- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Is the existence of multi-billionaires morally defensible?
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:19 am to Huge Richard
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:19 am to Huge Richard
I am reminded of 2 Thomas Sowell quotes...
First, and it is my favorite..
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
And..
“Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
First, and it is my favorite..
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
And..
“Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
This post was edited on 1/29/19 at 10:29 am
3
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:23 am to Ten Bears
quote:
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
And..
“Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
Poetry.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:36 am to Huge Richard
quote:
You’re asking if we put a cap on earning, what would go wrong? Do we really need to answer that?
It was a counter-point to the question. I'm certainly not advocating for it.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:41 am to bmy
quote:
quote:
There is no “ wealth pie “. Wealth is created.
Where does it come from?
Ultimate source of new wealth is almost always innovation of some sort
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:42 am to bmy
quote:
Ew thats still my signatuere
Yes, I notice you left out "anti-Semitism".
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:44 am to oogabooga68
quote:
No, I'm giving you a glimpse into the mindset of the sheep that believe in wealth re-distribution.
We're all well aware of that
You're just being obtuse and annoying
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:48 am to Powerman
quote:
You're just being obtuse and annoying
A necessary tactic sometimes because people are so thick-headed.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 10:51 am to TrueTiger
quote:
Greed isn't morally defensible
it may not be morally defensible, but it is a pretty fundamental human element from an evolutionary perspective
Posted on 1/29/19 at 11:02 am to Huge Richard
quote:
Is the existence of multi-billionaires morally defensible?
No it's not immoral.
What's immoral is the love of money not the mere possession of a lot of money.
Socialists and Communists like AOC and Bernie are soooo stupid they don't realize that money doesn't exist until someone creates the money by coming up with a good idea or service that is needed then doing the hard work of making that idea or service succeed.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 11:07 am to HogX
quote:
Well, I mean, if you're not helping others with it and have an obsession with your money then I do believe the Bible frowns upon it.
Who are those "others" that you mention?
We have spent trillions of dollars since 1964 and the "others" keep multiplying. The numbers keep expanding. Our national debt is growing at catastrophic rate.
What else can be expected of working tax payers?
Surely the good books doesn't tell you to give everything. Doesn't it mention, "if you don't work you don't eat"? Why is that never mentioned by the bleeding hearts?
Posted on 1/29/19 at 11:26 am to Tiger Prawn
quote:
Agreed. I was countering previous post saying wealth isn't finite and Bezos' hundreds of billions doesn't make someone else go without. There's only so much money in the economy and Bezos out competed other businesses to get a bigger share, which caused other businesses to go under.
Money or better currency is just a medium to easily enable a transaction. At its core money is just an idea backed by confidence and used for valuation. There is around $1.7 trillion dollars in circulation, the US GDP is around $19.3 trillion. You can have ever-expanding wealth and limited currency, they are not necessarily related.
Wealth does not equate with money; sure money can be a form of wealth, but it's not like folks like Gates and Bezos sit in a money bin full of cash like Scrooge McDuck. Simply put if you wanted to acquire all of Bill Gates assets and investments it means that you would have to raise roughly the equivalent of $96.3 billion in capital. Would all of that be money? no. But we use currency as the measured scale. Wealth can grow, sometimes unexpectedly, you own an asset, say a piece of real estate that becomes more desirable because they built a park next to it; boom, you have more wealth. Does that mean that money shows up in an account somewhere? No. It means that if someone wants to acquire the piece of real estate they would have to raise more capital than they would have yesterday.
quote:
quote: quote: There is no “ wealth pie “. Wealth is created. Where does it come from? Ultimate source of new wealth is almost always innovation of some sort
Innovation can be important, but opportunity and circumstances are just as important. Here's a scenario, a man is stuck in a room and only a screwdriver can get you out. I own a 20-year-old screwdriver that I purchased for $20 and has been depreciating for the last 19 years at a $1 / year. My wealth in relation to that screwdriver has been declining to what is now $1 so I have lost wealth. I come across them in their room and agree to a transaction where you give me the equivalent of $51 worth of commodities for the screwdriver. And just like that $50 worth of wealth was created, the value of that object increased due to the circumstances. Nothing was made, no innovation was developed and that screwdriver was now worth more, or the estimated value at that time was increased.
Now that man who I sold the screwdriver to just happens to be famous. He goes on eBay and sells the screwdriver that got him out of the room for $10,000. Now $9,949 dollars worth of new wealth was created through provenance and association with a famous incident. All that wealth created from a $1 20-year-old screwdriver.
