When did it become a crime to be successful?

[JoeNormal]

I was watching the first episode of a new Showtime series called 'Billions' last night. It's the story of the sole survivor of a financial firm that was decimated in the 9/11 attacks and now he's become a billionaire asshole. He had used his fuck you money to basically say fuck you to the people of New York and they were pissed. Sure enough, he pulled out that tired old conservative saw "When did it become a crime to be successful?"

I think I know when. It's when America's primary industry became finance - an industry that produces basically nothing. So while the rest of us are busy trying to invent/produce/sell something of real value, these guys divert the profits into their own hands and produce nothing in return.

 

[Votto]

I was watching the first episode of a new Showtime series called 'Billions' last night. It's the story of the sole survivor of a financial firm that was decimated in the 9/11 attacks and now he's become a billionaire asshole. He had used his fuck you money to basically say fuck you to the people of New York and they were pissed. Sure enough, he pulled out that tired old conservative saw "When did it become a crime to be successful?"

I think I know when. It's when America's primary industry became finance - an industry that produces basically nothing. So while the rest of us are busy trying to invent/produce/sell something of real value, these guys divert the profits into their own hands and produce nothing in return.

The thinking is, there is a finite amount of money everyone is fighting over. Put another way, the amount of known money is a finite piece of pie that needs to be divided equally among everyone. Of course, that's just plum insane. As economies grow so does the amount of money available, so this thinking is blatantly false.

Another falsehood is, the more money that is taken from the rich and put in government will help pay for more things for everyone else. But if the truth be known, they run massive deficits every year and will spend a certain amount no matter if no taxes were gathered. As Dick Cheney once said, deficits no longer matter, it's all monopoly money.

The real crux of the situation is, government does not like citizens to be independent. Dependency creates power and slaves to the state. That's why they focus on taxing income. Notice they never talk about taxing wealth. That way no one ever messes with the rich like themselves.

 

[KingOfCars]

It's a killer show, though.

 

[JoeNormal]

I was watching the first episode of a new Showtime series called 'Billions' last night. It's the story of the sole survivor of a financial firm that was decimated in the 9/11 attacks and now he's become a billionaire asshole. He had used his fuck you money to basically say fuck you to the people of New York and they were pissed. Sure enough, he pulled out that tired old conservative saw "When did it become a crime to be successful?"

I think I know when. It's when America's primary industry became finance - an industry that produces basically nothing. So while the rest of us are busy trying to invent/produce/sell something of real value, these guys divert the profits into their own hands and produce nothing in return.

The thinking is, there is a finite amount of money everyone is fighting over. Put another way, the amount of known money is a finite piece of pie that needs to be divided equally among everyone. Of course, that's just plum insane. As economies grow so does the amount of money available, so this thinking is blatantly false.

Another falsehood is, the more money that is taken from the rich and put in government will help pay for more things for everyone else. But if the truth be known, they run massive deficits every year and will spend a certain amount no matter if no taxes were gathered. As Dick Cheney once said, deficits no longer matter, it's all monopoly money.

The real crux of the situation is, government does not like citizens to be independent. Dependency creates power and slaves to the state. That's why they focus on taxing income. Notice they never talk about taxing wealth. That way no one ever messes with the rich like themselves.

There are real limits to the amounts of physical resources that can be produced. And if you've ever tried innovating anything, you'll know that there are limits to how much can be done there as well. After a couple of decades in the engineering trenches, it became obvious to me that the money being paid to financial parasites is increasing much faster than the real economy.

 

[Votto]

I was watching the first episode of a new Showtime series called 'Billions' last night. It's the story of the sole survivor of a financial firm that was decimated in the 9/11 attacks and now he's become a billionaire asshole. He had used his fuck you money to basically say fuck you to the people of New York and they were pissed. Sure enough, he pulled out that tired old conservative saw "When did it become a crime to be successful?"

I think I know when. It's when America's primary industry became finance - an industry that produces basically nothing. So while the rest of us are busy trying to invent/produce/sell something of real value, these guys divert the profits into their own hands and produce nothing in return.

