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Interviews: Ask Malcolm Gladwell a Question
Malcolm Gladwell is a speaker, author, and staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. Gladwell's writing often focuses on research in the social sciences and the unexpected connections or theories made from such research. His books: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Outliers: The Story of Success, and David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants are all New York Times best sellers. Malcolm has agreed to give us some of his time to answer any question you may have. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post.
...and now I'm an expert at cherry-picked anecdotes, post-hoc sophistry and false dichotomies. -Peter Lynn
I am a libertarian. So most of what you say is meaningless in my case. However, the way the left uses terms like "Welfare to big corporations" I laugh. And when they say things like "GE didn't pay any taxes", I laugh harder. You see, it is the LEFT that creates "welfare" loopholes for things like Green Energy (Solyndra et al) used by big corporations like GE to avoid paying taxes.
Then they equate "Tax deductions" as "Subsidies", which would mean that almost all Americans are "Subsidized" by deductions (Standard Income tax deductions) and many of those are using "Tax Credits" (EIC) as well, but they don't call those subsidies. Finally, the most interesting thing about "Big Oil" isn't that they get subsidies, credits and what not, opposed by the left. No, the most interesting thing about Big Oil is how much taxes are paid to government, direct and indirectly, by Big Oil. The government makes way more money on Big Oil than Big Oil does.
It is like all the taxes already paid doesn't count or something. Get a real grip on taxes, and you'll realize that Big Government is out biggest problem, not Big Oil or Big Pharma, or Big Agra or ....
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Ten-thousand hours (~3.4 years if a regular job)
Where did that come from? 10000/3.4 = 2941 hours per year. Nobody works that. The average full time *American* works less than 1800 year, and has since the 70s. Other countries full time work even less.
A 2000+ hr work year is a fiction
If you are working 2000+ hrs for someone else your probably being exploited. Take a good hard look at what you are doing and whether its worth it. Most people do NOT have to work that much. And they probably get paid just as well as you. The average full time employee works 1700 hours. (They get PAID for another 200-300 though for holidays, vacation, sick/personal days etc. So the work year might still add up to around 2000... but you shouldn't actually be working that. (This is just one reason, (along with medical and other benefits) why contractors need to charge more... they're not being paid for those 200-300 hours.)
If you are working 2000+ hours for yourself, and just making ends meet, (ie its not a choice) then you need to take a hard look at your business.
If you are working 2000+ hours for yourself, and making out like a bandit, well... good on you... you can afford to life a more balanced life, and you probably should, but the choice is yours.
http://www.businessinsider.com...