This post was edited on 1/29/19 at 11:35 am
Posted on 1/29/19 at 11:36 am to TrueTiger
quote:
Greed isn't morally defensible
Greed is the love of money. That's why greed is one of the 7 deadly sins.
The fact that someone merely possesses a lot of money is not greed.
It may be the result of someone working hard and sacrificing in order to help themselves and God helps those who help themselves.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 11:42 am to RolltidePA
quote:
Innovation can be important, but opportunity and circumstances are just as important. Here's a scenario, a man is stuck in a room and only a screwdriver can get you out. I own a 20-year-old screwdriver that I purchased for $20 and has been depreciating for the last 19 years at a $1 / year. My wealth in relation to that screwdriver has been declining to what is now $1 so I have lost wealth. I come across them in their room and agree to a transaction where you give me the equivalent of $51 worth of commodities for the screwdriver. And just like that $50 worth of wealth was created, the value of that object increased due to the circumstances. Nothing was made, no innovation was developed and that screwdriver was now worth more, or the estimated value at that time was increased.
In other words, you sold them a product you owned that was needed by other people and, as a result, you created money by selling those people your product for a reasonable fee.
This post was edited on 1/29/19 at 11:47 am
Posted on 1/29/19 at 11:48 am to RolltidePA
quote:
Innovation can be important, but opportunity and circumstances are just as important. Here's a scenario, a man is stuck in a room and only a screwdriver can get you out. I own a 20-year-old screwdriver that I purchased for $20 and has been depreciating for the last 19 years at a $1 / year. My wealth in relation to that screwdriver has been declining to what is now $1 so I have lost wealth. I come across them in their room and agree to a transaction where you give me the equivalent of $51 worth of commodities for the screwdriver. And just like that $50 worth of wealth was created, the value of that object increased due to the circumstances. Nothing was made, no innovation was developed and that screwdriver was now worth more, or the estimated value at that time was increased.
"Innovation" meant in the broad sense - what you just described was an innovation in delivery services, so to speak.
In the meta view, wealth creation almost always boils down to innovation assuming well-functioning markets. The walls of that room eventually fall, the value of the famous incident dissipates, etc., etc. Only innovation drives long-term wealth creation.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 11:55 am to Tiger Prawn
quote:
If I was a billionaire, why the hell would I donate money or support the campaign of members of a party that want to impose a 70% income tax on me?
Don't know but billionaires think differently and apparently don't have a problem with it.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 12:43 pm to AbuTheMonkey
quote:
"Innovation" meant in the broad sense - what you just described was an innovation in delivery services, so to speak.
In the meta view, wealth creation almost always boils down to innovation assuming well-functioning markets. The walls of that room eventually fall, the value of the famous incident dissipates, etc., etc. Only innovation drives long-term wealth creation.
Agree 100%. "Build a better mousetrap".
I was just trying to add that there are many avenues to creating wealth and that the myth of the someone having too big a piece of the pie is insanity. You can always find ways to simply make the pie bigger. Maintaining wealth and building upon it takes innovation and quality decision making. What do you do with that $50 you got from the screwdriver?
Also from what you pointed out, wealth and is fluid. What was yesterday a great source of wealth can be worthless tomorrow. Typewriter business isn't too strong these days.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 12:50 pm to Tiger Prawn
quote:Not to me. The democrats throw the masses scraps to make them think they are getting "free" stuff (while just putting those costs on the deficit). Placating the masses keeps them from coming for their isht. And... they are even paying for it themselves (or will be in the future)
Why any billionaire would support the current Democrat party is puzzling to me.
Posted on 1/29/19 at 12:51 pm to oogabooga68
quote:
A necessary tactic sometimes because people are so thick-headed.
Here of all places?
Who here regularly posts about massive wealth confiscation?
You're just yelling into the echo chamber and pretending your lecturing to someone who doesn't exist
Posted on 1/29/19 at 12:51 pm to Ten Bears
quote:
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
one of my all time favorites.Posted on 1/29/19 at 12:52 pm to boogiewoogie1978
quote:
If I was a billionaire, why the hell would I donate money or support the campaign of members of a party that want to impose a 70% income tax on me?
Don't know but billionaires think differently and apparently don't have a problem with it.
Or are extremely confident that no one will levy a 70% tax on them (and they're likely correct)
Page 4 of 5
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News