Rich People are Evil

[CharlesPhipps]

Your anecdote of your father is, at least, well...it made me think.

It still sounds a bit like "the only thing that can stop a bad rich person is a good rich person" though. All of these problems are things created by rich people who want to be even richer.

I'm not a staunch defender of unregulated capitalism, far from it. I'm also deeply aware of the abuses by the industries which are set up for the super-rich and by the super-rich. Wealth concentration in America (correction: the world) is also incredibly skewed to the point of ridiculousness. I'm generally more anti-corporate than anti-"rich" however as I think of the issues more in the context of the system is the problem rather than the people living inside the system. Which yes, is like saying, "Don't hate the player, hate the game."

But if you were to take all the wealth of the rich in the world without changing the system, the problems would be there again. As we've seen in other nations. The big issues for me which would be the best way to handle the situation of poverty in the world would eliminating corporate personhood (which would mean that wealth would have to be concentrated in smaller amounts), tighter regulation (always difficult because the poor politician will be tempted by the wealth of those they're supposed to regulate), and a much bigger safety net.

The one benefit of capitalism in society is that it's really good at wealth generation, which is the big thing as wealth is not a static pie but baking pies and as we see with otherwise once prosperous nations like Venezuela that you need to keep baking pies for people to be eating. Which is to say that I'm less concerned about removing the wealth of the rich than figuring out how to get the poor to be prosperous. Which needs a lot of pies.

Okay, I'm stressing that metaphor.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Well, I think Venezuela's problem has more to do with sanctions and corruption than the means of production, but I've only lightly delved into that area and it would be another topic.

That said, I'm coming to better appreciate your position.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

That said, if you want to understand the emotional underpinnings of my "Eat the Rich" attitude, watching This Video may help http://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-398 ... ch-at-work

The TL;DR version is that this klorbag realized he could buy INGREDIENTS for his sandwich at the grocery store and MAKE it, rather than buying a prepared sandwich at a restaurant, and he wants to share this innovative, money-saving lifehack with everyone!

[CharlesPhipps]

MY GOD.

THE SAVINGS!

[Robovski]

Gasp, it is cheaper to make a sandwich yourself than to buy one from a shop AND you get to make it your way. It's almost like the packaging, production, and distribution of the store sandwich has a cost. A cost that employs people and makes others money.

[CharlesPhipps]

Eh, the situation in Venezuela as I've researched it is a complicated one with a lot of bad guys but very few good guys as well as some dumb decision makings. If you want a real world, it was betting oil would remain high priced and not diversifying your economy before driving out large numbers of foreign businesses then doubling down. Mind you, the country has also been under direct economic attack numerous times as well. Noam Chomsky, no friend of the super rich and a great scientist of the "System" that I loathe (and almost runs independent of humanity at times), went from greatly impressed with their economic reforms then "it's good despite" til finally greatly critical.

Back on the Rich.

Well, I grew up rich before becoming a working person (pursuing my dream of being a writer as well as a teacher) with the help of having to work once the stock market collapse of 2008, collapse of a number of big businesses (their executives being fine), and vast medical bills depleted the family fortune. So, having grown up rich I can tell you I've definitely met some genuine dumbasses who are lucky they were to the manor born because surviving in the real world would have been beyond their abilities.

One of the things I have noticed is the nature of the competitive system is there's also a difference between the rich and super-rich. Increasingly, one of the things I've noticed is the differences between the people who were the executives and their politician friends are the levels of their wealth gradually increased so there were fewer and fewer millionaires but larger people with tens of millions. Consolidation of companies under larger and larger companies became a thing so that virtually everything is owned by someone is owned by someone else.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/1e/ff ... 3126de.jpg

Monopoly law is just dead in America.

Honestly, having met some of these genuinely super-rich people, it's kind of weird the kind of world they live in because the kind of decisions which get made by these people have dramatic consequences. Moving a business for saving X amount of dollars destroys thousands of lives but might also make entirely new lives. Usually, it just results in the stockholders and executives getting a bigger piece of the pie but the systems entirely function because of the maintained stock prices. There are some truly evil and corrupt guys in these sorts of levels but if the stock price does fall that can collapse and breakup of the corporations which sends a vast disruption through the spider web above.

[TGLS]

Noam Chomsky ... a great scientist of the "System" that I loathe

What do you have against linguistics?

[CharlesPhipps]

Noam Chomsky ... a great scientist of the "System" that I loathe

What do you have against linguistics?

I tell you, as a man introduced to him by the background recommendations for Mage The Ascension, Noam is the ANGRIEST linguist I've ever read.

[Riedquat]

The one benefit of capitalism in society is that it's really good at wealth generation, which is the big thing as wealth is not a static pie but baking pies and as we see with otherwise once prosperous nations like Venezuela that you need to keep baking pies for people to be eating. Which is to say that I'm less concerned about removing the wealth of the rich than figuring out how to get the poor to be prosperous. Which needs a lot of pies.

One of the bad things about it is that that's all it's really good at, resulting in "More wealth!" being shouted as the solution to every problem, and a willingness to sacrifice everything else at its altar (just look at how often "it's good for the economy" appears to be regarded a definitive there-can-be-no-possible-counter-argument-if-it's-demonstrated-it-is statement).

[CharlesPhipps]

One of the bad things about it is that that's all it's really good at, resulting in "More wealth!" being shouted as the solution to every problem, and a willingness to sacrifice everything else at its altar (just look at how often "it's good for the economy" appears to be regarded a definitive there-can-be-no-possible-counter-argument-if-it's-demonstrated-it-is statement).

Mind you, the ability to feed, clothe, treat, and shelter humans is generally the biggest set of problems humans have to deal with. The thing is that plenty of people have no interest in other people having these benefits unless it somehow personally benefits them.

Capitalism is great at creating solutions to primal problems and the absolute worst enemy of distributing them.

One good critique of the communist model was by a professor of mine, "The farmer who hates and loathes communism as well as hides food isn't that he thinks he's going to get rich if he doesn't give up his crop. It's that he fears he's not going to be fed or his family if he gives it up."