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It's so sarcastic, I couldn't hold myself without posting this.
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Free registration at the forum removes this block.This is older than the internet, but also happens to be one of the most accurate cartoons ever produced:
So much this in Denmark we have like the highest taxes in the world, 45 % of the taxes are paid by the 1% richest in the country and when you make a certain amount of money the tax percentage is bumped up to like 70 %, blows my mind that the government actually punishes the people creating the jobs. As for the entitlement... everyone one here thinks that it is totally fair that when you have a lot of money you pay for everyone else. sigh...I had never seen this before. I am going to print it and keep it in my wallet forever.
As for redistribution... well, some of it is necessary. Financing K-12 and highways is a form of redistribution. However, the problem is that people feel entitled to everything. I see it everyday at my (sucky) dayjob.
So much this in Denmark we have like the highest taxes in the world, 45 % of the taxes are paid by the 1% richest in the country and when you make a certain amount of money the tax percentage is bumped up to like 70 %, blows my mind that the government actually punishes the people creating the jobs. As for the entitlement... everyone one here thinks that it is totally fair that when you have a lot of money you pay for everyone else. sigh...
So I'm guessing Russell Brand proposes we should take from the rich and businesses and give it to the poor. Yeah, let's penalize success!
I was born a few months before the break up of Soviet Union, in which my country had the 'privilege' to be a part of. My parents on the other hand even had the opportunity to work in that absolutely blissful socialism. Yeah, people were for the most part equal... equally poor. No-one had the motivation to work hard, cos the lazy drunk next to you earned just as much as you did. No incentive to stand out, be innovative, work hard or take risks... and well, you can read the results of that experiment from the history books and yet, there are still these people that believe there's something wrong with inequality and the poor DESERVE to have money given to them by the rich
ΕΝΔΕΚΑ's example shows exactly why majority of the poor live from paycheck to paycheck.
Here's someone who has opposite views than Brand and can be equally as sarcastic and hilarious:
My parents lived in such a country too. As far as I recall, there wasn´t a problem with motivation or incentive because if you you deliberately didn´t want to work you could go to jail. Not that this is a good thing... They went through their day like normal people today. Look at/Remember your day job, most are not motivated as well, e.g., work in one tab, Facebook in the other, etc. But you´re right, innovation and thus the standard of living is severly hampered if you are not allowed to open up a company.)I was born a few months before the break up of Soviet Union, in which my country had the 'privilege' to be a part of. My parents on the other hand even had the opportunity to work in that absolutely blissful socialism. Yeah, people were for the most part equal... equally poor. No-one had the motivation to work hard, cos the lazy drunk next to you earned just as much as you did. No incentive to stand out, be innovative, work hard or take risks...
Any system or economic model with people in them is going to have its issues. Create a perfect system, now add people to that mix and observe how a tiny percentage of those people will be looking for loopholes, abusing the system and trying to gain an unfair advantage.In general, I am of the same opinion as you all and I think Kevin O´Leary is spot on (but only in a perfect world).
(Side note: I don´t like O´Leary´s thoughts on socialism because he lumps together everybody. It isn´t as easy as he explained it... As politics is a tochy subject, I won´t go there (I hope the rest of the post is okay in regards to that.)
My parents lived in such a country too. As far as I recall, there wasn´t a problem with motivation or incentive because if you you deliberately didn´t want to work you could go to jail. Not that this is a good thing... They went through their day like normal people today. Look at/Remember your day job, most are not motivated as well, e.g., work in one tab, Facebook in the other, etc. But you´re right, innovation and thus the standard of living is severly hampered if you are not allowed to open up a company.)
I like the success mindset that we engage in here on the forum and if you morals/ethics are right, then it´s absolutely correct to assume the view of O´Leary, especially if you worked hard for your goals and all your business friends/network are honest people.
The problem with this thinking is, that it´s as extreme as the idea to give all your money to the poor. I think you should keep the positivity but don´t neglect the reality.
It´s all about the individual entrepreneur and as such, there are a lot of good ones out there but there are also scumbags who enrich themselves at the expense of honest people. There are/were illegal monopolies, schemes, exploitations of people in poor countries, etc. Rich families who amassed their wealth in the past by breaking the law and/or abusing the circumstances that there weren´t any regulations yet. It´s simply life, there are all sort of things happening all the time.
As always, the reality is in the middle. Not all rich people are rich because they created tons of value. There is shady stuff going on. Also, not all rich people are unethical and squeeze all the money from the poor; there are people who created and create massive amounts of value. And I bet and personally kinda know deep down that the value-creaters are in the majority.
The same goes on for consumers. There are honest people, but also some who try to scam the business owner. Same story.
So for me, idolizing every business owner is in the same category as hating all rich people (globally speaking).
The question is, how do you fix that? Wealth redistribution would certainly reduce scamming big time, but also would reduce creating value big time...
Any system or economic model with people in them is going to have its issues. Create a perfect system, now add people to that mix and observe how a tiny percentage of those people will be looking for loopholes, abusing the system and trying to gain an unfair advantage.
I don't think anyone here thinks ALL business people are honest and ethical. I remember a fact from a study which indicated that 4% of CEO-s, business owners and managers are legit psychopaths (in general population, that number is around 1%). But that doesn't mean we should legalize stealing and force ethical and honest people to donate a large chunk of their money to welfare.
I'm sure your parents spent their youth in that environment and thus have more nostalgic and positive memories. Mine have that too. It's not until you poke their memories more that you realize what an incredibly stupid system it all was. The needs of the market were ignored and there was a constant deficit for many products and oversupply for others. There were lines for everything, you had to wait apprx 10 years to purchase a car, years to get an apartment or furniture, new cars were CHEAPER than used cars.
Of course, most people just went about their lives, but generally, people were much less motivated to work than in capitalism and stealing from the company became the norm.
I like O'Leary because I find myself nodding in approval to nearly everything he has said in interviews and tv shows. He's a beacon of truth in a society which is moving towards the whole 'capitalism/money is evil' thinking.
But I think you and I are actually agreeing with each other, so let's not start a huge discussion over the flaws capitalism and rather work towards our own success in it
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