7 ms·

I'll do it for half $1m/year! ;-P You are totally right about the "golden parachute". The nice thing about being in upper management is that none of your deci

by VvR-Ox 7y ago

I'll do it for half $1m/year! ;-P You are totally right about the "golden parachute". The nice thing about being in upper management is that none of your decisions has any negative consequences for yourself and in the end you will just have more money and some more enemies who will probably not even attack you. It is always about "vitamin b" because that is how certain networks like (financial) elites work. I always wonder how average people try to defend the rich and argue that it is totally justified that they earn something like one year of salary in a month or even more. Think about all the big issues we have and how we could tackle them with all the money that now is inherited and shoved around to make more money out of nothing just to be even wealthier. It is just absurd to me and that people are actually kind of ok with this takes away most of the hope I have for our global future because if these people prevail it might as well look like the "hunger games" here some day.

chrisweekly 7y ago
"vitamin b"?
- kyazawa 7y ago
  It's a German expression referring to getting a job through connections (Beziehung = relationship.) https://www.dw.com/en/vitamin-b/a-6616528 https://www.dw.com/en/vitamin-b/a-6616528
  - chrisweekly 7y ago
    Danke! Surprised not to have heard it before.
  - VvR-Ox 7y ago
    Exactly. I like it because it is one quick phrase to describe this way of using your good connections.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
logicchains 7y ago
>I always wonder how average people try to defend the rich and argue that it is totally justified that they earn something like one year of salary in a month or even more. I'm one of those "average" people. CEOs are paid that much because they found some other people willing to pay them that much, and I'm not arrogant enough to presume my preferences for how the people paying them should spend their money are superior to their own preferences. Look at it as empathy. Would I like it if somebody came and started telling me how to spend my money? Hell no! Then why should I wish that upon whomever's paying CEOs?
- asveikau 7y ago
  > Would I like it if somebody came and started telling me how to spend my money? Hell no! You and a bunch of others are going to think I am totally crazy for saying it, but I think you might be too possessive of "your" money. Maybe you think you got it because you are totally that awesome and really deserve it more than somebody else. But surely you were supported throughout your lifetime to end up making that money. It's a collaborative effort. Sometimes I get approached by homeless types on the sidewalk and I give them a $20 or something. Occasionally it's been larger than that, often it's been smaller. One might call that being generous. I am surely in a position of privilege being able to do that without it hurting much. But really all I am doing is giving them a piece of paper. Particles of the universe just like any other matter. I don't feel it's mine any more than it's theirs. So it moves from my wallet to their hand. No big deal. I will admit that this attitude has its limits. You can go broke doing it too much. But there is room for it in our lives.
  - isoskeles 7y ago
    > But really all I am doing is giving them a piece of paper. Particles of the universe just like any other matter. That is an odd point to make when you are fully aware of how much $20 could mean to a homeless person.
    - asveikau 7y ago
      I think it's both things. Very meaningful for the value that we all put in it, and at the same time, it's nothing at all. In an ideal world maybe everyone would be provided for and we wouldn't obsess over paper. But the system is a sort of lesser approximation of fairness. "Worst one except for all the others", as the saying goes.
manigandham 7y ago
> "how average people try to defend the rich" It's pretty simple when you realize the majority of the rich started as average people. Wealth is relative, you're likely better off than 95% of the planet. Should we reduce your salary because of what a rural farmer makes in China?
- ficklepickle 7y ago
  Nope, they did not. But you speak to a very American delusion. Defend the ultra-rich because you think you will be one some day. You will not. And yes, we should prioritize everyone having a decent baseline quality of life. Excess wealth doesn't make people happier anyway.
  - manigandham 7y ago
    Majority of the world's richest people are self-made. [1] I know many millionaires and met a few of these billionaire CEOs who have come from nothing and worked their way up. 1. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/majority-of-the-worlds-richest-people-are-self-made-says-new-report.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/majority-of-the-worlds-riche... > "But you speak to a very American delusion." It's called the American Dream. Freedom and opportunity to achieve your own goals, something people seem to take for granted until they go somewhere that doesn't have it. > "Defend the ultra-rich because you think you will be one some day. You will not." You shouldn't assume, but even if I never become a billionaire, I sure don't need to hate them for it. I defend their ability to attain success, not their wealth.
    - orestarod 7y ago
      Creating better conditions for everyone >>>> playing a game with a set success rate of 0.01 % and f*ck the rest. Also, the game is not fair to begin with. It's called a Dream for a reason. Feels like going bankrupt trying to win the lottery.
- VvR-Ox 7y ago
  I am pretty sure they did not as most wealth is inherited AFAIK. Here a snippet of an interesting article on this[0]: "Yet the opportunity to live the American dream is much less widely shared today than it was several decades ago. While 90% of the children born in 1940 ended up in higher ranks of the income distribution than their parents, only 40% of those born in 1980 have done so." This correlates to the fact that wealth concentrates in few and fewer people around the world (the 1% for whom laws, governments, borders etc. do not exist). It is not about a comparison with the people who are at their worst (and it will probably not be Chinese farmers but that is another topic). It is about fairness and an average level we can ALL agree to. I want all people to have a meaningful existence and a life that they think is worth living because in my frame of mind this is fairness. As long as people starve and children cannot afford to got to school and women are being used, sold and shipped like some goods etc. I cannot stand to see people who get so much more than they need just to spend all the money on stupid things (please take a look at some of their instagram profiles and youtube videos if you don't know what I refer to). The best of behavior I saw is people like Musk who puts his money into businesses which hope to (really) "make the world a better place" - at least if this is true and not some sales pitch (we can discuss about this in a few years when there is more results I think). Others like to frame themselves as "benevolent" super-humans who are giving away money to charities. This is "green washing" most of the times to improve their PR. The money they give is a joke and these charities do not change the world as you can see. Why does someone need or even deserve to own 50 cars and 7 houses? No one contributes that much to the world that he would deserve that and especially not while others are dying because they cannot afford to buy food. This "hard work" that is needed to become rich is using others and ignoring all moral implications in many times. I had two opportunities in my lifetime to become (kind of) rich and both where at least dubious in one way or the other. It is about cheating governments to not pay any or too much taxes and it is about customers who are willing to pay a huge amount of money for someone to "take responsibility" he does not really take in the end. Also you can cheat consumers like "big tobacco", sugar etc. do. Staying in this position only took them some money to pay scientists, politicians and others to be legally sold or even recommended and advertised. These systems are built by generations of people without moral (maybe they are raised like that) and inherited to alumni who are at least as numb and asocial. => No one deserves to be that rich no matter what they do. => They become rich by using people like you and me without moral implication or hesitation. => They try to uphold the "American Dream" so we stay quiet until we are as poor as the people on the bottom. (look at Warren Buffet who talked about the "War of the Rich against the Poor") [0]: https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/jun/20/is-the-american-dream-really-dead https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/jun/20/is-the-am...

