Slashdot Mirror
Why You Are Not On Any Forbes Lists of Rich People
Mike writes "Ever wondered why, no matter how hard you work, you are not getting any further towards getting on one of those Forbes Billionaire lists? Mike Cassidy at Mercury Center has the answer to why you are not on any Forbes lists via a Q & A he has prepared for all us working stiffs."
The sad thing about America is that we hammer our kids during their formative years with the message that all the wrong things matter. We tell them that succeeding in a narccisitic power game is the most important thing or even the only thing. It's a lie, and it screws everyone over, expecially the weaker kids who believe the lie and who can't afford to be distracted from the hard work of finding their potential. If we focused our educational system on teaching kids how to be fully potentialized human beings and didn't concern ourselves with their value to the capitalist machine (at least during their formative years), they would have a chance to reach their full potential and it would likely have value to society (even unsuccessful artists add to a society). Instead, we churn out generations of cripples, simpletons capable only of consumerism or narrow minded capitalist pursuits, and as this mass grows, they in turn pass on the lie to their own children since it is all they know.
Sure, some money is needed. There are basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) to be met. There are medical bills. There is the cost of education. There is the need to save for retirement. There is the want to support your hobbies and interest and to have time for your family. But we need to put this into perspective. First of all, even in America where everything is becoming privatized and expensive, you don't have to be rich to achieve these goals. But if all you know is consumerism=happiness, then you are going to need a ton of money to be happy expecially since you get more and more jaded with every toy you buy (diminishing returns). A non-consumerism-addicted human who has emerged from their formative years undamaged will be able to enjoy life at a much smaller cost. Second of all, if we were able to start reversing the course of this problem and head back towards sanity (perhaps starting with a stock market crash), eventually we might be able to shift the emphasis of our government towards providing a real safety net, where everyone is truly able stay above the poverty line, to get a good education, enjoy medical benefits, and a reasonable retirement.
The emptiness of our society right now is very disturbing to me. We eat our own. Adult foreigners come here to play and make money but raise their kids elsewhere. The elite don't make use of our public schools and universities. It should be clear to all that true quality of life for the majority of americans is headed into the gutter. But this isn't an oft discussed topic these days while stock prices are high.
What if Bill Gates reads slashdot? I think this article is unfairly written, because it assumes that it's addessing the 5.99999 billion inhabitants of the earth who are NOT excessively rich. What about the neglected minority, the .000001 billion who are? Where is THEIR Q&A? Is this discrimination? Could they sue?
:P
gnfnrf
Oh foo! all i need is enough money for a nice new computer and a stereo and a bunch of cds and a truck and some acreage and a tractor and that nice taylor guitar and traveling to europe and paying off my school loans and donating to charity and i will be just dandy and comfortable.
"i don't need anything!!...Except this chair!! All i need is this chair! and this lamp! but that's all!"
"I want peace on earth and good will toward men." "We're the U.S. government. We don't do that sort of thing!!"
I have absolutely nothing against the entrepreneur who finds some way to make a fortune (as long as they do it legally and morally). What bugs me is their kids. You know, people who are BORN rich. People who think that they're better than you because they've never actually had to WORK for a living. Isn't there something we can do about them?
I am not an idiot. Please use my name to email me.
"That's right, I'm quoting myself."
-Upsilon
Although that article was written with tongue very firmly in cheek, the author's affliction is rampantly clear: he's been brainwashed by the very system on which he's attempting to pass comment.
Fortunately for us though, we know that money is only one of the things you need to be rich, and that without the other things then you're not rich, you're just monetarily encumbered.
Let's take the case of the classic "rich" person we speak about here a lot, partly because he's about to come on UK telly in 12 minutes' time, interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on BBC2.
Is Bill Gates rich? Er, it doesn't seem likely, otherwise he'd have enough of a clue to discard virtually everything in Windows right now and replace it with a *BSD or Linux infrastructure with just a Windows-compatible covering over the top. That would make Windows the undisputed king of O/S's, end of story. Having a clue is central to being rich.
Maybe he's got the clue to realize that he should do that, but instead he hasn't got the *freedom* to do so. Well, in that case then he's not rich either, because freedom is the other essential component of being rich.
One could go on and on. Nope, good ol' Bill isn't rich, he's just monetarily encumbered.
And I'm off to watch Jeremy Paxman, who, alas, doesn't know anything about technology so the interview won't be up to much, I expect.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
You mention a lot of good points, but the analysis is more emotional than scientifically dissective. I can't do the topic justice either, but others before us have done a fairly good job.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs gives a particularly good framework for considerations of the value of money in the scheme of things. In a nutshell, the items of maximum value to you as an individual are determined by what you need to satisfy your immediate requirements. Good hifi speakers are not relevant when you don't have a roof over your head, and shelter is meaningless when you are dying from starvation. Money is often considered a general enabler but it's far from being that: it's worth nothing when you're stuck on a rock in the middle of a crocodile reservoir. Even in more mundane circumstances, it can be unhelpful, and even a liability.
