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Person claims its immoral to be rich

juan917

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Excerpts from the article...

(“I don’t hate capitalism, I just hate rich people” is a perfectly legitimate and consistent perspective.)

I therefore think there is a sort of deflection that goes on with defences of wealth. If we find it appalling that there are so many rich people in a time of need, we are asked to consider questions of acquisition rather than questions of retention. The retention question, after all, is much harder for a wealthy person to answer. It’s one thing to argue that you got rich legitimately. It’s another to explain why you feel justified in spending your wealth upon houses and sculptures rather than helping some struggling people pay their rent or paying off a bunch of student loans or saving thousands of people from dying of malaria. There may be nothing unseemly about the process by which a basketball player earns his millions (we can debate this). But there’s certainly something unseemly about having those millions. "

"We can define something like a “maximum moral income” beyond which it’s obviously inexcusable not to give away all of your money. It might be 5o thousand. Call it 100, though. Per person. With an additional 50 allowed per child. This means two parents with a child can still earn $250,000! That’s so much money. And you can keep it. But everyone who earns anything beyond it is obligated to give the excess away in its entirety. The refusal to do so means intentionally allowing others to suffer, a statement which is true regardless of whether you “earned” or “deserved” the income you were originally given. (Personally, I think the maximum moral income is probably much lower, but let’s just set it here so that everyone can agree on it. I do tend to think that moral requirements should be attainable in practice, and a $30k threshold would actually require people experience some deprivation whereas a $100k threshold indisputably still leaves you with an incredibly comfortable lifestyle better than almost any other had by anyone in history.)"

Here's the link:

It’s Basically Just Immoral To Be Rich | Current Affairs
 
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JAJT

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Don't allow that kind of garbage and nonsense into your head.

The only people whose opinions I listen to when it comes to how wealth "should" be distributed is self made wealthy folks as their perspective tends to be based on reality and their opinions tend to be genuinely thought provoking. I may still not agree with it at that point, but at least I know the source isn't a deranged moron.
 

jsk29

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MJ DeMarco

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MJ DeMarco

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I'm just watching the thread and hoping @Kak has a response.
 

QDF

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Excerpts from the article...
It’s one thing to argue that you got rich legitimately. It’s another to explain why you feel justified in spending your wealth upon houses and sculptures rather than helping some struggling people pay their rent or paying off a bunch of student loans

Didn't read all of it, but the guy clearly has his thinking backwards.

He's suggesting "helping some struggling people pay their rent or paying off a bunch of student loans" by giving them unearned money, which is the most immoral thing of all.

The rich person would be helping these "struggling people" more by buying even more houses and sculptures. Not stealing their dignity by giving them unearned money towards a more "comfortable" living.
 
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G-Man

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This.

Do y'all just go looking for this crap?

The author of that article did his public service for the day...he gave you a reason to be angry.

You gotta open your mind to the fact that this dipshit is ironically making money by causing two reactions:
  • Making losers feel better.
  • Making others feel outraged.
It's the Michael Moore business model.

Read Trust Me I'm Lying by Ryan Holiday. It's the business model that made outlets like HuffPo and Breitbart into monsters. Outrage is the currency of the internet news cycle.

Like @MidwestLandlord hints at... the best thing you can do is not read this shit. Better yet, don't even click on it or visit the page when you see a headline like that. Deprive that F*cker of his 1 millionth of a penny in ad revenue.
 

JAJT

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Read Trust Me I'm Lying by Ryan Holiday.

For what it's worth - I suggest EVERYONE read this book.

One of the most eye-opening first-hand accounts of exactly how the media makes it to your eyeballs and how bullshit it can be. This may not be "surprising" because most intelligent people suspect that the news is manufactured but this is a book on HOW IT HAPPENS.

Easily one of my most recommended books of all time.
 

MidwestLandlord

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the best thing you can do is not read this shit. Better yet, don't even click on it or visit the page when you see a headline like that. Deprive that F*cker of his 1 millionth of a penny in ad revenue.

But yet, I clicked on this thread...even though I KNEW what it would be.

Then commented on it.

Then commented again just now.

I need to work harder lol
 
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G-Man

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See here's the thing. My wife and I have had many occasions to discuss this guy's theory, as his viewpoint is shared and articulated by pious, Pharisaical redistribution activists across the United States. They're in every city, every church, and every family.