by VvR-Ox 7y ago

chrisweekly 7y ago

"vitamin b"?

kyazawa 7y ago
It's a German expression referring to getting a job through connections (Beziehung = relationship.) https://www.dw.com/en/vitamin-b/a-6616528 https://www.dw.com/en/vitamin-b/a-6616528
- chrisweekly 7y ago
  Danke! Surprised not to have heard it before.
- VvR-Ox 7y ago
  Exactly. I like it because it is one quick phrase to describe this way of using your good connections.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

logicchains 7y ago

>I always wonder how average people try to defend the rich and argue that it is totally justified that they earn something like one year of salary in a month or even more. I'm one of those "average" people. CEOs are paid that much because they found some other people willing to pay them that much, and I'm not arrogant enough to presume my preferences for how the people paying them should spend their money are superior to their own preferences. Look at it as empathy. Would I like it if somebody came and started telling me how to spend my money? Hell no! Then why should I wish that upon whomever's paying CEOs?

asveikau 7y ago
> Would I like it if somebody came and started telling me how to spend my money? Hell no! You and a bunch of others are going to think I am totally crazy for saying it, but I think you might be too possessive of "your" money. Maybe you think you got it because you are totally that awesome and really deserve it more than somebody else. But surely you were supported throughout your lifetime to end up making that money. It's a collaborative effort. Sometimes I get approached by homeless types on the sidewalk and I give them a $20 or something. Occasionally it's been larger than that, often it's been smaller. One might call that being generous. I am surely in a position of privilege being able to do that without it hurting much. But really all I am doing is giving them a piece of paper. Particles of the universe just like any other matter. I don't feel it's mine any more than it's theirs. So it moves from my wallet to their hand. No big deal. I will admit that this attitude has its limits. You can go broke doing it too much. But there is room for it in our lives.
- isoskeles 7y ago
  > But really all I am doing is giving them a piece of paper. Particles of the universe just like any other matter. That is an odd point to make when you are fully aware of how much $20 could mean to a homeless person.
  - asveikau 7y ago
    I think it's both things. Very meaningful for the value that we all put in it, and at the same time, it's nothing at all. In an ideal world maybe everyone would be provided for and we wouldn't obsess over paper. But the system is a sort of lesser approximation of fairness. "Worst one except for all the others", as the saying goes.

