Millionaires, Billionaires Own 79% of America's Wealth

Well, with fine consistency, you are wrong:

"Greed, greediness denote an excessive, extreme desire for something, often more than one's proper share."
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/greed

"Greed is the desire to have more of something, such as food or money, than is necessary or fair."
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/greed

"An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth"
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/greed

Some dictionaries do not include the undeserved/unearned part, but IMO common usage certainly implies that simply wanting or trying to earn more than one has or needs is not enough to qualify one as greedy.

Not according to the above, or common usage.

So have you, remember? Mine is now supported.

Their usage today is quite different.

See above.

That is false. I am far more careful about words and definitions than you.

No you didn't. You made an unsupported claim, and I have now schooled you.

The common meaning of a word is not a corruption of its meaning, sorry.

Yes, I am.

Because the origin is no longer the common meaning.

That is an unwarranted personal speculation that it seems would much more accurately describe you.

It is definitely less important to a word's meaning than how the word is now commonly used.

Logic is not really your strong suit, is it?

That's far from the worst or most fundamental of its problems.

Not wrt welfare. Maybe I am in a different political environment from you.

A distraction from the real issue: massive, systematic, institutionalized injustice.

Politicians do seem fond of measures that magnify their power without solving the problem. Purporting to address the problems of privilege via countervailing privilege rather than liberty and justice is a favorite.

And a lot of much worse things.

 

Not necessarily. Charge back the employer for the costs, and then maybe they'll change their ways. Some will just say they can suck it up and get 4-5 jobs.

 

All they will do is pass it on to us.

 

Having your rights forcibly stripped from you without your consent or just compensation and made into others' private property can be called many things, but "voluntary" is not one of them.

 

Humans calculate. They prioritize economic and social decisions (which are not really any different from each other) based on personal preferences, needs, and wants. Communism and socialism deny economic calculation and put it in the hands of central planners who must have totalitarian control over every human decision.

 

I was asking about the lies.

 

Did you read my post. There's a VERY clear line in their about how to have kids and still do this.

 

I was given the example of $25k, so went with that.

Either way it's not how much you make, but what you do with it. Even on $15k, if you live right you can save money.

 

It IS simple. People simply refusing to live in places they can afford.

There is no reality in the universe in which 'beggars' get to be picky about where they live. I'm nowhere near poor, and I've never been able to live where I want to live. That you think SOME people deserve to live wherever they want, is just unbelievable. You're literally saying that people like me should live in crappy places, while we fund the people who think themselves too special to live in crappy places. Can you seriously not see how grotesque that is?

 

1) Live with family, obviously. Don't "mooch", ever. Pay or work for your keep, within the family. Don't rent, ever.

2) I know the facts very well, but I don't recognise 'feels' as facts.

3) A 'society' is made up of people and families. But I agree, people and families need to pull together and step up to their social obligations. No one gets to opt out of responsibility without consequence.

 

Sure. The cheapest apartment I can find in my area is a 288 SF studio for $900/month.

 

I didn't dismiss it. It's a natural survival instinct in all social mammals.

I'm saying that it isn't the cause of the problems you mention. Those are people problems, not greed problems. Well in one sense they're a greed problem - in that far too many people demand something for nothing.

 

So clearly, someone on $15k can't afford to live in that area. Do you know basic math? Logic?

 

The institutions are a PRODUCT of human nature. They only exist because we want them to.

Why are you unable to see this?

 

It's a very common mistake, to think it's measured by things like houses/lifestyle, or even income. It isn't. It's measure by security. The middle class is the secure class. Working class effectively means you're still 'working' towards security.

 

That's where the jobs are. 42% of the country makes less than $25. Are there enough higher paying jobs for all of them? Are they just too lazy to look?

 

There are jobs everywhere, and people can make their own jobs if they need or want to. These are the kinds of things we have to do if we want to get ahead. We have to move away from areas we can't afford, and build a different life.

That's what it takes. If people don't like it, they should just admit they don't care to do what it takes - instead of complaining that it doesn't happen by magic.

 

No it isn't! Greed is a result of thought. Other social animals operate by instinct that is cooperative in nature. Greed is of the ego, the individual.

We evolved in small groups where individual greed, not sharing would threaten survival and not tolerated. Greed is a product of civilization where members are now expendable. Not needed for the survival of the large group .Its a luxury but a most nefarious one. All religions teach against it given the damage and problems it inevitably created.when out of hand.

Sure some demand something for nothing.. Its immature and irresponsible. Yet most people are not like that, The sociopaths, the rich, are the worst offenders.

 

There are about 26 million people who earn less than $25,000 during a 40 hour work week. Is it your claim that there are at least 26,000,000 higher paying jobs just sitting around unfulfilled?

 

I'm talking about the economics of the situation. Like the way property owners keep the supply of apartments limited to drive up the price. About how income inequality holds incomes down, and more.

 

I'm not claiming anything like that. I can have no idea why people choose to stay in a situation that isn't working for them. After all, there are as many reasons as there are people doing it.

The only thing I do know is what it takes to change things. People either accept that reality (because they want change badly enough to accept it), or they realise that they don't want change as much as they thought they did. If the latter, then they have no grounds for complaint. They knew the score and made their choice. There are no refunds for Buyer's Remorse.

PS: Buyer's Remorse is never what we should respond to. The truth is always in the actions that led to it.

 

If there aren't a higher paying job for all these people, how is it their collective fault that they can't find those higher paying jobs?

I know programmers who were making plenty of money, but had to take HUGE pay cuts when their employers outsourced their jobs to India. How is it their fault that their jobs disappeared because of corporate greed?

 

So are racism and religious intolerance. Doesn't mean they're good.

No. They exist because the powerful want them to.

Because it's false.

 

But the uniquely human ability to easily kill any other member of society at a distance, without risk, means that we have had to bring greed under control or perish.

Yes, and those who demand the most for the least, and get it, are rich, greedy, privileged parasites.

 

Because land rent is the price of access to economic opportunity. If they go to a place they can afford, they can no longer access the opportunity that enabled them to afford it. So they have to go to an even cheaper location, which gives them even less access to economic opportunity, ad infinitum. That is the economic Catch-22 you are unable to comprehend.

Living where you want is called "having a right to liberty." Not something you would understand.