Balance of Wealth

[kbordson 8]

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Anyone who thinks they succeeded entirely by their own efforts is a knave or a fool.

So it's far better to discount any effort or work that you have done and just credit your success only to the kindness and graciousness of others that just decided to help you... but what about those that haven't succeeded? HOW MEAN of those that helped you not to not have helped those others?! [/mock outrage]

Personally, I thank several people quite often.

But... I'm not so arrogant to dismiss the success of others with a wave of the hand and causal comment about how they must be knaves or fools.

Some people are absolutely BRILLIANT - and although schools might have "helped" some... it doesn't help all.

Some people are AMAZINGLY SKILLED - and even without a Steinway Louis XV Grand.

Some people WORK REALLY HARD to provide the best service - even with barriers put in front of them.

[metalslug 31]

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I've said it before, the richest people in the US ought to drop to their knees every day and thank the rest of America for what it has provided them. Instead, they usually bitch about paying taxes.

Go figure that one out.

Perhaps they should be thankful, but certainly no more and no less than you.

Are they bitching about paying taxes? ...or bitching about paying significantly higher taxes than others of lesser income?
I completely understand the need for the current tax scales (relative to income) and I certainly cannot think of a better way to handle it, but that does not mean that I have to like it, especially if I believe that I am not using more public resources than others of lesser income.
We're talking personal taxation here, not company taxation. Can it really be said that wealthy people have personally used exponentially more public resources than others? ... and to the extent that they owe an exponentially higher levy for that usage?

Is it not also true that many public services, infrastructure and resources are not entirely 'free', and that extra levies already exist, either directly or indirectly, on those that make more use of them than others?

If I own a trucking company;
I need to get my vehicles registered and licenced each year. That costs money, more money than my employee who licences his one beemer for personal use. The DMV gets that money. I pay for toll roads where applicable. The revenue from toll roads goes into road infrastructure. I pay for fuel. Fuel is taxed in many countries and the fuel tax revenue is used for road infrastructure and/or other public expenses. My vehicle maintenance facility uses lots of water and electricity. I'm not getting it free, I collect the bill each month. Yes, both may be partly subsidised by the state (my taxes again), but above that I still pay more for using more. All of these costs reduce the company bottom line, which in turn reduces my personal bottom line.

So, my company is paying infrastructure levies per usage, and then it's also paying company tax. Beyond both of those I'm also paying personal tax. I got rich off the activities of my company, and so I should personally contribute considerably more to public infrastructure for expenses that my company has already paid for.
I cant help feeling at least a little sour about that.

One of the people on my staff is an engineer. His brilliance has contributed hugely to the success of my company, which is largely to be expected relative to his qualifications and experience. He gets a good salary, slightly above market average. I've been told that he thinks I'm getting rich off his hard work, but he has not resigned in protest or started his own company. Maybe he prefers the job security, labor protection, steady income and little personal financial risk. Who can say?

I do not drop to my knees in gratitude each time that I buy a Mac and fries. I paid for it and the franchise is grateful for my business.

Disclaimer:
I do not own a trucking company (or an engineer) and I am not living in the U.S. I therefore concede that my analogy above could be flawed relative to a U.S. scenario.

[kallend 1,623]

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Anyone who thinks they succeeded entirely by their own efforts is a knave or a fool.

So it's far better to discount any effort or work that you have done and just credit your success only to the kindness and graciousness of others that just decided to help you... but what about those that haven't succeeded? HOW MEAN of those that helped you not to not have helped those others?! [/mock outrage]

Personally, I thank several people quite often.

But... I'm not so arrogant to dismiss the success of others with a wave of the hand and causal comment about how they must be knaves or fools.

Either remarkably poor reading comprehension for a well educated person, or missing the point deliberately.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kbordson 8]

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Anyone who thinks they succeeded entirely by their own efforts is a knave or a fool.

So it's far better to discount any effort or work that you have done and just credit your success only to the kindness and graciousness of others that just decided to help you... but what about those that haven't succeeded? HOW MEAN of those that helped you not to not have helped those others?! [/mock outrage]

Personally, I thank several people quite often.

But... I'm not so arrogant to dismiss the success of others with a wave of the hand and causal comment about how they must be knaves or fools.

Either remarkably poor reading comprehension for a well educated person, or missing the point deliberately.

Nice. It's like there's a pretense of refinement, but with very poor "play with others" skills.


Those that are successful should not be mandated kowtow to hoi polloi. Likewise... when life isn't what you want, you shouldn't resort to blaming everyone that is "rich and privileged."

It's YOUR life. Do something with it.




- honestly, I find your comment quite insulting to those with real talent/ amazing intelligence/ driven work ethics.... to those that are "successful" in life. Whether that insult is so annoying to me that it's blinding me to your point or you really have no point other than to just say "be thankful," I don't know. But it does seem to me like you are belittling their success.

[BaronVonBoll 0]

I'd see things a little differently if it were 30 years ago and people stayed with companies for life, but in this day and age, employees should be no more loyal to a company than a company is to them, which is to say, not at all.