patrick.net

Well, if that's true, I should be a billionaire 'cuz I haven't earned much my whole life.

DieBankOfAmericaPhukkingDie says

They're GODS!

GODS! who make life worth living!

Who lead society to greater destinies!

AMERICA! WINS! because AMERICA! sucks BILLIONAIRE! SCHLONG!

AF has this wrong the true deities are on the beltway, why do you hate having your decisions made by the public servants? Don't you find it a tremendous relief?

This is why taxes on the ultra rich should be much higher than they are today. I'm thinking 75% marginal rate with zero deductions.

donny says

This is why taxes on the ultra rich should be much higher than they are today. I'm thinking 75% marginal rate with zero deductions.

Excellent idea, those evil rich guys will go off shore even faster.

when you go, can I have your stuff??

jazz music says

You cannot "earn" millions of dollars, it must be either stolen or taken under extreme duress from those who are helpless to stop it.

Tell the Liberal Hollywood Actorvists that.

jazz music says

You cannot "earn" millions of dollars, it must be either stolen or taken under extreme duress from those who are helpless to stop it.

i disagree. you can in fact earn millions of dollars through creativity and hard work as long as there is an attached dependency such that others are obligated to pay you to enjoy the results of your hard work.

the problem is that the dependencies can be unrelated to actual productive work. this is called non-productive rent-seeking:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking

the solution is to tax only non-productive rent-seeking and to tax nothing else. the best example of such a scheme is georgism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism

but it's politically very difficult to implement, because everyone who owns land would have to pay the land value tax. and it is exactly those people who have the most power to block georgism.

the game of monopoly itself was intended to illustrate the inevitable result of letting people accumulate wealth through non-productive rent seeking:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

jazz music says

You cannot "earn" millions of dollars, it must be either stolen or taken under extreme duress from those who are helpless to stop it

In your bizarre world-the most talented brain surgeon must earn the same as a McDees worker with a high school degree? Just because you don't know how to earn money and/or save invest-does not mean that someone who does is a thief.

The key thing is to actively create new wealth and not merely profit from the ownership of existing wealth.

Professional sports players create an immense amount of wealth in this country -- being entertained is a primary human need . . .

Quite ephemeral wealth, but when you have e.g. 20 million people watching the NBA finals, there's immense value to be reaped via advertising and sponsorship in having that viewership.

Medical professionals also create (restore actually) a lot of wealth in this country, but they're a bit more problematic since they engage in restraint of trade to reduce their competition to keep their profit margins up.

Investments like buying up single family housing to rent out are rent-seeking and not creating new wealth. We should discourage that strongly.

Instead, we reward it, LOL.

jazz music says

That is probably the path of best return on invested time and effort: i.e. parrot the authoritarian's party line but all the while be treacherous enough to recognize any opportunity that might arise to undermine a partner or a coworker, the more their work is marked by merit/brilliance the more of a threat to your own career path and recognition

LOL-you need to grow up. When one starts their career, one may think that their brilliance or merit will get them to the top. Then life hits-you have to deal with politics, economics, macro trends, etc etc etc. It also depends, if your company is in the midst of major growth/projects/innovative spurt-you need brilliant minds. if all your looking at is keeping the lights on-as do most tech depts. in non IT-which is the majority-those type of workers will be bored out of their minds.

Why does it bother you if someone has millions or billions and LOL anyone who disagrees with you has to drop dead-LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What happened passed over for promotion by imbeciles-happens often -learn why the imbecile got ahead and what skill he possesses.

Bitterness and grandiose ideas may help you hold up your version of reality-but will corrode and eat away your soul.

lostand confused says

Bitterness and grandiose ideas may help you hold up your version of reality-but will corrode and eat away your soul.

Going ad-hom to defend the wealthy is the standard practice that pre-dates the internet, electronic computers at that, yes.

jazz music says

you just had to grasp authoritarian to the 64 year old

How does one be an authoritarian in an anonymous board???????????? Dude, chill.

jazz music says

I believe in the right to life AFTER BIRTH, not live as long as you can afford to. You are a pointless as you are a clueless cunt!

Ahh classy. And you say you are 64-so if you don't agree with someone they are a clueless cunt-what are you on??

jazz music says

You cannot "earn" millions of dollars, it must be either stolen or taken under extreme duress from those who are helpless to stop it.

Maybe if you wrote poetry for a living instead of talking nonsense, you too would be a millionaire.

Ironman says

Put down the bottle and move away from the keyboard!!

He writes like Shakespeare, but thinks like a weirdo.

lostand confused says

jazz music says

I believe in the right to life AFTER BIRTH, not live as long as you can afford to. You are a pointless as you are a clueless cunt!

Ahh classy. And you say you are 64-so if you don't agree with someone they are a clueless cunt-what are you on??

The Jamaican stuff. And I don't want any of it.

jazz music says

I believe in the right to life AFTER BIRTH

Why only after birth?

jazz music says

Can't you see how utterly simplistic and self serving it is for ANY owners to extol meritocracy to their rank and file?

There may be few or even more than a few cases where that much wealth was not achieved based on merits, but aristocracy and cronyism. The threat to meritocracy from these people has always been there and has been manageable around-the world and throughout history. However if one is so worried about meritocracy the much bigger threat comes from the progressive left and social justice and diversity wankers who now simply want to appoint job positions by diversity or gender-queerness factor and equal the pay for everybody no matter what. Much bigger threat to meritocracy than a few crony billionaires adding unfairly to inequality, because if the people with skills and grits finally pull out under the oppressiveness of the wankers, it's lights out for Murica.

jazz music says

There are exceptions, but most celebrities die broke so that is a great point SUPPORTING MY ARGUMENT.

Most lottery winners die broke too. Most people simply do not have the common sense to handle money wisely.

jazz music says

Also in bold I said #2) you aren't really so dumb as to believe there is a meritocracy because you all manage your job security by using treachery when needed.

Also known as people skills.

jazz music says

... what are you on?? Why only after birth?

That's a legit question you're dodging the answer for. Under which circumstances should the right to life not be protected and why?

jazz music says

LASTLY

@mell, your posts reveal you didn't read the article of the OP.

That's true. But I didn't need to because I was pointing out a much bigger threat to our meritocracy than billionaires who supposedly didn't earn their wealth, directly responding to your post.jazz music says

The paycheck economy is a meaner place now that virtually nothing impedes corporatism, you know like unions, regulations, representatives and supreme court. No wonder millennials are finding new ways to avoid all the slave-consumer traps like individual housing, marriage, etc.

That's not true. Unions may have lost some influence (not all), but regulations have dramatically increased (esp. tough for small businesses), making starting your own business often a losing bet, so most (cheap) jobs have been allocated at the service industry side of big corporations which you so abhor. Instead people are told to fight against each other via diversity, gender and race baiting bullshit regulations - "if you''re not nice to me and/or hurt my feelings you will lose your job no matter how good you are at it". That's the real threat to meritocracy right there. Btw. nobody complained about millenials avoiding slave-consumer traps, if you're not ready for a house or marriage or dislike the concept then don't do it. I doubt anybody has a problem with this.

mell says

but regulations have dramatically increased (esp. tough for small businesses), making starting your own business often a losing bet, so most (cheap) jobs

http://patrick.net/The+slow+economic+recovery+explained