The thinking is, there is a finite amount of money everyone is fighting over. Put another way, the amount of known money is a finite piece of pie that needs to be divided equally among everyone. Of course, that's just plum insane. As economies grow so does the amount of money available, so this thinking is blatantly false.

Another falsehood is, the more money that is taken from the rich and put in government will help pay for more things for everyone else. But if the truth be known, they run massive deficits every year and will spend a certain amount no matter if no taxes were gathered. As Dick Cheney once said, deficits no longer matter, it's all monopoly money.

The real crux of the situation is, government does not like citizens to be independent. Dependency creates power and slaves to the state. That's why they focus on taxing income. Notice they never talk about taxing wealth. That way no one ever messes with the rich like themselves.

There are real limits to the amounts of physical resources that can be produced. And if you've ever tried innovating anything, you'll know that there are limits to how much can be done there as well. After a couple of decades in the engineering trenches, it became obvious to me that the money being paid to financial parasites is increasing much faster than the real economy.

We live in an infinite universe, so our limitations on resources are self imposed.

All it comes down to are the rich and powerful trying to exert power over the current natural resources currently in their grasp. It's just a thing called greed

 

[JoeNormal]

I was watching the first episode of a new Showtime series called 'Billions' last night. It's the story of the sole survivor of a financial firm that was decimated in the 9/11 attacks and now he's become a billionaire asshole. He had used his fuck you money to basically say fuck you to the people of New York and they were pissed. Sure enough, he pulled out that tired old conservative saw "When did it become a crime to be successful?"

I think I know when. It's when America's primary industry became finance - an industry that produces basically nothing. So while the rest of us are busy trying to invent/produce/sell something of real value, these guys divert the profits into their own hands and produce nothing in return.

The thinking is, there is a finite amount of money everyone is fighting over. Put another way, the amount of known money is a finite piece of pie that needs to be divided equally among everyone. Of course, that's just plum insane. As economies grow so does the amount of money available, so this thinking is blatantly false.

Another falsehood is, the more money that is taken from the rich and put in government will help pay for more things for everyone else. But if the truth be known, they run massive deficits every year and will spend a certain amount no matter if no taxes were gathered. As Dick Cheney once said, deficits no longer matter, it's all monopoly money.

The real crux of the situation is, government does not like citizens to be independent. Dependency creates power and slaves to the state. That's why they focus on taxing income. Notice they never talk about taxing wealth. That way no one ever messes with the rich like themselves.

There are real limits to the amounts of physical resources that can be produced. And if you've ever tried innovating anything, you'll know that there are limits to how much can be done there as well. After a couple of decades in the engineering trenches, it became obvious to me that the money being paid to financial parasites is increasing much faster than the real economy.

We live in an infinite universe, so our limitations on resources are self imposed.

All it comes down to are the rich and powerful trying to exert power over the current natural resources currently in their grasp. It's just a thing called greed

Quite true. Well, the greed part anyway. As for limitations, they are real since we don't have access to the universe - only our tiny blue ball.

 

[nat4900]

Conservatives who actually defend billionaires for not too sane reasons, either forget or never read about what led to the French Revolution.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

[QUOTE="nat4900, post: 13614028, member:

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Conservatives who actually defend billionaires for not too sane reasons, either forget or never read about what led to the French Revolution.

The French revolution was a violent disaster that ended up with a dictatorship.... yeah, that's what we want.

You're a loon.

 

[Iceweasel]

Conservatives who actually defend billionaires for not too sane reasons, either forget or never read about what led to the French Revolution.

Except most billionaires are democrats. Fail.

 

[nat4900]

Except most billionaires are democrats. Fail.

 

[Disgruntled_American]

I was watching the first episode of a new Showtime series called 'Billions' last night. It's the story of the sole survivor of a financial firm that was decimated in the 9/11 attacks and now he's become a billionaire asshole. He had used his fuck you money to basically say fuck you to the people of New York and they were pissed. Sure enough, he pulled out that tired old conservative saw "When did it become a crime to be successful?"

I think I know when. It's when America's primary industry became finance - an industry that produces basically nothing. So while the rest of us are busy trying to invent/produce/sell something of real value, these guys divert the profits into their own hands and produce nothing in return.

