golden shower of trickle-down economics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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