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A quote from George Foreman about longshoremen. What is real wealth?: Mr. Foreman, who stared down financial collapse as an adult despite a troubled, impoveris

A quote from George Foreman about longshoremen. What is real wealth?: Mr. Foreman, who stared down financial collapse as an adult despite a troubled, impoverished childhood, said he knew real wealth when he saw it. “If you’re confident, you’re wealthy,” he says. “I’ve seen guys who work on a ship channel and they get to a certain point and they’re confident. You can look in their faces, they’re longshoremen, and they have this confidence about them...I’ve seen a lot of guys with millions and they don’t have any confidence,” he says. “So they’re not wealthy.”

fwip 7y ago
It's easy for a multi-millionare to say "money isn't wealth."
- JohnFen 7y ago
  True, but that doesn't make it false. "Wealth" is one of those terms (like "success") that is pretty squishy, though. People can, and do, disagree about what they mean.
  - umvi 7y ago
    For me, knowledge is wealth - it's the universal currency and has a long shelf life. If you strip away all worldly possessions of any two people, the person with more knowledge is wealthier. The best part is that you can't simply trade money for knowledge - you have to work for it no matter how rich you are. Bill Gates could dump a billion dollars into a world class Japanese course and still struggle to attain fluency if he doesn't work at it with his own sweat and mental energy. In other words, true wealth in my opinion is the ability to generate value if your brain/soul were dropped in a random homeless person's body in a random era. Something tells me Paris Hilton wouldn't fare as well as Leonardo DaVinci.
    - Qwertystop 7y ago
      On the other hand, Gates could absolutely hire an interpreter. You can't trade money for /personal/ knowledge but you can trade it for the time and effort of someone else who knows things.
      - umvi 7y ago
        Right but that won't help him if he crashes into the pacific in his private jet and is picked up by a Japanese cargo ship with no English speakers aboard. A lot of people (myself included) believe that there is life after death and that you can't bring your money and possessions with you. But you can bring your knowledge with you. That's why I believe it's pointless to amass too much money in this life; it's better to amass knowledge, which you can take with you.
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        __s 7y ago
        Sorry, but your brain stays with the body when you pass on Maybe you only get to bring your kindness
        JohnFen 7y ago
        > That's why I believe it's pointless to amass too much money in this life; it's better to amass knowledge, which you can take with you. I agree with your conclusion, although I arrive there by a different route. I happen to believe that there is no afterlife (well, "believe" is too strong -- I just see no reason to suspect that an afterlife exists). However, I do believe that gaining and processing knowledge is better than amassing money, because increasing the body of knowledge is what tends to make the world better for future generations.
    - slantyyz 7y ago
      >> In other words, true wealth in my opinion is the ability to generate value if your brain/soul were dropped in a random homeless person's body in a random era. Something tells me Paris Hilton wouldn't fare as well as Leonardo DaVinci. If that random era is in the _past_, that's far from being true. Knowledge doesn't mean much if that random homeless person's body belongs to an identifiable group that is discriminated against by that era's society.
      - umvi 7y ago
        I meant more along the lines of: "what if you had to start over with a new identity with nothing but your knowledge? How far could you get?" I'm guessing a lot of currently rich people wouldn't fare well because they inherited the money and have very little knowledge or skills.
        JohnFen 7y ago
        Heh, if I went back far enough in time with my current knowledge and skill set, I could make a good run at being King of the World!
        scarejunba 7y ago
        Pretty high chance everyone is poor then because you'll be born poor in India, China, or sub-Saharan Africa half of the time and just not get the chance.
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fwip 7y ago

It's easy for a multi-millionare to say "money isn't wealth."

JohnFen 7y ago
True, but that doesn't make it false. "Wealth" is one of those terms (like "success") that is pretty squishy, though. People can, and do, disagree about what they mean.
- umvi 7y ago
  For me, knowledge is wealth - it's the universal currency and has a long shelf life. If you strip away all worldly possessions of any two people, the person with more knowledge is wealthier. The best part is that you can't simply trade money for knowledge - you have to work for it no matter how rich you are. Bill Gates could dump a billion dollars into a world class Japanese course and still struggle to attain fluency if he doesn't work at it with his own sweat and mental energy. In other words, true wealth in my opinion is the ability to generate value if your brain/soul were dropped in a random homeless person's body in a random era. Something tells me Paris Hilton wouldn't fare as well as Leonardo DaVinci.
  - Qwertystop 7y ago
    On the other hand, Gates could absolutely hire an interpreter. You can't trade money for /personal/ knowledge but you can trade it for the time and effort of someone else who knows things.
    - umvi 7y ago
      Right but that won't help him if he crashes into the pacific in his private jet and is picked up by a Japanese cargo ship with no English speakers aboard. A lot of people (myself included) believe that there is life after death and that you can't bring your money and possessions with you. But you can bring your knowledge with you. That's why I believe it's pointless to amass too much money in this life; it's better to amass knowledge, which you can take with you.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - __s 7y ago
        Sorry, but your brain stays with the body when you pass on Maybe you only get to bring your kindness
      - JohnFen 7y ago
        > That's why I believe it's pointless to amass too much money in this life; it's better to amass knowledge, which you can take with you. I agree with your conclusion, although I arrive there by a different route. I happen to believe that there is no afterlife (well, "believe" is too strong -- I just see no reason to suspect that an afterlife exists). However, I do believe that gaining and processing knowledge is better than amassing money, because increasing the body of knowledge is what tends to make the world better for future generations.
  - slantyyz 7y ago
    >> In other words, true wealth in my opinion is the ability to generate value if your brain/soul were dropped in a random homeless person's body in a random era. Something tells me Paris Hilton wouldn't fare as well as Leonardo DaVinci. If that random era is in the _past_, that's far from being true. Knowledge doesn't mean much if that random homeless person's body belongs to an identifiable group that is discriminated against by that era's society.
    - umvi 7y ago
      I meant more along the lines of: "what if you had to start over with a new identity with nothing but your knowledge? How far could you get?" I'm guessing a lot of currently rich people wouldn't fare well because they inherited the money and have very little knowledge or skills.
      - JohnFen 7y ago
        Heh, if I went back far enough in time with my current knowledge and skill set, I could make a good run at being King of the World!
      - scarejunba 7y ago
        Pretty high chance everyone is poor then because you'll be born poor in India, China, or sub-Saharan Africa half of the time and just not get the chance.

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