7 ms·

There’s a lot of vitriol aimed at rich people right now, regardless of how they attained their wealth. I imagine it’ll soon be transferred to talented people a

There’s a lot of vitriol aimed at rich people right now, regardless of how they attained their wealth. I imagine it’ll soon be transferred to talented people as well. Soon we’ll be right where the story predicted, everyone wears handicaps to make themselves equal.

ThrowawayR2 6y ago
Perhaps it's here already? We see a lot of posts here on HN denigrating the value of higher education and saying that highly-educated people are gatekeeping.
- logicchains 6y ago
  I don't think many people here object to education, they just disagree that the university system does a good job of educating people.
- wishinghand 6y ago
  The objection is not to highly educated people gatekeeping (though they should know better), but that people with a status that helps unlock further wealth are gatekeeping.
rmrfstar 6y ago
> There’s a lot of vitriol aimed at rich people right now, regardless of how they attained their wealth. Part of the problem is that our current property regime does not distinguish between property acquired through accession [1] and property acquired through extraction. There is this weird philosophy that all "market transactions" are equally legitimate and that market price is the correct (and only reliable) indicator of economic value. This view ignores the fact that market prices are as much a product of market structure as they are a reflection of people's preferences. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_(property_law) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_(property_law)
- pydry 6y ago
  Our current property regime evolved that way for precisely that reason. Distinguishing the two and highlighting it would be a subversive, rather revolutionary act, which would attract a lot of hate.
pydry 6y ago
>There’s a lot of vitriol aimed at rich people right now, regardless of how they attained their wealth. I imagine it’ll soon be transferred to talented people as well. As a rule, few wealthy people extract 100% of their wealth and few earn 100%. The wealthy that extract 98% sure try to downplay that part and try to pretend that they're among the miniscule number who earned 90+%. Most manage to self delude themselves that vitriol against the wealthy IS vitriol against talent. Their egos demand it.
jaltekruse 6y ago
I don't care how you made your money, hoarding it should be looked down on. Greed is bad, we don't need to make things illegal, but I sure as hell am going to think anyone with a privately owned Yacht is a little bit worse of a person than someone reinvesting their money in their community and trying to explore new ideas, or if you are tired and don't want to personally invent stuff or run another business, go find some enthusiastic entrepreneur to support. I am not against rich people having power, I think we should get them to pay their damn taxes and fair share, but beyond part of their money that ought to be allocated by a democratically elected government they can do what they want with their wealth to control the world. But anyone using their money to just show how wealthy they are is going to get serious judgement from me, and I think that is a healthy way to think about rich people. I think it should be likely obvious from my statement above, I want there to be talented people, and I really don't see a substantial movement to pull down successful people. What are examples of things people are doing that make you think we are going in this direction?
- dleslie 6y ago
  Yacht builders are people too, y'know. Yachts don't simply materialize when a certain amount of money gathers near a port.
  - dariusj18 6y ago
    Hit-men are people too, people don't magically get defenestrated when they speak out against Putin. This absurdist remark is just to point out that just because people get paid to do a job, it doesn't mean it's a job we as a society want people to have.
    - dleslie 6y ago
      Yacht builders aren't committing a criminal act, or violating anyone's basic human rights, when engaging in their trade. The only absurdist remark here is your comparison of Yacht Builders to Murderers.
      - 6y ago
dleslie 6y ago
> I imagine it’ll soon be transferred to talented people as well. It is already, and the logic is something like: talent is largely a function of practice and access to education. Having the means and opportunity to practice and be properly educated is a privilege. You can find _plenty_ of words written regarding the inherent racism, sexism, ableism et al in various hobbies due to unequal access; from GitHub hobby repos to enjoying nature through hiking and camping.

ThrowawayR2 6y ago

Perhaps it's here already? We see a lot of posts here on HN denigrating the value of higher education and saying that highly-educated people are gatekeeping.

logicchains 6y ago
I don't think many people here object to education, they just disagree that the university system does a good job of educating people.
wishinghand 6y ago
The objection is not to highly educated people gatekeeping (though they should know better), but that people with a status that helps unlock further wealth are gatekeeping.

rmrfstar 6y ago

> There’s a lot of vitriol aimed at rich people right now, regardless of how they attained their wealth. Part of the problem is that our current property regime does not distinguish between property acquired through accession [1] and property acquired through extraction. There is this weird philosophy that all "market transactions" are equally legitimate and that market price is the correct (and only reliable) indicator of economic value. This view ignores the fact that market prices are as much a product of market structure as they are a reflection of people's preferences. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_(property_law) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_(property_law)

pydry 6y ago
Our current property regime evolved that way for precisely that reason. Distinguishing the two and highlighting it would be a subversive, rather revolutionary act, which would attract a lot of hate.

pydry 6y ago

>There’s a lot of vitriol aimed at rich people right now, regardless of how they attained their wealth. I imagine it’ll soon be transferred to talented people as well. As a rule, few wealthy people extract 100% of their wealth and few earn 100%. The wealthy that extract 98% sure try to downplay that part and try to pretend that they're among the miniscule number who earned 90+%. Most manage to self delude themselves that vitriol against the wealthy IS vitriol against talent. Their egos demand it.

jaltekruse 6y ago

I don't care how you made your money, hoarding it should be looked down on. Greed is bad, we don't need to make things illegal, but I sure as hell am going to think anyone with a privately owned Yacht is a little bit worse of a person than someone reinvesting their money in their community and trying to explore new ideas, or if you are tired and don't want to personally invent stuff or run another business, go find some enthusiastic entrepreneur to support. I am not against rich people having power, I think we should get them to pay their damn taxes and fair share, but beyond part of their money that ought to be allocated by a democratically elected government they can do what they want with their wealth to control the world. But anyone using their money to just show how wealthy they are is going to get serious judgement from me, and I think that is a healthy way to think about rich people. I think it should be likely obvious from my statement above, I want there to be talented people, and I really don't see a substantial movement to pull down successful people. What are examples of things people are doing that make you think we are going in this direction?

dleslie 6y ago
Yacht builders are people too, y'know. Yachts don't simply materialize when a certain amount of money gathers near a port.
- dariusj18 6y ago
  Hit-men are people too, people don't magically get defenestrated when they speak out against Putin. This absurdist remark is just to point out that just because people get paid to do a job, it doesn't mean it's a job we as a society want people to have.
  - dleslie 6y ago
    Yacht builders aren't committing a criminal act, or violating anyone's basic human rights, when engaging in their trade. The only absurdist remark here is your comparison of Yacht Builders to Murderers.
    - 6y ago

dleslie 6y ago

> I imagine it’ll soon be transferred to talented people as well. It is already, and the logic is something like: talent is largely a function of practice and access to education. Having the means and opportunity to practice and be properly educated is a privilege. You can find _plenty_ of words written regarding the inherent racism, sexism, ableism et al in various hobbies due to unequal access; from GitHub hobby repos to enjoying nature through hiking and camping.