One of the most popular cultural narratives is that the Rich have the upper, controlling hand while the poor are struggling to survive. This massively flawed generalisation is also the reason why our politics seem to be so horrible.
It doesn't matter how much one has if they can't afford their lifestyle. Rich and Poor are subjective words that make sense only in the large context one is placed. One can be a poor millionaire living in a neighborhood of billionaires as much as most people feel poor when they compare themselves with popular figures.
Society has never been built to be equal nor it will ever be. Humans are different and we treat each other differently. We can agree on paper to "treat" each other equally but we will be lying to ourselves. Treating someone equally is not a chemical recipe build on precision but rather a narrative we all agreed to say to amongst ourselves.
Much like other species, there are those who create and those who leech. There are individuals that work and provide value and there are those who are trying to hitch a ride on other people's backs. Blaming the rich for societal problems is not a logical argument because it is based on arbitrary wealth comparison. We could all start with the same money tomorrow and in 5 years the same distribution of wealth will pan out much like today. Such is the nature of human economics activities. They are based on natural laws much like everything else around us.
Rather than trying to "balance" things out for the sake of being a socialist utopia, we should try and reject from our circles those who do not nothing and yet expect others to support them. We should abolish those who manipulate and extort from us by using the coercive means of politics. Those are the problem, not the wealthy.
The Rich vs Poor false dichotomy has driven our culture into a paranoia about wealth distribution when in fact the problem is elsewhere. A poor leech that refuses to work is as damaging as a wealthy leech that is in bed with the government in order to have their own way in business. In both cases, the wealth creator, the contributor, gets owned by these parasites. The worthy are easy to pick. The non-worthy are impossible to get rid off.
when we play monopoly we all start with the same amount of money. Things do play out when luck and strategies are involved. noone will have the same amount of money as any other as soon as everyone complete a round.
Equality at economics is something that just can't be sustained or implemented. An impossible task.
I would like someone to explain equality to me. From my view it gets mixed with solidarity and other bs like that. For me equality means just basically same rules for everyone as anti-elitistic idea. Where you start in the system could vary.
The FED is one such parasite. Taking 6% of everything, every year, for what? Controlling the money.
And that isn't enough for them, they also have to steal the production of everyone, and terrorize every man.
And they don't stop there, they also have to control every market taking their skim off the top. (and the bottom)
Couldn't agree more.
But we have some control over that. From what I learned in school, the tax code was written to be like a fence, not a wall. What this means is that if you know where to look and what to do, you can use legal loopholes to avoid certain taxes. This is why the "rich" often don't pay as many taxes as the middle class. Because they know what to do in order to avoid the taxes. The tax code was written so that people can use these loopholes, but most people don't really take the time to learn them and take advantage of them.
The rich have never paid taxes. And it is not so much loopholes, or tax shelters, it is that they own businesses, they deduct their expenses from their income, and then pay taxes.
To the normal middle class person, they pay their taxes, and then pay their expenses.
The tax law is designed to destroy people. The Infernal Revue Syndicate are terrorists. That is the reason they exist.
They create more paper work than anyone could read each year. And you are supposed to follow it all. Further, they do not follow their own rules. Look up @larekenrose, he just released his giant book on his fight with said organization for free as a pdf.
I do suggest that you set yourself up as a corporation, and start doing deductions like a rich person.
Its a good argument. Not sure how possible it would be but i like the vision. Its a shame that there isnt more incentive for people to be useful members of society but greed and bad mentality will always be a part of our society and i dont see that ever changing.
People who contribute and work hard deserve to warn more and enjoy their earnings. While i dont think anybody should suffer i would rather not see them get it for nothing.
Greed is never the problem. We are all greedy in someway to other people's eyes. Depends what we compare.
Personally i do see greed as a problem.
Ambition no, wealth no, and prosperity no. But for me greed is people willing to take from others to add more to what they already have. Not because they need it but because the desire or drive is there to accumulate more regardless of whether it is needed or not.
For me having enough to live comfortably and be able to live without worrying about the next set of bills is plenty. If i had 20m i wouldnt even be able to spend it.
Basically good v evil then. We could start by voting in parties based on integrity, courage and positivity.
Here's the thing. If you make a distinction between wealth and degree of leaching, you also have to acknowledge that they are not orthogonal.
Among the poor, the leaches leach relatively little per person (because they're poor), and the non-leaches are often working their butts off and being well exploited for very little pay, in sectors where labor has virtually no negotiating power. Their work is largely for the benefit of the tiny class who wields control over the economy.
