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What about old old money? I'm talking about people that have money because their ancestors were royalty of some sort. Can you really say that they earned it? Ho

by pyre 13y ago

What about old old money? I'm talking about people that have money because their ancestors were royalty of some sort. Can you really say that they earned it? How much of that could be being in the right place at the right time? E.g. You helped out the king and he granted you a lot of land. Several generations later, your descendents are ridiculously wealthy because you got in on the 'ground floor' of what would later become the world economy we have today.

fat0wl 13y ago
Heh I agree with your concept a bit, I was thinking about that myself. But here's the counter -- WHO REALLY WANTS TO RELIVE THE DARK AGES?!! Great headline: "Crypto-Currency of the Future Promises a Return to Medieval Economics via Anonymous Self-Proclaimed King" Even in those systems, people had to WORK to get that $$. We're kindof seeing that now with those setting up the Bitcoin infrastructure, but early adopters are richer than they at this point -- just by trading for a couple magic beans before the masses decided they HAVE TO HAVE THEM!!! I think the coolest thing would be if cryptocurrency folks set up the Bitcoin ecosystem decided there was a BETTER digital currency, and just utilized that same tech stack with the better product. F--k Bitcoin it was an experiment and it can rot
- grinnbearit 13y ago
  I don't understand, they made a very risky bet and it paid off. Would you have considered compensating them if the value went to 0?
  - tedunangst 13y ago
    Was leaving your computer (or your work computer) on over night a few years ago really such a huge risk?
    - fat0wl 13y ago
      eXACTLY! ughhhhhhh 100x yes. i'm always given this "risk" argument and I think "what's the risk in investing pocketchange & leaving on your pc.... it's not like you founded a start-up out-of-pocket". It's just a more ingenious version of Amway, because rather than pushing products around & trying to have to prod people into trying their hand at sales, they are being sold THE IDEA OF MONEY! And if people decide to buy that money, the value of the originator's money increases. And to make them feel as if they are equals he says "Oh well if you want you can work on these hash equations and free money will appear" but as long as it's propelling the greed for this "money" it will never hurt the value of his stash. Sad stuff. and the greatest beneficiaries are probably the criminal organizations who use it. Half the reason i wanna see it crash is because it will wipe a lot of bank accounts used by gambling organizations etc. who prey on misery to begin with.
    - punjabisingh 13y ago
      The risk is that if the startup/technology (Bitcoin) failed, you just wasted your time/effort in setting up something useless. There must be thousands of these proposals that you will face in your life. Bitcoin is the risk I knowingly didn't take, because I didn't think it would amount to anything in the future.
jonnathanson 13y ago
"What about old old money? I'm talking about people that have money because their ancestors were royalty of some sort." They would fall under the rubric of what the parent comment said about "rose to political power." The old nobility got that way because they supported the king in military campaigns in exchange for titles, land, and protected agricultural or mercantile monopolies and warrants. (Incidentally, the origin of the word "entitled" dates back to the titling of the nobility by royal authority. A title is, in essence, the exclusive right to something. In many cases, that right was to specific regions or lands. When we say that someone is "entitled to" something, or "has a sense of entitlement," we are figuratively harkening back to an age when an "entitlement" was something very literal.) For what it's worth, the fluidity of the nobility is vastly underreported in popular conception. Noble families rose, fell, were made, were broken, etc., about as often as in Game of Thrones. Today's "old old money" descends from the old old noble houses who, by some combination of luck and savvy, ended up on the right side of countless civil wars, uprisings, wars of succession, and dynastic transitions. Did these families "earn" their fortunes? I'd say no more and no less than any of today's political elites. We're kidding ourselves if we believe the political patronage system in the US is all that different from the political patronage system of the Tudor dynasty, or that of Louis XIV. The mechanics of government are different; the rules of the "Game" are entirely unchanged. (Replace "King" with "Presidential Administration.")

by pyre 13y ago

fat0wl 13y ago

Heh I agree with your concept a bit, I was thinking about that myself. But here's the counter -- WHO REALLY WANTS TO RELIVE THE DARK AGES?!! Great headline: "Crypto-Currency of the Future Promises a Return to Medieval Economics via Anonymous Self-Proclaimed King" Even in those systems, people had to WORK to get that $$. We're kindof seeing that now with those setting up the Bitcoin infrastructure, but early adopters are richer than they at this point -- just by trading for a couple magic beans before the masses decided they HAVE TO HAVE THEM!!! I think the coolest thing would be if cryptocurrency folks set up the Bitcoin ecosystem decided there was a BETTER digital currency, and just utilized that same tech stack with the better product. F--k Bitcoin it was an experiment and it can rot

grinnbearit 13y ago
I don't understand, they made a very risky bet and it paid off. Would you have considered compensating them if the value went to 0?
- tedunangst 13y ago
  Was leaving your computer (or your work computer) on over night a few years ago really such a huge risk?
  - fat0wl 13y ago
    eXACTLY! ughhhhhhh 100x yes. i'm always given this "risk" argument and I think "what's the risk in investing pocketchange & leaving on your pc.... it's not like you founded a start-up out-of-pocket". It's just a more ingenious version of Amway, because rather than pushing products around & trying to have to prod people into trying their hand at sales, they are being sold THE IDEA OF MONEY! And if people decide to buy that money, the value of the originator's money increases. And to make them feel as if they are equals he says "Oh well if you want you can work on these hash equations and free money will appear" but as long as it's propelling the greed for this "money" it will never hurt the value of his stash. Sad stuff. and the greatest beneficiaries are probably the criminal organizations who use it. Half the reason i wanna see it crash is because it will wipe a lot of bank accounts used by gambling organizations etc. who prey on misery to begin with.
  - punjabisingh 13y ago
    The risk is that if the startup/technology (Bitcoin) failed, you just wasted your time/effort in setting up something useless. There must be thousands of these proposals that you will face in your life. Bitcoin is the risk I knowingly didn't take, because I didn't think it would amount to anything in the future.

jonnathanson 13y ago

"What about old old money? I'm talking about people that have money because their ancestors were royalty of some sort." They would fall under the rubric of what the parent comment said about "rose to political power." The old nobility got that way because they supported the king in military campaigns in exchange for titles, land, and protected agricultural or mercantile monopolies and warrants. (Incidentally, the origin of the word "entitled" dates back to the titling of the nobility by royal authority. A title is, in essence, the exclusive right to something. In many cases, that right was to specific regions or lands. When we say that someone is "entitled to" something, or "has a sense of entitlement," we are figuratively harkening back to an age when an "entitlement" was something very literal.) For what it's worth, the fluidity of the nobility is vastly underreported in popular conception. Noble families rose, fell, were made, were broken, etc., about as often as in Game of Thrones. Today's "old old money" descends from the old old noble houses who, by some combination of luck and savvy, ended up on the right side of countless civil wars, uprisings, wars of succession, and dynastic transitions. Did these families "earn" their fortunes? I'd say no more and no less than any of today's political elites. We're kidding ourselves if we believe the political patronage system in the US is all that different from the political patronage system of the Tudor dynasty, or that of Louis XIV. The mechanics of government are different; the rules of the "Game" are entirely unchanged. (Replace "King" with "Presidential Administration.")