Rich people - Page 5 - Politics and Economics

swinginglory · 08-03-2012, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vael

Ideologues will obviously just reverse engineer this question.

Here's the conservative version: It's axiomatic that whatever money the rich have, it must be justified, legitimate and moral that they have it, hence their wealth must be due to hard work instead of luck!

Suggested reading for you would be Robert (not Mike) Caro's bio of LBJ Means of Ascent which explains how Johnson wielded his political clout to make his "wife" a fortune. That's the democrat way.......

Effen · 08-03-2012, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vhawk01

Exceedingly poor logic. You should work harder at that.

fail

Effen · 08-03-2012, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swinginglory

Yup.... that's the answer...... the fundamental difference between the cheese eaters and the wealthy in this society is variance. No wonder you believe in Fabianism.

Few dispute if Richard Feynman or Leonard Susskind were born in Uganda we likely never would have heard of them, so there is some fortune necessary on the fundamental level. It helps to have 2 good motivated parents, but many have made it with worse situations.

In this country the education is free through 12th grade and the information is available to motivated students. I taught for a year in an 80% minority middle school and the teachers were more than adequate for the task at hand.

Motivation and a powerful work ethic will take the majority a long way if they are willing to make the sacrifice. When I was in the horse racing business, I had a client who was one of the biggest wallpaper distributors on the east coast. The man worked up from nothing to make this hugely successful business by working crazy long hours.

He told me once, " There are two honest ways to make a lot of money, be smarter than anyone, or out work everyone." He said he knew he didn't fit the first category , so he had to do the later.

jumping jesus i can smell the circular self patting on back logic from way over here.

note: having anecdotes of people you've met who worked hard and succeeded doesn't make what I said less true. they can both exist at once!

it's okay. you're not alone. almost everyone I know attributes positive outcomes to their talent/work ethic/drive/determination and all their negative outcomes to how bad they got ****ed/boss is an *******/guy must be crazy/i didn't have my morning coffee.

Effen · 08-03-2012, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBorders

The ones who work harder aren't luckier, they just create more opportunities for variance to work in their favor.

swinginglory · 08-03-2012, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Effen

it's okay. you're not alone. almost everyone I know attributes positive outcomes to their talent/work ethic/drive/determination and all their negative outcomes to how bad they got ****ed/boss is an *******/guy must be crazy/i didn't have my morning coffee.

That is where you Fabians have it completely wrong. Everything ****ed up that ever happened to me in my life is completely attributable to me directly. If something bad happened to me.... it was on me. I mean unless some shmuck runs a red light and t-bones me.

On the other hand, I have found when I put forth less than a top effort, I generally got less than top results and when I worked my ass off, I generally got results.

And since I haven't had a "boss" since 1976.... I really couldn't blame him, now, could I?

swinginglory · 08-03-2012, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Effen

it's okay. you're not alone. almost everyone I know attributes positive outcomes to their talent/work ethic/drive/determination and all their negative outcomes to how bad they got ****ed/boss is an *******/guy must be crazy/i didn't have my morning coffee.

That is where you Fabians have it completely wrong. Everything ****ed up that ever happened to me in my life is completely attributable to me directly. If something bad happened to me.... it was on me. I mean unless some shmuck runs a red light and t-bones me.

On the other hand, I have found when I put forth less than a top effort, I generally got less than top results and when I worked my ass off, I generally got results.

And since I haven't had a "boss" since 1976.... I really couldn't blame him, now, could I?

**MrWookie** · 08-03-2012, 10:52 PM

Now you just get to blame the government instead.

Shoe · 08-03-2012, 10:58 PM

Your make your own luck by working hard (and working smart -- but just working hard is enough to make sure you are always employed and at minimum paid above average compared to others in the same position as you are).

suzzer99 · 08-03-2012, 11:25 PM

Another big factor in being rich is wanting to be rich. If I really cared about being rich vs. just being comfortable, I would move to silicon valley and try to hook up with a startup. No matter what I would work very hard long hours. Plus I'd have to live in boring Sili Valley. Whether or not my company made me rich would be 95% luck (yeah I'm that good that 5% of the company's chances would hinge on me).

Plan B would be to start my own consulting company or possibly software idea. It would probably involve me working insane hours for 5+ years, never take any vacation, go massively into debt, etc. and again the odds of really getting rich would be low.

So yeah, hard work + willing to take risks + willing to sacrifice + luck. For self-made rich ppl only obviously. People who start out with a ton of money just have to not screw it up.