We recently became aware of a church that was raising several million dollars for expansion. Someone was speculating on how that money would be better spent. However, the same person had NO IDEA HOW MUCH the same donors gave to the charities their critic articulated they should be funding. Perhaps the same people who were paying for the church expansion gave 10x that much to worthwhile organizations. Who knows? None of your damn business, that's who.

Bill Gates is often criticized for his tremendous wealth. Bloomberg reports Mr Gates, to date, "has donated more than $30 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which so far has given away $35 billion in grants to fight hunger, disease and poverty".

Take any underachieving, poor social justice redistribution warrior, and give them a few million bucks. They'll be joining me on a beach chair at the Ritz Carlton, and complaining about how much the government is taking in taxes. See, when envious people come in to wealth, suddenly their world view changes.

Poor people don't fund missions. Poor people don't feed poor people. Poor people don't invent, employ, or invest. Consider the fact that the very gift of wealth might be in place so that the responsible can use it (or the portion they deem appropriate) for the betterment of society as a whole.

Its not my fault the jackass writer of the article I didn't read is poor. He should spend less time writing drivel, and more time hanging out at this forum. Then, he'd not be a slug parasite and he'd be able to fuel the very causes he thinks YOU should fuel.

Dipshits with their hands out are enough to make me want to go completely Galt. They're very generous... with YOUR money.

My wife and I have been accused of "hating poor people" as we have given, and given, and given (and I am not just talking about our tax bill.) We don't hate poor people. We love them. We undergird them. We find opportunities to help them. We just don't want to BE poor.
Give pious poor people money, and suddenly they're buying filet mignons and writing the occasional check to the orphanage.

There isn't a single one of them that would turn down a stack of cash. Not one. Nor should they.

Because money makes people happy.

Honestly, Vig I respect the outrage, but I don't bother explaining any of these things anymore. I gave 6 years of my youth, all of my savings, and my health (in the form of malaria and cholera) working trying to help poor people in a 3rd world backwater. I watched multiple social justice types come, last two weeks, then puss out and go home the first time there was no power or wifi for a few days.

I became a pariah because I suggested that you don't get moral credit for being generous with someone else's money. (I was arguing that we shouldn't accept funding from USAID)

There's no point in saying any of this, because the people that understand it don't need to hear you say it.
 

InspireHD

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Dipshits with their hands out are enough to make me want to go completely Galt.

Not to derail the thread or anything, but is this a reference to Atlas Shrugged? The reason why I ask is because I bought the book forever ago along with The Fountainhead and only made it half way through The Fountainhead because it was a really long book.

I heard Atlas Shrugged was much better. So, if your comment was in reference to Atlas Shrugged, do you recommend reading it?
 

Vigilante

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Not to derail the thread or anything, but is this a reference to Atlas Shrugged? The reason why I ask is because I bought the book forever ago along with The Fountainhead and only made it half way through The Fountainhead because it was a really long book.

I heard Atlas Shrugged was much better. So, if your comment was in reference to Atlas Shrugged, do you recommend reading it?

Yes
 

GuitarManDan

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There's always going to be haters. It's much easier to shit on successful people so you can sleep better at night than to actually try to improve yourself or learn something new.

It frustrates me how many people out there don't see their potential. They've lost the battle before it even began because they know 100% in their head that they "can't" do something.
 
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Kak

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The accusatory party always thinks that they, given vast riches, would do something better with it than you. I laugh at that crap because there is a reason they aren't rich.

I can guarantee you this guy lives in either an apartment or a home, built by a rich guy. He probably drives a car that someone got rich producing and manufacturing. He definitely typed this article on some sort of digital device that got someone rich. He probably pays all the bills on those because of some rich guy employing him. The list goes on and on and on. The world is what it is today because people took it upon themselves to create and lead. If he wants a glowing example of a society devoid of motivation for creativity, he needs to look no further than North Korea.

The entire civilized world runs on business. Businesses that wouldn't be there without the motivation by the markets. Never, in the history of the world, has there been a better economic system for the lower and middle classes than free market capitalism. There is a reason the poorest people in the United States still make more money in a month working at McDonalds than the average yearly income in Uganda. Because 241 years ago, the United States embraced capitalism.
 
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G-Man

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The accusatory party always thinks that they, given vast riches, would do something better with it than you. I laugh at that crap because there is a reason they aren't rich.

