patrick.net

Laziness divided by opportunity = cannot divide by zero.

Laziness may or may not have anything to do with it. Many rich people are lazy too. But rich people certainly do not hate success.

Peter P says

Poverty exists because of bad values.

I thought poverty was due to lack of money.

Strategist says

Peter P says

Poverty exists because of bad values.

I thought poverty was due to lack of money.

That's like saying Feminism was due to lack of dicks. ;-)

Peter P says

That's like saying Feminism was due to lack of dicks. ;-)

I thought it was due to women who WERE dicks.

Ceffer says

Peter P says

That's like saying Feminism was due to lack of dicks. ;-)

I thought it was due to women who WERE dicks.

Isn't it ironic?

Peter P says

It is all too human to find comfort in blame. As a result, the goal to lift oneself out of poverty is entirely forgotten. On the other hand, winners do not waste time with excuses.

It's also all to human to blame others' misfortune on themselves, to be selfish and inconsiderate once one is "above" the struggle to make a living, etc.

Justifying the rich and powerful is the oldest philosophical endeavour known to man.

What did the Walton heirs do to merit their inherited wealth?

Peter P says

Strategist says

Peter P says

Poverty exists because of bad values.

I thought poverty was due to lack of money.

That's like saying Feminism was due to lack of dicks. ;-)

That's the funniest thing I have ever heard.
I guess being a man is due to lack of a vagina. What a relief. Who needs the plumbing problems.

thunderlips11 says

Justifying the rich and powerful is the oldest philosophical endeavour known to man.

No, but perhaps it is time for everybody to stop justifying and start creating wealth.

thunderlips11 says

What did the Walton heirs do to merit their inherited wealth?

Meritocracy is as overrated as reason. Who is there to decide merit anyway?

The Walton could inherit their wealth because the original wealth creator said so.

What's the endgame? If everybody is wealthy, who collects the trash, serves the burgers, and changes the adult diapers?

Plenty of people living in a Thailand landfill working their asses off to find enough garbage to salvage or eat. 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, year after year. Should they start GarbageUber to find the best scrap yards?

thunderlips11 says

What's the endgame? If everybody is wealthy, who collects the trash, serves the burgers, and changes the adult diapers?

Robots.

thunderlips11 says

Plenty of people living in a Thailand landfill working their asses off to find enough garbage to salvage or eat. 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, year after year. Should they start GarbageUber to find the best scrap yards?

They should certainly try. Working harder will not guarantee success.

Strategist says

That's the funniest thing I have ever heard.

I guess being a man is due to lack of a vagina. What a relief. Who needs the plumbing problems.

Thanks! PatNet is a great place to test comedy writing.

Don't forget penis has a hole too. Just harder to clean.

jazz music says

The business classes are very class-conscious

Though one time the stewardess was kind enough to let me use the business-class loo.

Peter P says

jazz music says

The business classes are very class-conscious

Though one time the stewardess was kind enough to let me use the business-class loo.

Flight attendants, Peter, flight attendants.
Jazz thinks wealth just exists and anyone who has more must have stolen it.

jazz music says

We all devote our lives to creating wealth ... for some angry lazy rich fuckup to own.

Or you can try to "own" the wealth. The majority of Forbes 400 are self-made.

jazz music says

Peter P says

creating wealth.

We all devote our lives to creating wealth ... for some angry lazy rich fuckup to own. Or we face getting beaten to death on the streets, where the police thugs roam seeking federal grant money for the local court system and to get overtime pay by getting some poor sucker into court where police hang out, sleep, socialize, whatever.

When we become old, injured, disabled and otherwise unable to serve that end we disappear into obscurity hopefully on someone's couch or basement. "So and so got laid off, whatever happened to him? I heard he had some medical expenses, I dunno, hmmm ... the boss sure likes the intern they brought in."

You need help. Someone, please call 911.

It would help if the government quit training people to be victims...

10 million people now on permanent disability.

indigenous says

It would help if the government quit training people to be victims...

10 million people now on permanent disability.

Just cut off their benefits and see how quickly they recover.

Strategist says

Just cut off their benefits and see how quickly they recover.

Sactly

indigenous says

Strategist says

Just cut off their benefits and see how quickly they recover.

Sactly

Once I slightly bumped into a van at a traffic light. The driver comes out with his right hand behind him going back and forth. I go to the back of the car and get a video camera (It was in Hawaii before the iphone era) and start recording the bumpers which had zero damage. Suddenly he was just fine. he he he he. What a miracle.

Peter P says

Robots.

That assumes cheap energy. And robots can't replace most minimal wage workers, since they don't spend all their time flipping burgers (but getting more bread rolls, wrapping sandwiches, sweeping the floor, counting cups, etc.)

Also, terrible for societal order. If you have no skin in the game, why bother?

Immense pressure evens out society somewhat. Rich people cowed into concessions to maintain social order. Incredible prosperity as the wealth creators are actually paid a large portion of the wealth they create. The Richy Rich's grandchildren who don't remember the upheaval so the cycle repeats again as they fund scholars for dollars and progandizing plutocrat-friendly philosphers. Public forgets what it was like in grandad's day when there was little work at shitty pay. And the cycle repeats.

But I'm actually pretty optimistic. The best places in the world are Social Democracies, not Laissez-Faire Capitalist Oligarchies. There are more and more educated people, and the "I gotta prove I'm as tough as my WW2 Vet and Depression Surviving Dad by being a Self-Centered Asshole" Babyboomer types are not long for the earth.

The world is getting smaller and more and more Americans realize that Swedes and Germans don't live in rat-infested tenements lit only by a single bulb in a bare outlet and only get a band aid if they get sick. They're astonished to find people in Belgium getting a living wage to work at McD's. That people don't lose their homes over a bout of breast cancer.

Jazz, it is unfortunate you feel that wealth accumulation is immoral. But you just further highlighted my points on this thread.