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The 1% is fine as long as they provide things that make people feel good, like providing entertainment, producing well designed gadgets or make beer. If they d

by kokey 15y ago

The 1% is fine as long as they provide things that make people feel good, like providing entertainment, producing well designed gadgets or make beer. If they do things that aren't fun, like delivering fuel, sell food in a supermarket, run pension funds or making medicine, and make money doing so, they are evil and need to share their wealth . That's why Steve Jobs and Louis CK are good guys, and it's fun when Charlie Sheen brags about the money he is making and it would lead to death threats if Bob Diamond did the same.

1ptime 15y ago
The resentment discrepancy is not so much about "funness" as it is about choice. Fuel, food, and medicine are essential to modern life; I have to buy them whether I want to or not, and from a few suppliers, and at unresponsive prices. When I turn on a light I ship some money to David Koch, whether I want to or not. Financiers with whom I have no direct relationship get bailed out by my tax dollars, whether I want it or not. Of course I actually have some choice in the matter. I'm still a rational agent, deciding it's worth my money to turn on the light. And I could forgo medicine. But Louis, Jobs, and Bieber are pretty pure entertainment expenses; their houses were built by the elective consumerism of little people who had a lot of choice. Society chose to bestow wealth on its Biebers. The titans of industry and finance built their fortunes by understanding the system and playing the game well. (And, depending on your level of cynicism, by rigging the regulatory, legal, and fiscal systems.) So some of the 99% feel like a slow, massive wealth transfer has taken place without their say. Whether you think the little people are justified or just naive, whether you feel Louis is a more or less respectable capitalist than Bob Diamond, you gotta recognize there's more to the 99%'s ire than whether a rich person is fun or not.

by kokey 15y ago

1ptime 15y ago

The resentment discrepancy is not so much about "funness" as it is about choice. Fuel, food, and medicine are essential to modern life; I have to buy them whether I want to or not, and from a few suppliers, and at unresponsive prices. When I turn on a light I ship some money to David Koch, whether I want to or not. Financiers with whom I have no direct relationship get bailed out by my tax dollars, whether I want it or not. Of course I actually have some choice in the matter. I'm still a rational agent, deciding it's worth my money to turn on the light. And I could forgo medicine. But Louis, Jobs, and Bieber are pretty pure entertainment expenses; their houses were built by the elective consumerism of little people who had a lot of choice. Society chose to bestow wealth on its Biebers. The titans of industry and finance built their fortunes by understanding the system and playing the game well. (And, depending on your level of cynicism, by rigging the regulatory, legal, and fiscal systems.) So some of the 99% feel like a slow, massive wealth transfer has taken place without their say. Whether you think the little people are justified or just naive, whether you feel Louis is a more or less respectable capitalist than Bob Diamond, you gotta recognize there's more to the 99%'s ire than whether a rich person is fun or not.