6 ms·
Can we relax with the self-made, altruistic view of billionaires? Self-made is a myth, and an NBA owner just released a book titled "Shut Up and Listen." Money
by whitebread 7y ago
Can we relax with the self-made, altruistic view of billionaires? Self-made is a myth, and an NBA owner just released a book titled "Shut Up and Listen." Money talks, and it seems pretty clear that all of the moves previously made were actually for profits, not social causes.
- duxup 7y ago>Can we relax with the self-made, altruistic view of billionaires? I'm not sure that user is pushing a particular agenda you describe. Nor does the name of a book prove much of anything.
- Mathnerd314 7y agoIt proves that you're too lazy to read, which is generally the winning point in an argument.
- CountSessine 7y agoI wonder - did @whitebread actually read "Shut Up and Listen"? He doesn't even seem to understand that the title of the book is an exhortation to business owners and leaders that they need to listen to their customers? Even the last chapter is titled, "If You Want to Lead, Listen First".
- duxup 7y agoI'm not entirely sure what you mean by that. I did not read the book in question if that is what you're saying. Did you? Can you tell me why the title matters as far as "Can we relax with the self-made, altruistic view of billionaires?" goes?
- dang 7y agoPersonal attacks will get you banned here. Would you please stick to the site guidelines on HN? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- sorenn111 7y agoHow is self-made a myth? Not saying all billionaires should be envied, praised, etc. I'm sure many are huge manipulative asshole. But many also came from very modest to virtually no means, how is that a myth?
- uoaei 7y ago"Self-made" is almost always a misnomer because there's a point very early in the process of accruing wealth where you use it to bootstrap its own operations, i.e., you start paying other people for their output to collect a net profit. At that point, "self-made" no longer applies because now other people are involved. At what point that transition happens determines how "self-made" they are, but no one is ever 100% that, and if we go by "percentage of current wealth needed to bootstrap" it's certainly well below 1%. The global nature of today's economy, the complexity of navigating commerce and industry, and the sheer magnitude of output required to be profitable, makes it hard to do anything all by yourself. If we consider each person their own island with cash in- and outflow, then everyone is self-made. If we consider the global network of money changing hands, no one is self-made.
- tooop 7y agoSelf made means that you didn't inherit your money, win it in lottery or somebody just gave it you. Self-made doesn't stop applying when other people are involved, that is just absurd.
- johnchristopher 7y agoEnglish isn't my first language but self-made seems to me to be about the self as in opposition to others. And I have always understood the word to be used in that sense. See the Collins definition (emphasis mine): Self-made is used to describe people who have become successful and rich through their own efforts, especially if they started life without money, education, or high social status. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/self-made https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/self-ma...
- mruts 7y agoDid you read it? From your language I really doubt it.
- paggle 7y agoAnd the one who released "Shut up and Listen" is the one who walked back his GM's comments and licked China's boots.
- dang 7y agoWe detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21195478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21195478 and marked it off-topic.