Cartoon shows why privileged feel self made.

Look at the lifestyle habits of the wealthy.

The majority get up at 5 am. They read. They research. They work 12 hour days. They're constantly on the go. They work at home.

How many poor do that? That's why they're poor.

 

And how are things working out for those in the PRC/CCP (as one example)? Hundreds of millions in dire poverty while the 'party elite' reap $billions from graft and corruption. Marx must be rolling over in his grave.

 

Many of the poor really did get through honest hard work, too. It's a rightists(?) lie to say that none of them do and that every single one of them are criminals.

Instead of generally glorifying or demonizing either group as a whole, we all need to recognize that on an individual level, there are many hard working rich and lazy rich, as well as hard working poor and lazy poor.

 

It is ironic that you talk about slander and then proceed to typecast leftists.

 

Not everyone can be rich. It's math.

 

the constitution also said slavery was good and women shouldn't vote, but we changed it, thats the they call it an amendment. It means it can be changed. I hate the statement "its in the costitution" because people say it it in replace of a real argument its the equivalent of saying "because it's in the bible" in fact it's worse because you can't change the bible.

you can also change what they call a crime, you consider a drug dealer a criminal, but if I consider hoarding money a crime, then every rich person can be found guilty and be sentenced to death just for being rich. im just saying we "could" do that if we wanted, "it's in the constitution" lol

 

No it isn't. Look at all the money in circulation today. Was that money all here 100 years ago? No.

 

Are you suggesting that business builders not hire employees?

 

I am being very literal: not everyone can be rich. In other words, you can't have rich people without poor people.

 

To me, the problem is that many people have the mindset that if you are rich, you worked for it, and if your poor, you are lazy, even though most wealthy people are rich because of the work of poor people.


If you make money because you own stocks in a company and they went up, it's the work of the company's employees that drove up the stocks more likely than not.

If you own a company, it's your employees who do the majority of the work.

Running a company, or even working the stock market and knowing when to sell and buy, is hard, and I would not call anyone who does it lazy, but pretending that they got rich solely on their own work is something that can not be overlooked. Without the workers, a business owners, and stock owners, would not have made any money.

 

Just because that's what you're seeing today, doesn't mean it has to be that way. It will probably continue to be that way because those at the bottom (some) find it difficult to conceive that they can be anywhere but the bottom. And, others in society reinforce those beliefs. There are a handful who have mental disabilities that truly limit them, but the others who do not make it out of the bottom, simply do not have the emotional means to do so.

What you're missing is that people in that poor category make it out every day. You might say they are exceptions - not the rule - but they exist. In their existence, we know that it is possible. Teaching them that it is possible is much better than teaching them to have no hope.

 

I have no objection to this notion in itself, the wealthy do indeed get a myriad of coercive entitlements from the state: limited liability, monetary policy, direct subsidies, regulation to force out competitors.

I agree, but with one qualification: they don't owe their voluntary associates anything. That's the nature of voluntary association: the debt has been paid in full. Most of these sort of arguments try to make the case that because they have associated with others, they haven't been self-made. Nothing could be further from the truth, how ridiculous.

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This is one of the rare areas where I think the left and right can come together. Let's get rid of all those subsidies and collusive laws.

Of course, neither side of the politics will get behind this, because they benefit massively from state-corporate collusion. I'm talking about actual left and right individuals, not their "representatives".

 

Hard work obviously, like in your mother's case, does not guarantee success. I don't think anyone here is saying that. What's being said is that the average individual cannot rise out of lower or middle class economic status without it.

 

PROFILE OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE

•The average age is 57. Only 10% are under 40.
•Grew up in middle or working class families. (80% are first-generation millionaires).
•Attended some college (15% dropped out by 12th grade).
•Approximately 60% are men, 40% are women.
•Drives an older American car (60%).
•Dresses moderately and conservatively.

Home Life



•Over 80% are married, many to their high school or college sweetheart. Small families.
•Two grown children is average.
•About half of America's millionaires live in working or middle class neighborhoods. The rest live in nicer neighborhoods.
•Both husband and wife often work. The wealthier they are, the less likely the wife is working.


Business
•Millionaires are paid for performance. They are generally self-employed (only 16% work for someone else).
•The gross revenues of most of these companies are between $50,000 and $10 million a year.
•Average family income is $130,000, but can range from $30,00 to over $1 million. They may have only one part-time employee or provide jobs for up to 100 people. It depends a lot on the nature of the business.

•There are only three ways that business owners can get rich in America:
•a. Carve out a narrow market niche and charge premium prices for their product or services.
•b. Develop a unique application of a mundane process or product that has a broad market.
•c. Superior management that can squeeze a profit from any market.

 

it's a very one-dimensional cartoon, what if Paula was a hot babe - doubt she'd end up poor?

 

Sociopathy doesn't really care about politics and sociopaths are always attracted to money and power. It's quite right that we're often uncomfortable about the wealthy.

By wealthy I mean a good few steps up from a mere millionaire since that as a marker of real wealth was left behind decades ago.

It seems the sociopathic mind with added and significant money resolves to 100% leech but underneath the suffocating need for baubles and trinkets is a hollowed out unhappiness so it's not all bad news.

 

your leaving out facts from your own source like millionares go bankrupt on average 3.5 times in their life meaning "first generation millionares" couldve lost their inheritance than earned it back and still be considered "first generation". Or that 95% of millionares have less than $10 million including all retirement accounts, investments, real estate, cars, so even though you may have zero dollars in your savings account your still a millionare. or that the top 0.003% own 37% of the world's GDP, and your trying place bob the foreman with the hefty pension and savings in the same category, and alot of other stuff i dont care to mention

http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2014/03/inequality

 

That's not my source. It's the profile of the average American millionaire, not the exceptional few.

 

Wow, more liberal nonsense. Plenty of folks succeed that come from poor families. It takes work. Claiming that there are "privilege" is silly. Everyone is born into whatever they are born into and it is up to them to make the best of it. There is nothing that can be done about that.

 

Actually not. Wealthier people tend to stay married longer than poorer people.

 

Everyones divorce rates are sky high and it takes a while to wear out your welcome when you have a seven figure income.

 

Sounds like an urban myth to me. After many years of observation it is clear to me that a person's income tends to be inversely proportional to the actual work that they do.

Take the case of a manufacturing operation. The people who are doing the heavy lifting tend to be paid the least while those who sit in offices and have secretaries and assistants take care of the details do very little real work.

I've had jobs as a project manager - the highest paid work I've ever done. The work I did was to find other people to do the actual work and then to watch them do that work. My employers, the people who made the really big bucks, did even less than I did.

Seems to me the "work smarter not harder" paradigm is what gets people ahead. Putting one's nose to the grindstone is a worker's mindset, not that of those who would employ him. That is why they employ him, so they don't have to do the work.

 

And to think, a generation of Americans will think redistributive socialism is a good idea based on disingenuous cartoons such as this one. No doubt they created the cartoon with children in mind. Pretty sick.

The cartoon makes a good case for the intact nuclear family, though. Why have progressives fought the institution of family for 50 years with their "free love" making, LSD tripping, abortion having, easy divorce processing, nightclub cruising lifestyle?

 

Agreed. I doubt there is an economic system in existence that doesn't result in classes being formed. It's part of human nature, and I doubt there is a fix to be had. Recognizing this is probably a good first step, though.

 

Not true at all. Poor, uneducated people tend to marry less and divorce more while wealthier, more educated people tend to marry more and divorce less. Look up any study on the subject (there are many, just google them) and you will see that I am correct on this.