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The Microsoft Millionaires Come of Age
iseff writes "The NYTimes is running a story about the ways in which Microsoft millionaires are putting their money to use. According to the story, there is somewhere around 10,000 Microsoft made millionaires spending money on various pet projects. For example, former programmer Chris Peters bought the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association), while Stephanie DeVaan founded a political action committee and Rich Tong founded Ignition Partners, a VC firm."
This is a haiku, no?
Or is it really?
You all suck! Go away please!
but their hands will still be stained with blood. One of them should use the bucks to kill Billgatus of Borg and Darth Ballmer. Fucking scumbags, all of them.
I remember as a youth almost causing myself severe injury on my first trip to the US when while channel hopping I heard a commentator seriously describe bowlers as 'professional athletes'. There was considerable pain and a damp patch in my pants 15 mins later after the laughter induced spasms had subsided.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
That Stephanie de Vaan lady has allegedly started a PAC to support abortion rights. An ex-Microsoftie would never do this. That's vacuuming out several hundred thousand potential license-purchasers every year.
Stephanie DeVaan cashed out of Microsoft in 1995, after five years of marketing office software. Just 34 at the time, she went on to spend several years volunteering at charitable institutions. But by 2002, she was itching to do more, so she put her wealth to work in support of abortion rights and helped to found a political action committee called Washington Women for Choice.
Blue screens and baby-killing. What could be better?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The problem is that all these millionaires made the vast majority of their money, not from free market forces, but from a government imposed monopoly on the distribution of infromation called copyrights.
This is not a natural form of profit, and when it comes to free markets, I suspect that many of them probably have no clue as how to make money any more than Miscosoft has a clue of how to make money outside of it's core office/os monopoly.
MS is literally burning most of their resources on trying to become an entertainment/media company right at a time in history when that part of the industry is predestined to become worthless as society enteres the information age. (Think of the people that were in the plantation business as the industrial revolution started to explode, yeah at first they became extremely rich as the cotton gin made their slaves 1000 times more productive, then they went to satanic hell)
The worst part is, very little of this money will likely go into successfull ventures, but when it hits the fan with the free software movement, a lot will likely go into dirty hardball. (Think SCO, MPAA BSA, RIAA rolled into one magnified by over 10000.)
Sure, it's a bitter pill for some people to swallow--it's roughly 100% of the gross salary of someone working full time for minimum wage. But hey, if that's not an incentive to work harder and find a better-paying job, then what is?
This is very naive.
Situations like this have arisen throughout history. In every instance the result was revolt and revolution by the lower classes, leading to widespread death and destruction. Society cannot function without people doing the shitty low-paying jobs. Taking away the salaries of the people who already have the least to live for will only lead to class warfare.
Making the world tougher for those who are already oppressed, with the assumption that you're giving them the kick-in-the-ass that they need, is not the answer. I don't presume to know what the answer is, but I can assure you it is not that.
The economy is a zero sum game it's just the costs are not calculated properly so it doesn't seem like that.
You see every economic activity makes impact on natural resources. Since there is a finite amount of natural resources available the expansion of the economy comes at the cost of natural resources.
So the economy is a zero sum game when you properly take into account the depletion of natural resources. This is the big ugly secret no economist wants to talk about. They would much rather pretend there is an alternate universe with infinate amount of money in it and that it's possible for every person in the world to be zillionaires!. It's a rising tide folks, everybody can be rich!
evil is as evil does
Let's pretend the welfare receient does one minute of "work" of some sort every day. At that rate bill gates does less to earn more. Do the math. Even if Bill Gates works 24 hours a day to earn his money it still doesn't add up right.
evil is as evil does
Capitalism is a tidy theory that has led to complete disaster every time it's been put into practice. All capitalist nations have always ended up with a handful of families owning all of the land and natural resources of a nation and eventual revolution where those families have been run out or killed.
that's why today no nation practices capitalim. The US which is the least socialist modern state has a robust welfare system, free education for all, progressive taxation, social security, welfare, medicare, and subsidies for every known industry.
I am afraid socialism has proven to be the only system that has worked and it has worked rather well in europe, asia, and the US. Right now socialism is the most widely practiced system of governance in the world. There are still capitalistic holdout nations in africa and other parts of the third world but they will forever be held back with contants coups, civil wars, and rebellions against the ruling class who control all the wealth.
Capitalism doesn't work, never has, never will. That's why the US is a socialist govt.
evil is as evil does
" I do not agree that capitalism does not work."
If you don't agree then I submit you are ignorant of thousands of years of mankinds history. Socialism is a new invention, before that capitalism ruled the world. In every single case without fail capitalism ended up as dictatorship, fiefdoms, monarchy, or an oligarchy of some sort. That's because in capitalism the rich always get richer.
"Also, I certainly wouldn't carry a grudge against someone merely because they have become successful."
That's kind of irrelevent. I hold grudges against lots of people for lots of reasons. So what?
"There are still capitalists in the US"
Of course there are. There are also flat earthers, people who believe in aliens and all kinds of other people. Alas reason and evidence shows that the earth is round, there are no aliens and capitalism does not work. Never has, never will. SOcialism is the only form of govt that has proven to work in the long term.
evil is as evil does