|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
RJjr
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Location: Turning on a Lamp
|
 Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:02 am Post subject: |
 |
|
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
I don't see anything wrong with someone inheriting wealth from their parents. There's nothing wrong with that.
|
Is this how you defend the claim of Prince Charles to moral and financial superiority? Are the graduates of Choate and 'Inner City Slum School' REALLY on a flat playing field?
Really? |
When did I defend Prince Charles? You're confusing me with someone else. I often see Prince Charles on the covers of supermarket tabloids. Yet I never read them, so I don't know enough about him to form an informed opinion, good or bad, about the guy.
When I was in college, the rich boys in Sigma Chi fraternity were probably partying and banging hot sorority chicks while I was toiling in the hot sun in the tobacco field to earn the money to pay my tuition. Did I envy them? Of course I did. But should there be laws to prevent parents from giving money to their kids or paying for their education?
I'm sure there are some people in a shitty country like Botswana are envious that my sorry ass was born in a wealthy country like America. That's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.
If I found out today that I have only two weeks to live, I'd give everything I own to my nephews. I'd be really pissed if some government bureaucrat stepped in to tell me I can't do that.
Have you ever worked in a hagwon?
Last edited by RJjr on Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
I don't think it is an unreasonable claim. Maybe you would like to demonstrate to me with statistics and academic studies why all people with wealth are bad and should be punished for trying to lve a fruitful life.
|
It is an unreasonable claim. The wealth came from 2 sources:
a) an unexplioted continent chock full of natural resources. That does not allow the present occupants a claim to moral superiority.
b) I did not make the claim that wealthy people got their wealth 'only' through cheating. You are exaggerating the accusation. I say 'some' of the wealthy made their pile through manipulating the sociopolitical system so they came out smelling like a rose. My claim is that 'some' of the wealthy and powerful used the system to enrich themselves and then claimed that they worked harder at their cool shady desks than the people who were working at the molten steel pits. I claim that the government GAVE away huge swaths of public lands to the railroads--'bought' at the cost of poor people's lives-- and then the railroad owners turned around and said, "We are hard working Christians who should be worshiped because we handed out dimes to the poor. Thanks for your blood."
ALL human societies are created and designed by someone. They ALWAYS favor someone. I don't object to that. I do object to the 'winners' in the system claiming moral superiority for it. The very least the winners could do is to take care of those they left behind. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
blade
Joined: 30 Jun 2007
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
| blade wrote: |
| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| The majority of wealthy people didn't earn their wealth through nefarious means the way a small percentage of the guys on Wall St did. |
Would you care to demonstrate that claim through academic studies and statistics? Or is this just a claim based on bias? Would you care to explain how being poor is just the result of moral poverty while you are at it?
I will wait for your reply. |
You don't need academic studies to understand the logic behind the claim I made. Our long ago ancestors didn't build what we have today by shuffling sticks and stones around and trading the derivitives of boulders. They created wealth and the wealth we have today had to come from some where. Basically the sweat of our ancestors brows. |
The wealth came from somewhere alright but not from you think it came from. It's a simple fact of life wealth generally attracts more wealth. Why, because wealthy people get to right the tax laws and believe me they don't line to tax themselves. If you're rich you can send your university without forcing them to take on lots of student debt which in turn allows your kids a head start in life while everyone else is still struggling. You also probably know other wealthy people who will employ or marry your offspring and hence another leg up that children of poorer families don't have. |
So, what's your solution to the "problem"? Confiscate wealth from people? How much? Who should decide? Who does the wealth get redistributed to?
So basically you want to drag everyone down to your level? I would reccomend focussing on your own backyard and don't worry so much about what your neighbor is doing. |
Why is it that everything with you seems to be in black and white? I'm not talking about stripping rich people of all their wealth nor was the author of the article that I posted above. What I am just saying is that letting a very tinyl percentage of people accumulate vast fortunes while everyone else has to struggle for survival is not a great idea. Why should the Paris Hiltons of the world get to own everything just because their ancestors happened to have worked hard at some stage or other. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
I don't think it is an unreasonable claim. Maybe you would like to demonstrate to me with statistics and academic studies why all people with wealth are bad and should be punished for trying to lve a fruitful life.
|
It is an unreasonable claim. The wealth came from 2 sources:
a) an unexplioted continent chock full of natural resources. That does not allow the present occupants a claim to moral superiority.
b) I did not make the claim that wealthy people got their wealth 'only' through cheating. You are exaggerating the accusation. I say 'some' of the wealthy made their pile through manipulating the sociopolitical system so they came out smelling like a rose. My claim is that 'some' of the wealthy and powerful used the system to enrich themselves and then claimed that they worked harder at their cool shady desks than the people who were working at the molten steel pits. I claim that the government GAVE away huge swaths of public lands to the railroads--'bought' at the cost of poor people's lives-- and then the railroad owners turned around and said, "We are hard working Christians who should be worshiped because we handed out dimes to the poor. Thanks for your blood."
