The Reaganomics Fraud:

[binö]

mr.plunkey touched my penis'!!!

 

[-SD-]

Here's the problem with a system, such as capitalism that as you so eloquently stated, relies on greed: Not everyone is greedy.

Here me out.

People who are not greedy are susceptible to the drives of those who are. It's like the difference between being inherently honest and being a pathological liar. A truly honest person can't lie, not well, and even if they do they will not enjoy it and in fact it can make them feel sick. A pathological liar doesn't give a shit.

Same thing with greed. A person who is not materialistically driven becomes a pawn of the greedy, a victim of a system they don't like and can't effectively participate in. A greedy person doesn't think twice about taking away from those who already have less than him whereas a generous person will reach into his own pocket and share what little he has with no regrets.

People who are not inherently greedy can't make themselves be that way, anymore than an honest person can turn themselves into a liar.

The Gordon Geko mentality is sickening to me. I don't believe that "he who has the most toys when he dies wins." Unfortunately, because my first instinct is NOT to think of how to cut someone else's throat for my own benefit, I've gotten it shoved up my ass sideways and broken off on more than one occasion. Here's the kicker, I realize all of this, yet I CANNOT make myself act like a conniving, golddigging cvnt, not even to fuck over someone who genuinely deserves it. Money isn't worth as much as my self respect.

Thats a very complicated way of stating the old truism "Life is not fair". If people cant think for themselves or even muster up enough "give a shit" so that they dont get taken advantage of then oh well, tough shit. We cant protect everyone from everyone else in the world. Life is hard and requires drive and hard work and actually giving a shit. Life isnt fair and never will be. The sooner everyone accepts that fact the sooner they can stop being bitter or blaming capitalism or blaming people who are more successful.

 

[mrplunkey]

Here's the problem with a system, such as capitalism that as you so eloquently stated, relies on greed: Not everyone is greedy.

Here me out.

People who are not greedy are susceptible to the drives of those who are. It's like the difference between being inherently honest and being a pathological liar. A truly honest person can't lie, not well, and even if they do they will not enjoy it and in fact it can make them feel sick. A pathological liar doesn't give a shit.

Same thing with greed. A person who is not materialistically driven becomes a pawn of the greedy, a victim of a system they don't like and can't effectively participate in. A greedy person doesn't think twice about taking away from those who already have less than him whereas a generous person will reach into his own pocket and share what little he has with no regrets.

People who are not inherently greedy can't make themselves be that way, anymore than an honest person can turn themselves into a liar.

The Gordon Geko mentality is sickening to me. I don't believe that "he who has the most toys when he dies wins." Unfortunately, because my first instinct is NOT to think of how to cut someone else's throat for my own benefit, I've gotten it shoved up my ass sideways and broken off on more than one occasion. Here's the kicker, I realize all of this, yet I CANNOT make myself act like a conniving, golddigging cvnt, not even to fuck over someone who genuinely deserves it. Money isn't worth as much as my self respect.

You are looking at it too narrowly.

There are people who care about material things.

There are people who care about relationships.

There are people who care about spiritual matters.

There are people who care about their sticky icky pot.

It's all a matter of priority. You can be greedy over things other than stuff.

Furthermore, if stuff isn't important to someone, then it shouldn't be a problem if they don't have much stuff. If it bothers them that they don't have more stuff, then perhaps stuff is more important than they are acknowledging.

Here's a good example: I suspect you place a lot of emphasis on spiritual matters. So what other facets of your life did that crowd out? Would you be in a larger house had you invested that energy into work? Would you have a kid in an ivy league school if you had invested that energy into your kid's education?

I'm not suggesting for a second that you made the wrong choices, but what you emphasize often translates into what you get.

 

[-SD-]

You are looking at it too narrowly.

There are people who care about material things.

There are people who care about relationships.

There are people who care about spiritual matters.

There are people who care about their sticky icky pot.

It's all a matter of priority. You can be greedy over things other than stuff.

Furthermore, if stuff isn't important to someone, then it shouldn't be a problem if they don't have much stuff. If it bothers them that they don't have more stuff, then perhaps stuff is more important than they are acknowledging.

Here's a good example: I suspect you place a lot of emphasis on spiritual matters. So what other facets of your life did that crowd out? Would you be in a larger house had you invested that energy into work? Would you have a kid in an ivy league school if you had invested that energy into your kid's education?

I'm not suggesting for a second that you made the wrong choices, but what you emphasize often translates into what you get.

Opportunity costs- Economics 101

 

[mrplunkey]

mr.plunkey touched my penis'!!!

Aren't you into dudes now anyway? You should e-like it!

 

[PICK3]

There are people who care about material things.

There are people who care about relationships.

There are people who care about spiritual matters.

There are people who care about their sticky icky pot.

There are people who care about scoring teh

 

[musclemom]

Here's a good example: I suspect you place a lot of emphasis on spiritual matters. So what other facets of your life did that crowd out? Would you be in a larger house had you invested that energy into work? Would you have a kid in an ivy league school if you had invested that energy into your kid's education?

I'm not suggesting for a second that you made the wrong choices, but what you emphasize often translates into what you get.

I cannot disagree with you up to a point. Spirituality has never taken away from other aspects of my life but I understand the point you were driving at. If anything, the deep rooted need for a stable committed monogamous relationship was what screwed me up the most. That and the simple fact that I'm not very smart in a conventional sense, ergo I don't excel in the areas that our society believed indicated intelligence at the time (I am completely, utterly hopeless at math and math based sciences and am poor at memorization, at best), and I had no support from home in terms of pursuing higher education for the things that did interest me.

If I were more driven would I have done better? I don't know. I would have done better in the divorce, that's for sure. For that matter, I wouldn't be living where I do now because I wouldn't have given in on the location. I was trying to be "nice" and wanted to make my then husband happy (long story).

The reality is my current husband and I are nice people, who are staring at a very bleak future when we are old, much like the rest of the nice people. And the capitalistic materialists will always finish on top, while they tell us we have nobody to blame but ourselves for not being more like them

Bummer

 

[Mr. dB]

Here's what you don't get: The most evil, greedy, mean-spirited Fortune 500 executive still engages in less graft and corruption than a mid-range (Republican or Democrat) member of Congress.

So we should just let business run free with no regulation, since The Holy Market will take care of everything.

 

[mrplunkey]

So we should just let business run free with no regulation, since The Holy Market will take care of everything.

No, government should protect us from the most egregious acts (i.e. fraud) and let the private sector take care of everyone else.

As-is, they can't seem to pull that off. Yet they still try to enter new businesses every day.

 

[Mr. dB]

No, government should protect us from the most egregious acts (i.e. fraud) and let the private sector take care of everyone else.

As-is, they can't seem to pull that off. Yet they still try to enter new businesses every day.

How about worker safety, industrial pollution, child labor, hours, that sort of thing, should those be determined by the market, or regulated?