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Old 01-18-2024, 05:46 PM
 
1,701 posts, read 782,134 times
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The world economy is rigged worse than a loaded dice game! The wealthiest 1% rig the system to work for them and for you to get poorer. You guys really don’t think Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Michael Bloomberg hold the strings? Just wait until AI takes over (they’re really hot for it at Davos) and businesses cut 10-20% of the workforce! The elites are going to make a TON of more money while the unemployment rate will rise.

As long as there are people who actually believe the economy is generally fair, I don’t mind them all getting screwed, while trillionares become a reality, because they deserve it.
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Old 01-18-2024, 07:18 PM
 
Location: Boston
20,101 posts, read 9,008,929 times
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I can say with all certainty that I will give the world's first trillionaire the same time attention and concern they give to me.
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Old 01-18-2024, 07:46 PM
 
Location: East Coast of the United States
27,556 posts, read 28,647,655 times
Reputation: 25142
Quote:
Originally Posted by SerlingHitchcockJPeele View Post
The world economy is rigged worse than a loaded dice game! The wealthiest 1% rig the system to work for them and for you to get poorer. You guys really don’t think Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Michael Bloomberg hold the strings? Just wait until AI takes over (they’re really hot for it at Davos) and businesses cut 10-20% of the workforce! The elites are going to make a TON of more money while the unemployment rate will rise.

As long as there are people who actually believe the economy is generally fair, I don’t mind them all getting screwed, while trillionares become a reality, because they deserve it.
Name a time in history when things were not like this.
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Old 01-18-2024, 10:03 PM
 
Location: Las Vegas & San Diego
6,913 posts, read 3,374,038 times
Reputation: 8629
Quote:
Originally Posted by SerlingHitchcockJPeele View Post
The world economy is rigged worse than a loaded dice game! The wealthiest 1% rig the system to work for them and for you to get poorer. You guys really don’t think Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Michael Bloomberg hold the strings? Just wait until AI takes over (they’re really hot for it at Davos) and businesses cut 10-20% of the workforce! The elites are going to make a TON of more money while the unemployment rate will rise.
Again, it is a fallacy that the rich getting richer makes everyone else poorer. Also the wealthiest 1% don't rig the system, they work hard and invest.
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Old 01-19-2024, 01:09 AM
 
Location: Honolulu, HI
24,611 posts, read 9,446,498 times
Reputation: 22949
Quote:
Originally Posted by SerlingHitchcockJPeele View Post
The world economy is rigged worse than a loaded dice game! The wealthiest 1% rig the system to work for them and for you to get poorer.
Anyone complaining about a rigged dice game in a developed 1st world country needs a reality check.

Unless you were born in a 3rd world country, you are a genetic lottery winner richer than 99% of the world.

You ARE the global 1%, so why do you hate yourself?
Quote:
Middle-class Americans are extremely wealthy by international standards. For context, 99% of the world’s population makes less than $34,000 per year. So, if you earn more than that amount, you are, by definition, part of the global one percent.
https://medium.com/publishous/do-you...t-1cdf9ca842ff
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Old 01-19-2024, 07:44 AM
 
Location: Chicago
3,918 posts, read 6,832,743 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ddeemo View Post
Again, it is a fallacy that the rich getting richer makes everyone else poorer. Also the wealthiest 1% don't rig the system, they work hard and invest.
LOL! The fact you don't think they don't rig the system is ludicrous. Have you even paid attention to the returns earned by congress this past year? How about the fact that earned income is taxed differently if it's earned through securities? Perhaps tax loopholes aren't considered rigging the system? Then how about Super PACs for large corporations?

There are many ways that the rich that can rig the system to get richer. I'm not going to blame them for my position, but it doesn't help and it most certainly IS NOT fair.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocko20 View Post
Anyone complaining about a rigged dice game in a developed 1st world country needs a reality check.

Unless you were born in a 3rd world country, you are a genetic lottery winner richer than 99% of the world.

You ARE the global 1%, so why do you hate yourself?

https://medium.com/publishous/do-you...t-1cdf9ca842ff
I don't think there is an issue with wanting things to be fair in our country. It simply isn't.
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Old 01-19-2024, 08:48 AM
 
Location: Warwick, RI
5,475 posts, read 6,298,764 times
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Have you even paid attention to the returns earned by congress this past year?
Small potatoes. Why do you worry so much about what some Congressman or CEO earns anyway? Why do you always complain if it's a Congressman or CEO, but never when it's a vastly overpaid athlete or actor? Who cares. Worry more about your position and way, way less about what others are doing or earning. Envy is just as damaging as greed.

