posted
"Amen, brother. If I could sum up in one word what's wrong with America today, it would be that word: entitlement."
Sic et Non.
We should feel entitiled to get a lot of things, as our rights, but we should also excpect to pay for them.
A good example/metaphor is food. Everyone deserves food, but has to pay for it. The price, however, should not be so high that people cannot buy it. In times of crises, the price may even need to be artificialy lowered.
Posts: 1332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Pelegius wrote: I am not sure that makes you morally superior.
I'm not sure it does either. I hope you aren't suggesting that's what I said, or even implied.
quote:Amanecer wrote: You've mentioned a few times that you started your own business- a pretty cool thing to do. You've probably said what it was before and I missed it, but what does the business that you started do?
A friend and I formed an LLC to do webdesign, which was very successful but we later dissolved to do sole props, for various reasons. We also started a consumer electronics retail site, but the cost of keeping it profitable was not worth the time it was taking us to keep up with it. Thus, I am now a sole-prop web & graphic designer.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:This is in no way original, but according to the book, the average salary most people BELIEVE they need is around 100,000-200,000 a year.
This is particularly frightening because the median house hold income in the US (2004 data) was $44389. While only 10% of households earned more than $116,000. That suggests that the typical American BELIEVES they need over twice the income they have, but even more frightening, it suggests that people who are in the top 10% of income, very likely believe that they are only average or that they don't have as much as they need.
And the scariest part of all of that, is that is pretty consistent with what I've seen. All the people I know who have salaries in the 5 digit range, think that this is average. Most of them think they don't make that much money and many think that they are just scaping by. It really skews our perspective of poverty and decreases our gratitude for what we have.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:Everyone deserves food, but has to pay for it.
What? Unless I'm missing some nuance (which I doubt), that's a horrible analogy. Or it's a good analogy supporting a weak argument -- my personal vote.
No one has an innate right to food. Those who are strong enough or smart enough to procure it are the ones who live and prosper. People expecting to be fed and clothed simply because they bless the world with their existence are exactly the sort I have a problem with.
quote:What? Unless I'm missing some nuance (which I doubt), that's a horrible analogy. Or it's a good analogy supporting a weak argument -- my personal vote.
No one has an innate right to food. Those who are strong enough or smart enough to procure it are the ones who live and prosper. People expecting to be fed and clothed simply because they bless the world with their existence are exactly the sort I have a problem with.
Darwinism, baby.
Yep, that's why I spit at those bums who ask me for change. What do I look like? A change machine?
Posts: 3564 | Registered: Sep 2001
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Species form societies as an evolutionary strategy, although that term is misleading in suggesting that such things are deliberate. It is of little surprise to anyone that the two most successful mammalian species, numerically speaking, humans and crabeater seals, are societal, as are most large mammals. Arguably the most successful family, formicidę or ants, are highly collective.
Posts: 1332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I think you need to study a little more evolutionary psychology, Pel. Also, your analogy fails: ants may be the most successful family of animals, but they didn't get that way feeding every ant that shows up at the hive. An injured ant worker either becomes food for the rest of the colony or is left to die. He's not useful to society anymore - why should society keep him around? Seals may help each other with hunting, but if a seal is disabled I doubt the other seals bring food to it for the rest of its life - by becoming disabled it was either unlucky or not well adapted to the enviroment - making it both a drag on society & on society's gene pool.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote: A friend and I formed an LLC to do webdesign, which was very successful but we later dissolved to do sole props, for various reasons. We also started a consumer electronics retail site, but the cost of keeping it profitable was not worth the time it was taking us to keep up with it. Thus, I am now a sole-prop web & graphic designer.
Very cool!
quote: All the people I know who have salaries in the 5 digit range, think that this is average. Most of them think they don't make that much money and many think that they are just scaping by. It really skews our perspective of poverty and decreases our gratitude for what we have.
Word. This perfectly describes the town that I grew up in. A family friend told me that he believed it would require $400,000 a year to truly be comfortable. He seemed to feel like a failure by pulling in $60,000 a year with his wife making around $40,000.
quote: He's not useful to society anymore - why should society keep him around? Seals may help each other with hunting, but if a seal is disabled I doubt the other seals bring food to it for the rest of its life - by becoming disabled it was either unlucky or not well adapted to the enviroment - making it both a drag on society & on society's gene pool.
One of the virtues of humanity is that we can rise above what happens in nature.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Oh, I'm not saying we can't - but there's a difference between that, and what Pel & JT were arguing about.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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