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Old 04-17-2010, 12:14 PM   #6
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
United_States
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Re: Investing in society?

Quote:
Matthew Gano wrote: View Post
How do we reconcile the above idea with the fact that people who have more didn't necessarily work harder for it?
"Didn't necessarily work harder"? I think you'll find that most people work for their money, Matt. They finish high school. They work hard. They go to college. They invest years in law school, medical school, etc., when they could be out earning money and raising a family. A lot of people mortgage their house or lay everything they own on the line in order to start a business. They work long hours. The idea that "the rich" don't really deserve their money and we should take it from them and give it to the people who very often made personal choices like not finishing high-school, etc.... well, that's a fiction.

Not all the "poor" are their by their own choices and some of them deserve help. A lot of the "poor" are their by their own choices and lack of effort. Some of the rich are trust-fund babies, heirs of people that worked hard, but most of the "rich" work pretty hard for their money. Remember... money tends to last only 3 generations in the vast majority of cases: grandpop makes it, coddles his son, and pampered grandson squanders the rest.

But the glib comment that rich people "didn't necessarily work harder" is where the lie is imbedded and is one of the big falsehoods about what really happens in this world. Hock everything you've got and start a business sometime (most startup businesses fail)... if you make a go of it, tell us how 'rich people' don't necessarily work harder.

FWIW

Mike
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