3 ms·

Those who have for centuries fooled the rest of humanity into believing that their unearned, illegitimate, and unwarranted elevated status is justified know the

by wahsd 13y ago

Those who have for centuries fooled the rest of humanity into believing that their unearned, illegitimate, and unwarranted elevated status is justified know the findings of this painfully obvious fact to be true. Which is why they pull out all and every stop to prevent the majority from realizing it by vilifying anyone and anything that could spread that realization.

RodericDay 13y ago
Also, if you agree with the above sentiment and are getting frustrated replying to all the shallow and cynical comments riffing on "wage slavery and welfare may be bad but it's the best system we can come up with", just read this other topic on the front page with people opening up about their skepticism towards something as banal as Dropbox: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6625306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6625306
giardini 13y ago
"Those who have for centuries fooled the rest of humanity ..." I don't understand the above. Are you speaking of economists, politicians, academia in general, or all of these perhaps? Please clarify.
- sjg007 13y ago
  The rich.
kbutler 13y ago
I assume you're including yourself in that - I bet you're in the top 1/10 of 1% of income globally: http://www.globalrichlist.com/ http://www.globalrichlist.com/ I am far from asserting that we have a fully equitable system, of either opportunity or outcome, but remember that inequality is an unavoidable result of private property and freedom of choice. (For example, give everyone $100,000 and freedom to spend or save as they will, and check back in ten years.) If there can be any voluntary spending for the benefit of your children, then inequality will persist and be magnified across generations.
- wahsd 13y ago
  Thank you for that link. Quite interesting. That being said though it is not a fair recrimination or charge. The problem is one of relative terms. Of course there should and will always be disparate income and wealth based on choices and circumstance. The problem arises in the immeasurably disparate and unbalanced nature of wealth and income distribution. You have to keep in mind that even when talking about wealth and income distribution in the USA we are only just talking about the most obvious of disparities, the pile of snow on the tip of the iceberg. We don't talk about the value of soft disparity in things like opportunity, privilege, access, and corruption. Your last sentence is the the one at the crux of the next step in human social and economic development. I pose that it is the linchpin keeping shackles on the vast majority of humanity.

by wahsd 13y ago

RodericDay 13y ago

Also, if you agree with the above sentiment and are getting frustrated replying to all the shallow and cynical comments riffing on "wage slavery and welfare may be bad but it's the best system we can come up with", just read this other topic on the front page with people opening up about their skepticism towards something as banal as Dropbox: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6625306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6625306

giardini 13y ago

"Those who have for centuries fooled the rest of humanity ..." I don't understand the above. Are you speaking of economists, politicians, academia in general, or all of these perhaps? Please clarify.

sjg007 13y ago
The rich.

kbutler 13y ago

I assume you're including yourself in that - I bet you're in the top 1/10 of 1% of income globally: http://www.globalrichlist.com/ http://www.globalrichlist.com/ I am far from asserting that we have a fully equitable system, of either opportunity or outcome, but remember that inequality is an unavoidable result of private property and freedom of choice. (For example, give everyone $100,000 and freedom to spend or save as they will, and check back in ten years.) If there can be any voluntary spending for the benefit of your children, then inequality will persist and be magnified across generations.

wahsd 13y ago
Thank you for that link. Quite interesting. That being said though it is not a fair recrimination or charge. The problem is one of relative terms. Of course there should and will always be disparate income and wealth based on choices and circumstance. The problem arises in the immeasurably disparate and unbalanced nature of wealth and income distribution. You have to keep in mind that even when talking about wealth and income distribution in the USA we are only just talking about the most obvious of disparities, the pile of snow on the tip of the iceberg. We don't talk about the value of soft disparity in things like opportunity, privilege, access, and corruption. Your last sentence is the the one at the crux of the next step in human social and economic development. I pose that it is the linchpin keeping shackles on the vast majority of humanity.