Financial riches are merely part of a larger picture. This doesn't come across in the media and on the stock market of course, but that doesn't really matter, because everyone knows it anyway. When we hear people say "Be happy with what you've got" it sounds like advice from a have to a have-not, but only if you accept that you are a have-not. If you're intelligent enough to understand the phrase, they you are clearly not a have-not. You may not have a lot of money (join the club), but that's not a reflection on much at all except on the amount of tax you'll be paying. The law of diminishing returns hits with a vengence in this area, and I'm not just talking about tax.
In summary, who cares whether we're on some Rich List or other. The taxman, for sure. For everyone else, if you care then I'd seriously worry about your quality of life, because you'll be *very* unhappy for the rest of it.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Oh, the little home comforts.
However, its not always win-win. There are certain tradeoffs that are made many times.
You mean there can be drawbacks??? Tell us more!!!
Parents of wealthy kids are expected to do certain things, and behave certain ways that others simply aren't. eg: Sports after school every season (mandatory)
OUCH! My god, that's brutal! Oh, except there are poor people who have to do that too, if their parents demand it...
3 hours minimum of homework since 6th grade,
AAH, the nerve! Having to study to get good grades! I'll mention that to the next kid I see who doesn't have rich parents and wants to go to college. I'm sure he'll agree with you, and consider himself lucky he doesn't have those rich-folk expectations...
...
My parents and most of my friends' parents certainly required us to get jobs during the summer and during vacations. It has nothing to do with money. They simply have principles.
Except for people without money, it has everything to do with money... And it's not only rich people have principles, y'know.
In order to be a productive member of society, you must know the meaning of work. When I wanted something growing up, say a new stereo, I had to earn the money myself.
Whereas non-rich people just magic them up from pixie dust.
Grow up!!!
There are few things worse than listening to people who don't realise how lucky they are when they start whining...
Here in Southern California, there's a lot of pressure to be rich. You see, even a really lousy lower middle class home in a crummy neighborhood nudges $ 200,000. If you want a house that feels "upper middle class", you're going to pay almost half a million dollars.
... and yet ... I visit 24500 Piuma in Malibu (15 acres of your own hilltop land at a bargain $495,000, "Plans and permits for 4,000 square foot home included"), gaze at the spectacular view, and it is at that moment that I really love Southern California.
And let's not even talk about a half-decent car: A Mercedes E320 ($46,000).
Because of all this, the desire to be rich infects your brain. You most surely can't get your dream girl - or even something close - without being rich. But I wouldn't laugh too hard at this culture of greed - more than anything, it comes from what are traditionally considered middle-class necessities turning into upper-class luxuries.
I have a friend who wants me to move down to his neck of the woods. I think he feels I'd make a pretty good match for the company he works for, although I'm not so sure. (They are, sadly, still using Windows NT down there, ugh!) But his location is the Space Coast of Florida, which has waterfront homes selling for $ 119,000 and up. Waterfront. With a boat dock. The type of lifestyle that costs a minimum of $ 2,395,000 (!) in Orange County.
This has made me think a lot about this subject. I think many of us are driven to make money not because of innate greed, but because we tend to live in horrendously expensive places. From what I understand, Silicon Valley makes Los Angeles look cheap.
And yet
But I sure as heck don't have $ 1 million to buy that land and erect a suitable dream house.
Maybe I'd be better off moving to South Florida, enjoying the gloriously comfortable warm water from the vantage point of my own personal boat dock, right off of my comfortable middle class home.
Anyone know what the market for consultants/software developers is like down there?
D
For more on this subject, see my David's Dream House web page:
http://www.amazing.com/david/dream-house/
----
I'd like to moderate the Article down, please. If similiar blathering was a post from an AC it would immediately be marked at flamebait/worthless/etc. I'm going a step further than the usual moderation and giving that Page, a rating of "-1 Lame/Un-interisting/Waste of Electrons".
Slashdot is usually very good about posting interesting/thought provoking and often wacky stories. This article was none of those. For any of you who did not read the article, here is a synopsis:
I can't believe good old Mike Cassidy gets paid for this drivel. On the plus side he does kinda look like the Norton Utilities Guy :)
nuff said.
-Nick
Neither happy or rich, but would settle for either.
or an ion cannon, you decide.
Have GNU . . . Will Travel