Meanwhile, if you look at the rich, you see three things. One is that you're looking at numbers so large that they can't be meaningfully connected to the efforts or merit of the individual. I have no beef with those tech billionaires who made their fortunes by disrupting and innovating, but the idea that a thousand dollars for a minute of their time is somehow merited and not leached is ridiculous. Second is that the vast majority of the very wealthy are not even like those self-made industrialists, but are just leveraging inherited wealth. If that's not leaching, then I don't know what is. Third is that if you look at how US Congress acts (and Princeton actually did a statistically study on this), it makes policy in line with what moneyed interests want over the interests of the people at large. So the rent seekers and manipulators of policy for personal benefit are almost exclusively moneyed interests.
Socialism is unique among political ideologies (with the possible exception of left anarchism) in that it has strains that honestly and credibly attempt to deal with both problems (inequality and leaching) simultaneously. Syndicalism is a system in which workplaces are democratized so that the people doing the work, rather than leaching off it, can determine their own policies and systems of compensation. It's a cool concept that despite seeing only seen limited application so far, shows a lot of promise.
So true:
Postingan anda sangat menarik
Well said. I agree. You live your life in your oen way.. the grass is always more green with your neigbour when you think it is. Respect everyone.
I agree. There are successful wealthy people now who started with nothing, but through hard work and perseverance achieved great success. There are people who started with everything and end up with nothing through poor management of their assets. Success is a mindset not a number in your bank account. It's far to easy to say money is the reason for all of your problems in life and that if you someone got a lot of it your life would change for the better. Lotto winners don't always do better in life even though through chance the become exceedingly wealthy overnight.
I don't think it has to do so much with success. It has to do more with how you treat those around you
Certainly you have a tangible point, however in the world we live in, psychologically the rich and poor mentality resides in the mind of people just as people believe some are born to rule and others are born to serve, it can only be corrected if the right mentality is put in place
Indeed that is the reality of today, the rich are no longer helping the poor. Even some rich people press the poor....
Nice post. It is all about mindset. Rich people think differently than poor. We have two economies and when next crisis hit, this will lead to huge social unrest.
I am really excited about greater automation. I want EVERYONE's job to be replaced by machines. I also do not think that people should starve, so we will need to have a very significant amount of social change to figure out to make sure that no one starves once there is so much less work to be done.
How would you feel about people doing less if there was simply less human work to be done?
there will always be poor. It is a fact of life. Getting equality for wealth distribution is just an excuse for socialism and population control. Someone has to work to pay the fare for all. Equal wealth distribution reduces the incentive to better yourself or contribute back to society. universal guaranteed income only increases laziness not seeing your full potential. For a society to progress there must be the inspiration and motivation to do better. Thanks for the good and thought provoking post.
It is all about starting position and about how smart do you!
Some people have everything and lose it because they are stupid!
Some doesnt have anything and from it with hard work and ability do great things...thats life just game...
Very good analysis. I lived in Yugoslavia and know how socialism works.
the real question is how you get rid of the parasites
Much appreciation for your sensible presentation.
two kinds of people in the world.
makers and takers.
takers has faker as a subsidiary group.
We are not all the same in anything, so why to seek equality in something so disproportional.
But, the problem is also in the visualization of the resources.
People who are accustomed to provide a bigger result, usually find the resources wherever, because the success pool is not limited by anything but with our own imagination.
And a person with the insightful will, usually doesn't think aw how much I will have to do, it is too much... nothing like that.
Also, we can't know what a person had to go through to achieve some goals, or a job, or money, or a house, personal happiness or an excellent health and fitness. Everything has a price, for all we need time and effort.
I really can't look at the people who are the achievers by asking how, when that person is evidently working more, trying harder and thinking smarter...
It is sometimes quite uneasy to see how some people wish upon the things but not think how to do things.
This is so true, and not talked about often enough! The “free loaders” who figure out how to “game” the system and don’t seem to create anything but corruption- they are a definite problem!
Keep working, stop paying.
We have to have workers, we don't have to have dollars.
I do not think equality will or can ever happen in our world but I feel that simply a person should be pro-“capitalism” in terms of how they view the world and others, but socialist in terms of their personal charity; it holds that a man who will not work but is fully able to, shall not eat, but a man who wishes to work but cannot, should not be hungry.
All exactly as you wrote. But there is another factor influencing the distribution - this is the State. The book "Atlas Shrugged" (Ayn Rand) describes a similar situation. Millionaires-entrepreneurs are opposed to politicians-idlers. The millionaires refused to fight, they left and the world collapsed. Maybe in the world of blockchain everything will be different?
amazing post,, upvoted, followed and resteemed from me
There never used to be "the poor" until powerful bullies -- looters -- went around confiscating the land, and declaring that people must then work and pay if they want to continue to live on it, eat and have a roof, clothes, etc. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to be a slave, though we are conditioned to believe so.
Great read!
Rich vs poor is one of the oldest archetypes.
By definition everybody wants to be richer, that's why the lottery gets so much money. However in general people don't invest their time or money properly. That's why many lottery winners end up poor again.
Rich means something different for each person. Is it a 100.000$, $1 million, $10 million a billion $?