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Old 08-30-2012, 07:17 PM   #21
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Hey, look at it this way. Even crazy people can get rich! How about that?

In fact, quite a few rich people are crazy, or act crazy. Well, maybe not as many as those exist among the poor peasants, but the presence of rich crazy people gives me hope. Perhaps I can be rich some day.

Wait a minute! First, I have to get off my ass and go back to work, just like this woman said. Damn!
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Old 08-30-2012, 07:29 PM   #22
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Of course all of us here have drunk our way to early retirement: that's why it's called FIRE water.
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Old 08-30-2012, 07:38 PM   #23
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I prefer the term that the French have for that: eau de vie or "water of life".

I am going to pour meself some right now. Heh heh heh... I may be crazy but I know what's good for me.
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Old 08-30-2012, 07:50 PM   #24
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In fact, quite a few rich people are crazy, or act crazy. Well, maybe not as many as those exist among the poor peasants, but the presence of rich crazy people gives me hope. Perhaps I can be rich some day.

Quote:
No, poor people are crazy Jack. I'm eccentric
Dennis Hopper - Speed

Rich means being able to do what you want. I don't need anything close to a billion dollars to be able to do that.
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Old 08-30-2012, 08:35 PM   #25
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Let them eat cake.
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Old 08-30-2012, 08:36 PM   #26
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While other comments are controversial, the following statement seems reasonable from a business point of view.

Quote:
"You can't get rich without working hard, taking risks, investing and reinvesting your profits."
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Old 08-30-2012, 10:24 PM   #27
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I think this is appropriate.

"Work is the curse of the drinking class"
Oscar Wilde
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Old 08-30-2012, 10:40 PM   #28
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How about the following quote? Never heard of Schopenhauer. Have you?

"Wealth is like seawater; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame." -- Schopenhauer, Arthur

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Rich means being able to do what you want. I don't need anything close to a billion dollars to be able to do that.
I don't need a billion dollars either, nor $100M. I think I can use $10M. But it is because I tailor my "wants" to what I have.

If we want our own island like Larry Ellison, it is going to take a lot of dough.
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Old 08-31-2012, 12:42 AM   #29
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Wow. How abnoxious can the super-rich be towards the rest of us ?
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Drink Less, Work More

Thought this was worth sharing.
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Old 08-31-2012, 06:41 AM   #30
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Oh, so that's my problem!

Clearly, I've been spending far too much time drinking, smoking, and socializing.
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Old 08-31-2012, 06:50 AM   #31
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Clearly, I've been spending far too much time drinking, smoking, and socializing.
Good thing you're not wasting your time. It's important to have priorities in life.
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Old 08-31-2012, 08:38 AM   #32
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Hey if you do not like what she said, do like me, I now tune to our Vice President and his wisdom...

It is a what ever moment for me. I never liked class envy.

Jealousy, Envy, Greed three very unproductive emotions, but I am just an engineer, from WVa, what might I know !!
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Old 08-31-2012, 08:46 AM   #33
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No, why would the unwashed masses get up and work when they can continue to collect bene's for being poor?
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Old 08-31-2012, 08:53 AM   #34
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1. There might be less "class envy" if people didn't say these "let them eat cake" kind of things. Stuff like this really makes them look clueless and out of touch with reality.

2. Saying "all you have to do is work hard" is a slap in the face to the millions of struggling households who are willing and ready to work hard if they could just, I don't know, FIND A JOB. They act like everyone who is struggling wants to do nothing but collect welfare, unemployment and food stamps, that they don't WANT to work but only want to live on the taxpayer dime. That's offensive, IMO.

I'm all for personal responsibility and earning your own living, but that only goes so far; you need an economy that accommodates just about everyone who wants to make a decent, honest living and we don't have that now. These sound bites from folks who were born on third base and act like they hit a triple to get there don't help. If these people don't like class warfare, maybe they should stop making comments that imply that anyone who is struggling to make ends meet is just a lazy person who wants to sponge off the taxes paid by more successful people. Comments like these FEED class warfare.
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Old 08-31-2012, 09:25 AM   #35
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1. There might be less "class envy" if people didn't say these "let them eat cake" kind of things. Stuff like this really makes them look clueless and out of touch with reality.

2. Saying "all you have to do is work hard" is a slap in the face to the millions of struggling households who are willing and ready to work hard if they could just, I don't know, FIND A JOB. They act like everyone who is struggling wants to do nothing but collect welfare, unemployment and food stamps, that they don't WANT to work but only want to live on the taxpayer dime. That's offensive, IMO.

I'm all for personal responsibility and earning your own living, but that only goes so far; you need an economy that accommodates just about everyone who wants to make a decent, honest living and we don't have that now. These sound bites from folks who were born on third base and act like they hit a triple to get there don't help. If these people don't like class warfare, maybe they should stop making comments that imply that anyone who is struggling to make ends meet is just a lazy person who wants to sponge off the taxes paid by more successful people. Comments like these FEED class warfare.
Not going to turn this into a political discussion. However, there are jobs going begging in various places around the country. Many people travel halfway around the world for months, if not years, to take a job and provide for their families back home. Likewise, there are people who can't find a job working for someone else and decide to start their own businesses. In the end, there are always solutions to employment and money problems even in the worst economies.