The thinking is, there is a finite amount of money everyone is fighting over. Put another way, the amount of known money is a finite piece of pie that needs to be divided equally among everyone. Of course, that's just plum insane. As economies grow so does the amount of money available, so this thinking is blatantly false.

Another falsehood is, the more money that is taken from the rich and put in government will help pay for more things for everyone else. But if the truth be known, they run massive deficits every year and will spend a certain amount no matter if no taxes were gathered. As Dick Cheney once said, deficits no longer matter, it's all monopoly money.

The real crux of the situation is, government does not like citizens to be independent. Dependency creates power and slaves to the state. That's why they focus on taxing income. Notice they never talk about taxing wealth. That way no one ever messes with the rich like themselves.

There are real limits to the amounts of physical resources that can be produced. And if you've ever tried innovating anything, you'll know that there are limits to how much can be done there as well. After a couple of decades in the engineering trenches, it became obvious to me that the money being paid to financial parasites is increasing much faster than the real economy.

We live in an infinite universe, so our limitations on resources are self imposed.

Self-imposed huh? Try starting an OS company going against Microsoft and Apple. Good luck, but the reality is YES there are limitations and they are not always self-imposed.

 

[nat4900]

The French revolution was a violent disaster that ended up with a dictatorship.... yeah, that's what we want.

You're a loon.

I did NOT say that a "revolution" is "what we want", moron.......I stated that the temperament of the vast majority of voters is disgusted with 10% of our population to have MORE wealth than the other 90%......and THAT is exactly what led to the French Revolution.

 

[Iceweasel]

Except most billionaires are democrats. Fail.

There are more than 50 billionaires. Double down fail.

 

[nat4900]

There are more than 50 billionaires. Double down fail.

Stay stupid...I really don't care.

 

[Iceweasel]

There are more than 50 billionaires. Double down fail.

Stay stupid...I really don't care.

You can't determine what stupid is from your dim cavern of intellectual bankruptcy.

 

[Mac1958]

It all goes together:

• You didn't build that, someone else made that happen
• You didn't earn that, you cheated or stole to get it
• You didn't work for that, it was given to you
  
• Your business didn't earn that, you took advantage of someone
• If you have it, it belongs to someone else
  
• You can't be successful, that rich guy over there won't let you
• You can't be successful because of your skin color
  
• Your failures aren't your fault, they're someone else's fault

All that is now part of our culture. Enjoy.
.

 

[JoeNormal]

It all goes together:

• You didn't build that, someone else made that happen
• You didn't earn that, you cheated or stole to get it
• You didn't work for that, it was given to you
  
• Your business didn't earn that, you took advantage of someone
• If you have it, it belongs to someone else
  
• You can't be successful, that rich guy over there won't let you
• You can't be successful because of your skin color
  
• Your failures aren't your fault, they're someone else's fault

All that is now part of our culture. Enjoy.
.

And apparently, your culture says that if anyone has a problem with these scumbags, it must be envy. Don't you guys ever get tired of defending the indefensible?

 

[Mac1958]

It all goes together:

• You didn't build that, someone else made that happen
• You didn't earn that, you cheated or stole to get it
• You didn't work for that, it was given to you
  
• Your business didn't earn that, you took advantage of someone
• If you have it, it belongs to someone else
  
• You can't be successful, that rich guy over there won't let you
• You can't be successful because of your skin color
  
• Your failures aren't your fault, they're someone else's fault

All that is now part of our culture. Enjoy.
.

And apparently, your culture says that if anyone has a problem with these scumbags, it must be envy. Don't you guys ever get tired of defending the indefensible?

Well, at least you didn't try to deny my point. Good, that would have been silly.

And who, precisely, do you mean by "you guys"? Do you think I'm a conservative or a Republican, something like that?

Wanna try again?
.

 

[Votto]

The French revolution was a violent disaster that ended up with a dictatorship.... yeah, that's what we want.

You're a loon.

I did NOT say that a "revolution" is "what we want", moron.......I stated that the temperament of the vast majority of voters is disgusted with 10% of our population to have MORE wealth than the other 90%......and THAT is exactly what led to the French Revolution.

So how are the "rich" hurting society?