I can guarantee you this guy lives in either an apartment or a home, built by a rich guy. He probably drives a car that someone got rich producing and manufacturing. He definitely typed this gay article on some sort of digital device that got someone rich. He probably pays all the bills on those because of some rich guy employing him. The list goes on and on and on. The world is what it is today because people took it upon themselves to create and lead. If he wants a glowing example of a society devoid of motivation for creativity, he needs to look no further than North Korea.

The entire civilized world runs on business. Businesses that wouldn't be there without the motivation by the markets. Never, in the history of the world, has there been a better economic system for the lower and middle classes than free market capitalism. There is a reason the poorest people in the United States still make more money in a month working at McDonalds than the average yearly income in Uganda. Because 241 years ago, the United States embraced capitalism.

It's funny you mention Africa, because that's where I lived amongst the social justice types. The drive their Japanese car to their fully electrified compound to write an article critical of capitalism on their apple computer, and then hop on an Air France flight to America any time they need to see a real doctor. F*ckers.

EDIT: When I made my statement about accepting funds from USAID only to be lectured about the evils of Capitalism we were sitting in an air conditioned room on a Skype conference call with people in several different countries at a large conference table covered in MacBooks, not 12 hours after we had all taken commercial flight to get there.
 
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Kak

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Not to derail the thread or anything, but is this a reference to Atlas Shrugged? The reason why I ask is because I bought the book forever ago along with The Fountainhead and only made it half way through The Fountainhead because it was a really long book.

I heard Atlas Shrugged was much better. So, if your comment was in reference to Atlas Shrugged, do you recommend reading it?

Do it.
 

arfadugus

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It's immoral to NOT be rich. Anyone reading this has it so easy compared most people. We are so lucky to be born in this part of the world (not just America) and in this time in history. It is our duty to help the world become a better place. Saying it's immoral to be rich is either a lame justification, or it's said by someone who isn't a deep thinker. (confusing correlation and causation)
 

JAJT

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I heard Atlas Shrugged was much better. So, if your comment was in reference to Atlas Shrugged, do you recommend reading it?

Atlas Shrugged is one book everyone should read, whether they think they'll consider it "evil" or not. It's one of the only books I've ever read or heard about where you can give it to two different people and ask them to describe it and you'd swear they were talking about two separate books.

The "bleeding heart" liberal folks will say:

- Promotes greed
- Evil
- Unrealistic
- Shits on the poor
- Ignores all the hardships that the lower classes struggle with
- Proves that the rich would rather leave society than help even one other person

(for what it's worth these folks are so ridiculous they often say this about the book without ever having read it...)

The "wealthy minded" folks will say:

- Promotes independent thought
- Be responsible for yourself
- Intelligence is paramount
- Add tremendous value and receive tremendous rewards
- Don't let others steal your efforts
- You can't be forced to think and produce against your will
- Demand your worth
- You should get what you deserve, not what you need

It's an excellent example of how two different mindsets can take the same input and get such different output from it. It's a perfect analogy for how these two different folks live their lives between the victim mentality and the responsibility mentality. One will complain about a problem, the other will see an opportunity. One will demand more because they need it, the other will go out and get it.

I read Atlas Shrugged first and Fountainhead second. Atlas is the better book BY FAR. Fountainhead was more of a story with vague ideas of what Rand was trying to convey. Atlas Shrugged is where she figured out what she was trying to say and said it perfectly.

(There are still problems with Atlas though... it's written rather poorly as far as novels go and I don't know a single person who likes the 90 page diatribe of a radio broadcast in the middle but it's still a damn important read and one of my favorite books of all time).
 

MidwestLandlord

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We are so lucky to be born in this part of the world (not just America) and in this time in history. It is our duty to help the world become a better place.

I disagree with this so much.

I don't have the duty to help just because I was born American and have opportunity not afforded to others in the world.

That's no different than what the OP's post is about (the guy who wrote the article, not @juan917 )

Just because someone has something others don't (wealth; born in a capitalistic society) does NOT make them obligated to use those resources to improve the lives of other's that have less.

Now, if someone has more, and CHOOSES to help others...that's living right in my book.

I give my TIME and my MONEY to help the cause I believe in (Suicide prevention), because I CAN, because I WANT to, and because it is a cause that means a great deal to me.

I would rather my moral character guide me in improving the world, and not some false construct of moral obligation and duty created by society based on the guilt of having "more".
 
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