John Stossel did an interesting piece on the unemployment welfare issue a while back. There seem to be several versions of it on Youtube, and I don't recall which one is correct. Suffice it to say, many of the people on unemployment welfare he interviewed claimed there were no jobs nearby. Stossel found dozens of them within a 1-block radius of the welfare office, many not requiring any experience. Others claimed that they couldn't get jobs in their fields (nursing), so they're collecting unemployment welfare until they do find one. Finally, another part of the piece showed that the numbers of people on unemployment welfare dropped off right before their benefits were to run out, and as countries shortened the period of welfare eligibility, the numbers aligned to the shorter period.

In sum, I'm all for helping people - but only those who actually *need* help and can't fend for themselves. This includes the elderly, the truly disabled (not someone who claims to have a back disability, and yet participates in bodybuilding contests), and the mentally-challenged. New college graduates have the most geographic and career mobility they'll ever have in their entire lives. Life doesn't always go as planned (i.e., people plan while g-d laughs) and adaptation is the key to survival.
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Old 08-31-2012, 09:28 AM   #36
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Not going to turn this into a political discussion. However, there are jobs going begging in various places around the country.
Actually, one of the main reasons job openings go unfilled today is because in the past, employers used to believe in something called "on the job training." They used to hire people as much as they hired skill sets and specific educations. But that costs money and cheap-ass employers and their shareholders won't stand for that, so they no longer provide it. Have you seen how unrealistic some of the required education and experience is? Almost no one has the exact combination of ALL the education and experience they require. And that gives them an excuse to say "there are no qualified people here" and either bring in foreign workers on an H-1B visa or send the entire operation to places like India or China. I've been in the IT-related area for 25 years and I know there are plenty of competent people who would be "qualified" with a few weeks of retraining. And businesses used to be willing to do that -- but not any more.

And as for the jobs with "no experience necessary", sure -- if you can feed a family on a $9 per hour part-time job with zero benefits.
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"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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Old 08-31-2012, 09:35 AM   #37
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Finally, another part of the piece showed that the numbers of people on unemployment welfare dropped off right before their benefits were to run out, and as countries shortened the period of welfare eligibility, the numbers aligned to the shorter period.
I have a relative who is just what you post. Incentivized to live on unemployment. They won't even consider looking for work until the benefits run out. Granted low wage jobs generally aren't much fun. But something is really wrong here.

And I wonder how many more people have a similar approach to life.
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Old 08-31-2012, 09:39 AM   #38
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I have a relative who is just what you post. Incentivized to live on unemployment. They won't even consider looking for work until the benefits run out. Granted low wage jobs generally aren't much fun. But something is really wrong here.

And I wonder how many more people have a similar approach to life.
My point wasn't that these people don't exist or that the system doesn't enable this behavior. My point is that the privileged folks like this heiress do their own cause no good when they act like everyone who is struggling is doing so because they are like this.
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"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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Old 08-31-2012, 09:48 AM   #39
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I found the original piece she wrote. It looks pretty inoffensive to me. Some generic platitudes about everyone has opportunity to do well. She suggests that people who are jealous of others wealth should party less and work more. Not newsworthy. Actually seemed kind of encouraging. OTOH, she's generally a pretty unsympathetic person, easy to target with stereotypes because of her inherited wealth and overweight.

Her mining companies have longstanding contentious relationships with regulators and it looks like one guy with a particular feud with her has been the driving force behind getting all this press to portray her as obnoxiously out of touch with anyone not a billionaire. Lots of twisting by taking things out of context.

Maybe she's a mean terrible person, but maybe there's also a lot more history and backstory here than is apparent in these short castigating articles.
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Old 08-31-2012, 09:55 AM   #40
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Actually, one of the main reasons job openings go unfilled today is because in the past, employers used to believe in something called "on the job training." They used to hire people as much as they hired skill sets and specific educations. But that costs money and cheap-ass employers and their shareholders won't stand for that, so they no longer provide it. Have you seen how unrealistic some of the required education and experience is? Almost no one has the exact combination of ALL the education and experience they require. And that gives them an excuse to say "there are no qualified people here" and either bring in foreign workers on an H-1B visa or send the entire operation to places like India or China. I've been in the IT-related area for 25 years and I know there are plenty of competent people who would be "qualified" with a few weeks of retraining. And businesses used to be willing to do that -- but not any more.

And as for the jobs with "no experience necessary", sure -- if you can feed a family on a $9 per hour part-time job with zero benefits.
I'm sorry, but you can't heap all of the blame on employers. On-the-job training is a luxury that most employers can't offer in a down economy where they're operating on skeleton crews. They expect that the people they hire can hit the ground running. It's not unreasonable to expect that job candidates have most of the skills for the jobs to which they are applying. A college degree in Renaissance Literature doesn't train you for much these days. Assuming you're right that it would only take a few weeks of training to make a U.S. citizen a viable candidate, I have to ask why that type of individual doesn't take it upon him or herself to sign up for a class at a local community college or other educational institution to get the requisite training? Finally, no experience necessary jobs allow people to get experience. No matter where you are in your career right now, like everyone else you started at the bottom. Some people have to do this only once when they're young, others have to do it again (and possibly again and again) when they're older.
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