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The majority of wealthy people became that way by some combination of lying, cheating, stealing, fraud, misrepresentation, intimidation (extortion and/or blackm

The majority of wealthy people became that way by some combination of lying, cheating, stealing, fraud, misrepresentation, intimidation (extortion and/or blackmail), market manipulation, insider trading, aggressive selling to vulnerable people such as seniors, etc...... If you succeed on Wall Street, you're most likely engaging in that behavior. Do people actually think that most of these billionaires added billions in value? That every exchange is voluntary and makes each side better off? Is the old lady with dementia who unknowingly signed up to a terrible annuity "better off". Was the woman with dementia a "sucker" for signing up and placing trust in the broker? The ethical way to become rich is largely by inventing or innovating. Corporate raiders such as Kravis, Icahn and Peltz are very far from being moral. Arguably sociopaths with a mean streak. Surprised with the naive posts.

averagewall 9y ago
Who, besides dementia sufferers, are being cheated by those rich people? Anyone with a sounds mind is surely making a rational decision that they probably benefits themselves. If they're just trading at better prices than the market, that still means they're providing value by actually being available to trade with.
- mcny 9y ago
  I know I'm going to sound like a broken record when I say this because I recently learned about this thing called principal agent problem and now everything in the world looks like it to me (when all you have is a hammer yada yada) So with the apology it of the way, there is a lot of what we can call inefficiency when we look at things from a bird's eye view. Of course, usually someone else benefits from it. Even if you ignore my silly comparison, there are new individuals born everyday. We don't all start from an equal position. Not that I have a better solution but you could argue some are in a better position to exploit certain opportunities than others are.
- davidshalev 9y ago
  There are enough vulnerable people to become rich off of? When I worked in sales the calculus was pretty simple - either you sell to these people to make money or you'll barely make money. The dirty little secret of success in sales is is scoping out people who can be manipulated. Most products being sold do not benefit the buyer. There is not enough ingenuity for that. The view that capitalism just creates a collection of voluntary exchanges that better both sides, is ludicrous.

averagewall 9y ago

Who, besides dementia sufferers, are being cheated by those rich people? Anyone with a sounds mind is surely making a rational decision that they probably benefits themselves. If they're just trading at better prices than the market, that still means they're providing value by actually being available to trade with.

mcny 9y ago
I know I'm going to sound like a broken record when I say this because I recently learned about this thing called principal agent problem and now everything in the world looks like it to me (when all you have is a hammer yada yada) So with the apology it of the way, there is a lot of what we can call inefficiency when we look at things from a bird's eye view. Of course, usually someone else benefits from it. Even if you ignore my silly comparison, there are new individuals born everyday. We don't all start from an equal position. Not that I have a better solution but you could argue some are in a better position to exploit certain opportunities than others are.
davidshalev 9y ago
There are enough vulnerable people to become rich off of? When I worked in sales the calculus was pretty simple - either you sell to these people to make money or you'll barely make money. The dirty little secret of success in sales is is scoping out people who can be manipulated. Most products being sold do not benefit the buyer. There is not enough ingenuity for that. The view that capitalism just creates a collection of voluntary exchanges that better both sides, is ludicrous.