Quote:
Perhaps tax loopholes aren't considered rigging the system?
They're not. Tax "loopholes" as you call them are in reality tax LAWS, and they are there for anyone to use, not just the select few.

Quote:
I don't think there is an issue with wanting things to be fair in our country. It simply isn't.
You're confusing "fair" with "equal". Everyone in this country has the same opportunities, but that does guarantee equal outcomes. I can't go make $20 million per year because I can't throw or hit a 100MPH fastball. Does that make the fact that someone else can somehow unfair? Of course not.

Look everywhere in the natural world, life is simply unfair at times. If one group of squirrels collects 1,000 lbs of acorn in a summer because they live in a wooded area with lots of oak trees, and another group of squirrels collects none, the second group has a much tougher time in winter. Should there be a "squirrel congress" to decide how many acorns the first group should give to the second group to make it "fair"? Ridiculous!

Work is where you go to earn money and improve your own life. Learn as much as you can, work as hard as you can, and make the wisest choices with your money that you can and over time you will improve your life. It's called getting ahead. Maybe if you worked harder and made smarter choices with your money, you could actually own some of those assets that earn that other kind of differently taxed income that you're whining about.

Fair is a place you go to eat cotton candy and ride the rides. The sooner you figure that out the better off you'll be.
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Old 01-19-2024, 08:57 AM
 
Location: East Coast of the United States
27,556 posts, read 28,647,655 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChiGuy2.5 View Post
I don't think there is an issue with wanting things to be fair in our country. It simply isn't.
Karl Marx thought the same thing.

More than 1/3 of the world’s population tried his solution for decades. But it didn’t turn out to be that great.

Maybe there is an alternative somewhere out there, but not a single human being alive knows what that is.
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Old 01-20-2024, 09:56 AM
 
Location: Saskatoon - Saskatchewan, Canada
827 posts, read 865,230 times
Reputation: 757
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocko20 View Post
Anyone complaining about a rigged dice game in a developed 1st world country needs a reality check.

Unless you were born in a 3rd world country, you are a genetic lottery winner richer than 99% of the world.

You ARE the global 1%, so why do you hate yourself?

https://medium.com/publishous/do-you...t-1cdf9ca842ff
The global GDP per capita was $12,234.80 USD in 2021. If we could find a way to distribute all the wealth in the world equally to everyone, there would be an universal monthly income of $1.019 for each person. Almost 100% of the Americans including the poor would have their wealth confiscated in order to make it possible, that would be fun.
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Old 01-20-2024, 10:35 AM
 
7,765 posts, read 3,798,128 times
Reputation: 14688
Quote:
Originally Posted by SerlingHitchcockJPeele View Post
The world economy is rigged worse than a loaded dice game!
You cannot lump together the world's economies. They operate very differently. Western developed economies are very fair - the USA, Canada, western Europe, some other countries around the world. Developed countries have in common a well-developed concept of property rights together with a legal system to enforce them and a well-developed concept of personal freedom. Indeed, capitalism and freedom are intimately linked to increase GDP, GDP per capita, and overall societal well-being.

In contrast, emerging economies frequently are not fair. They do not have well developed legal systems, they do not have a well developed concept of property rights, they do not have personal freedom - and culturally they rely upon bribery and graft to get anything done.

I recall decades ago a political cartoon in the Times of India that illustrates my point. A petitioner was in front of a judge, arguing his case regarding required graft and bribery. The judge replies to the pentitioner:
OK, so you've proven that government officials solicited and took bribes. You've proven that the government officials deny permits unless you bribe them. You've proven that government officials require kick-backs.

But here's the thing I don't understand. You claim the government officials are corrupt. WHERE IS THIS CORRUPTION YOU SPEAK OF???
For example, in the USA, if some company violates your intellectual property by violating your patent, you can have your day in court.

That's not how it works in China - in China, it is more like having a meeting with a government functionary, and the validity of your patent & the infringement of the offender are not so much the issue - the government bureaucrat doesn't follow laws; they just make a decision on what is best for China. Many times, you don't even get to have a meeting - the Chinese infringer gets to have a meeting without you, saying "well, we need the foreign technology" and the Chinese bureaucrat tells the American company, "your petition for enforcement of a patent is denied."

Yes, the Chinese rig the system and steal technology from westerners with impunity. They don't care about Western property rights because they don't have to care.

When will the Chinese start to respect Intellectual Property? My guess is they will start to respect IP about the time they have significant IP that needs protection in the West.

Other emerging markets are similarly bad - they make a habit of stealing IP from the west, or they "Nationalize" US owned assets without compensation. Think of all the oil assets in the Middle East that were owned by the West until nationalized.
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