manigandham 7y ago

> "how average people try to defend the rich" It's pretty simple when you realize the majority of the rich started as average people. Wealth is relative, you're likely better off than 95% of the planet. Should we reduce your salary because of what a rural farmer makes in China?

ficklepickle 7y ago
Nope, they did not. But you speak to a very American delusion. Defend the ultra-rich because you think you will be one some day. You will not. And yes, we should prioritize everyone having a decent baseline quality of life. Excess wealth doesn't make people happier anyway.
- manigandham 7y ago
  Majority of the world's richest people are self-made. [1] I know many millionaires and met a few of these billionaire CEOs who have come from nothing and worked their way up. 1. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/majority-of-the-worlds-richest-people-are-self-made-says-new-report.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/majority-of-the-worlds-riche... > "But you speak to a very American delusion." It's called the American Dream. Freedom and opportunity to achieve your own goals, something people seem to take for granted until they go somewhere that doesn't have it. > "Defend the ultra-rich because you think you will be one some day. You will not." You shouldn't assume, but even if I never become a billionaire, I sure don't need to hate them for it. I defend their ability to attain success, not their wealth.
  - orestarod 7y ago
    Creating better conditions for everyone >>>> playing a game with a set success rate of 0.01 % and f*ck the rest. Also, the game is not fair to begin with. It's called a Dream for a reason. Feels like going bankrupt trying to win the lottery.
VvR-Ox 7y ago
I am pretty sure they did not as most wealth is inherited AFAIK. Here a snippet of an interesting article on this[0]: "Yet the opportunity to live the American dream is much less widely shared today than it was several decades ago. While 90% of the children born in 1940 ended up in higher ranks of the income distribution than their parents, only 40% of those born in 1980 have done so." This correlates to the fact that wealth concentrates in few and fewer people around the world (the 1% for whom laws, governments, borders etc. do not exist). It is not about a comparison with the people who are at their worst (and it will probably not be Chinese farmers but that is another topic). It is about fairness and an average level we can ALL agree to. I want all people to have a meaningful existence and a life that they think is worth living because in my frame of mind this is fairness. As long as people starve and children cannot afford to got to school and women are being used, sold and shipped like some goods etc. I cannot stand to see people who get so much more than they need just to spend all the money on stupid things (please take a look at some of their instagram profiles and youtube videos if you don't know what I refer to). The best of behavior I saw is people like Musk who puts his money into businesses which hope to (really) "make the world a better place" - at least if this is true and not some sales pitch (we can discuss about this in a few years when there is more results I think). Others like to frame themselves as "benevolent" super-humans who are giving away money to charities. This is "green washing" most of the times to improve their PR. The money they give is a joke and these charities do not change the world as you can see. Why does someone need or even deserve to own 50 cars and 7 houses? No one contributes that much to the world that he would deserve that and especially not while others are dying because they cannot afford to buy food. This "hard work" that is needed to become rich is using others and ignoring all moral implications in many times. I had two opportunities in my lifetime to become (kind of) rich and both where at least dubious in one way or the other. It is about cheating governments to not pay any or too much taxes and it is about customers who are willing to pay a huge amount of money for someone to "take responsibility" he does not really take in the end. Also you can cheat consumers like "big tobacco", sugar etc. do. Staying in this position only took them some money to pay scientists, politicians and others to be legally sold or even recommended and advertised. These systems are built by generations of people without moral (maybe they are raised like that) and inherited to alumni who are at least as numb and asocial. => No one deserves to be that rich no matter what they do. => They become rich by using people like you and me without moral implication or hesitation. => They try to uphold the "American Dream" so we stay quiet until we are as poor as the people on the bottom. (look at Warren Buffet who talked about the "War of the Rich against the Poor") [0]: https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/jun/20/is-the-american-dream-really-dead https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/jun/20/is-the-am...