ALL human societies are created and designed by someone. They ALWAYS favor someone. I don't object to that. I do object to the 'winners' in the system claiming moral superiority for it. The very least the winners could do is to take care of those they left behind. |
My response to this is as follows. Gates and Buffett, the two richest men in history are currently in the process of giving away their fortunes. Both men contributed a great deal to society and now they are giving away what they earned. They can have all the moral superiority they can eat in my opinion. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
| blade wrote: |
| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
| blade wrote: |
| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| The majority of wealthy people didn't earn their wealth through nefarious means the way a small percentage of the guys on Wall St did. |
Would you care to demonstrate that claim through academic studies and statistics? Or is this just a claim based on bias? Would you care to explain how being poor is just the result of moral poverty while you are at it?
I will wait for your reply. |
You don't need academic studies to understand the logic behind the claim I made. Our long ago ancestors didn't build what we have today by shuffling sticks and stones around and trading the derivitives of boulders. They created wealth and the wealth we have today had to come from some where. Basically the sweat of our ancestors brows. |
The wealth came from somewhere alright but not from you think it came from. It's a simple fact of life wealth generally attracts more wealth. Why, because wealthy people get to right the tax laws and believe me they don't line to tax themselves. If you're rich you can send your university without forcing them to take on lots of student debt which in turn allows your kids a head start in life while everyone else is still struggling. You also probably know other wealthy people who will employ or marry your offspring and hence another leg up that children of poorer families don't have. |
So, what's your solution to the "problem"? Confiscate wealth from people? How much? Who should decide? Who does the wealth get redistributed to?
So basically you want to drag everyone down to your level? I would reccomend focussing on your own backyard and don't worry so much about what your neighbor is doing. |
Why is it that everything with you seems to be in black and white? I'm not talking about stripping rich people of all their wealth nor was the author of the article that I posted above. What I am just saying is that letting a very tinyl percentage of people accumulate vast fortunes while everyone else has to struggle for survival is not a great idea. Why should the Paris Hiltons of the world get to own everything just because their ancestors happened to have worked hard at some stage or other. |
I object to wealth redistibution because Paris (a poor example) isn't rich at the expense of others. Her family contributed something in return for the wealth they accumulated. Life is not a zero sum game.
In the western world today, with a lot less toil than that which our parents went through, you can live a life many thousand times more fulfilling than that which the richest people on Earth could have hoped to enjoy at the turn of the 20th century. I think it is not a lack of wealth we suffer from today but a lack of spirit and an attitude of entitlement. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RJjr
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Location: Turning on a Lamp
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
| blade wrote: |
| Why should the Paris Hiltons of the world get to own everything just because their ancestors happened to have worked hard at some stage or other. |
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20168283,00.html
| People wrote: |
Barron Hilton, the 80-year-old son of the founder of the worldwide hotel chain that carries the family name, has earmarked 97 percent of his vast fortune � nearly $2.3 billion � to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, to help the homeless with housing, find safe water in developing countries and assist other good causes around the world, it has been announced.
To Barron's heirs � who include Paris � will go the remaining three percent: some $69 million, which is said to be taxable.
According to calculations by New York's Daily News, Paris, who once foresaw a $100 million inheritance, is now likely looking at $5 million. |
If Barron Hilton wants to give five million of his multibillion dollar fortune to his granddaughter, why should he not be allowed to do that?
He's donating 97% of his fortune to help the homeless with housing, find safe water in developing countries and assist other good causes around the world. Meanwhile, you're doing what for the poor? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:35 am Post subject: |
|
|
| RJjr wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
I don't see anything wrong with someone inheriting wealth from their parents. There's nothing wrong with that.
|
Is this how you defend the claim of Prince Charles to moral and financial superiority? Are the graduates of Choate and 'Inner City Slum School' REALLY on a flat playing field?
Really? |
When did I defend Prince Charles? You're confusing me with someone else. I often see Prince Charles on the covers of supermarket tabloids. Yet I never read them, so I don't know enough about him to form an informed opinion, good or bad, about the guy.
When I was in college, the rich boys in Sigma Chi fraternity were probably partying and banging hot sorority chicks while I was toiling in the hot sun in the tobacco field to earn the money to pay my tuition. Did I envy them? Of course I did. But should there be laws to prevent parents from giving money to their kids or paying for their education?
I'm sure there are some people in a shitty country like Botswana are envious that my sorry ass was born in a wealthy country like America. That's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.
If I found out today that I have only two weeks to live, I'd give everything I own to my nephews. I'd be really p | | | |
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
