Am I a socialist?

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CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
Originally posted by: CPA
Redhotjrm, and the rest of you communists (you're not a socialist, you're a communist),

I have one wish for you:

I wish that one day you decide to start a business of your own. And even after dealing with angry customers, uncaring vendors, disgruntled employees, 80-120 hour work weeks (you're the boss, no vacation for you) and the long arm of the government, you become very successful. So successful, in fact, that you make well more than 300k in residual income. Because then, I would like to see your reaction when the government steps in and says "Mr. Redhot give me EVERYTHING you made greater than $300K." You will either be very pissed off or you will start cooking the books. Guaranteed.

Because of greed? "Don't take away my $300k!!! A new Lexus is coming out next month and I won't be able to buy 3 of them if you cap my 300k!"

You make a honest point that until I make that much money a year, and until we are a communist nation, I don't what what the hell I'm talking about. I just feel the money could do much more for our country than an individual.

It has nothing to do with greed and all to do with risk/reward. And you're trying to put a price on the risk. You take all the risk starting your own business, hiring your employees, dealing with customers (some, who would do nothing but look for ways to sue you), putting in all the hours to make the business work, and for what? A maximum 300K? Please.

And we have gotten ahead of ourselves here. I want to know your justification for 300k? Why not a 150K (government says this is the approximate threshold of being in the top 10% of all wage earners)? Why not 50k? why not 500k? You need to justify your number, and that will never be able to be done.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
April Fools! I hate poor people and I like to buy thingz.

I better not have gotten all worked up over a stupid April Fool's joke.

:disgust::D
 

Mo0o

Lifer
Jul 31, 2001
24,227
3
76
HAHAH I DIDN"T FALL FOR IT APRIL FOOLS.... ok how many people believe me.
 

Red

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2002
3,704
0
0
Haha, I was going to see how many people I could pull into a frenzy, but only a couple of ya took bait. You're really think I'm a communist when I post fifteen YACTs a day and I have $12,000 worth a debt and I'm 21 years old? C'mon now =)
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
45,890
32,675
136
Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
Haha, I was going to see how many people I could pull into a frenzy, but only a couple of ya took bait. You're really think I'm a communist when I post fifteen YACTs a day and I have $12,000 worth a debt and I'm 21 years old? C'mon now =)

You are just pretending to be a good little capitalist to keep the FBI off your trail. :p
 

Feldenak

Lifer
Jan 31, 2003
14,093
2
81
Originally posted by: CPA
Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
April Fools! I hate poor people and I like to buy thingz.

I better not have gotten all worked up over a stupid April Fool's joke.

:disgust::D

No kidding. I was about to really lay into him. I was already reaching for my old Poly Sci & Econ books.:disgust::|
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
Haha, I was going to see how many people I could pull into a frenzy, but only a couple of ya took bait. You're really think I'm a communist when I post fifteen YACTs a day and I have $12,000 worth a debt and I'm 21 years old? C'mon now =)

I was going to say something about that, but I thought maybe you took a turn for the worst.
 

bunker

Lifer
Apr 23, 2001
10,578
0
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Nice one....I wonder how many responses you're still gonna get from people that don't read the entire thread before posting?
 

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
81
Originally posted by: bunker
Nice one....I wonder how many responses you're still gonna get from people that don't read the entire thread before posting?
AKA the Skoorb Effect

 

Drekce

Golden Member
Sep 29, 2000
1,398
0
76
Originally posted by: bthorny
I like the idea of a salary cap, I think the end results of how everything would even out, would be great.
It makes alot more since than the BS "hey life is not fair attitude" (elitist social darwinism BS).
One day the 95% of this country that has very little money will smarten up and tell the 5% that own a grossely disproportionate amount of the goods "hey you said it life's not fair". Now it's your turn to pay for the money you have made off the backs of the under paid in this society. I'll give the "Have's" this, they have done a really good job of convincing the "have not's" in this country that they are worthless and don't deserve the necessities and that's the american way. Change will come it may be far off but, it will come.

That makes me a person who cares about others, call it what you want but, I believe that everyone is entilted to Housing, Food, and Medical care. If we are civilized and advanced I think we should be able to provide that.
I don't have all the answers I'm not even sure how I would design all if given a chance but, somethings definitely need to change.
just IMHO, now bring on the Commie jokes etc... idiots

Redhot may not be a communist, but bthorny sure is!

 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,338
253
126
Am I a socialist?
Well maybe not a Socialist, but definitely short-sighted, disposed to misguided and unworkable thinking that is fueled by knee-jerk reactionism to a perceived wrong instead of flowing from a long serious process of critical thinking. Oh, wait, same difference!

Have you ever heard of the Alchemist's Fallacy? Of course, I'm not referring to the obvious flaw in believing that if one could strike the right proportion of ingredients and conditions that lead would magically transmutate into gold. There was nothing logically impossible about turning lead into gold, and so alchemists were not unreasonable to at least entertain the notion that it might be possible.

Rather, the Alchemist's Fallacy was to believe that once a process was discovered for producing a scarce precious metal from an abundant base metal, gold would retain its scarcity and the alchemist would get filthy rich.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Originally posted by: tcsenter
Am I a socialist?
Well maybe not a Socialist, but definitely short-sighted, disposed to misguided and unworkable thinking that is fueled by knee-jerk reactionism to a perceived wrong instead of flowing from a long serious process of critical thinking. Oh, wait, same difference!

Have you ever heard of the Alchemist's Fallacy? Of course, I'm not referring to the obvious flaw in believing that if one could strike the right proportion of ingredients and conditions that lead would magically transmutate into gold. There was nothing logically impossible about turning lead into gold, and so alchemists were not unreasonable to at least entertain the notion that it might be possible.

Rather, the Alchemist's Fallacy was to believe that once a process for producing a scarce precious metal from an abundant base metal, gold would retain its scarcity and the alchemist would get filthy rich.

uhoh, skoorb effect in action.


Read a few posts above.
 

Kerouactivist

Diamond Member
Jul 12, 2001
4,665
0
76
Originally posted by: Drekce
Originally posted by: bthorny
I like the idea of a salary cap, I think the end results of how everything would even out, would be great.
It makes alot more since than the BS "hey life is not fair attitude" (elitist social darwinism BS).
One day the 95% of this country that has very little money will smarten up and tell the 5% that own a grossely disproportionate amount of the goods "hey you said it life's not fair". Now it's your turn to pay for the money you have made off the backs of the under paid in this society. I'll give the "Have's" this, they have done a really good job of convincing the "have not's" in this country that they are worthless and don't deserve the necessities and that's the american way. Change will come it may be far off but, it will come.

That makes me a person who cares about others, call it what you want but, I believe that everyone is entilted to Housing, Food, and Medical care. If we are civilized and advanced I think we should be able to provide that.
I don't have all the answers I'm not even sure how I would design all if given a chance but, somethings definitely need to change.
just IMHO, now bring on the Commie jokes etc... idiots

Redhot may not be a communist, but bthorny sure is!

I would agree that I bat from the left side of the plate.

 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,338
253
126
uhoh, skoorb effect in action.


Read a few posts above.
Heh. I hit Reply to Topic then got called away from the computer for about 20 minutes before actually composing the reply. :D
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,414
8,356
126
Originally posted by: Anubis
should politications make the kind of money they do NO NO NO

i bet the salary of the average elected official in the US is a lot lower than you think it is. if you're only refering to congres... do you have any clue how much it costs to have a house in your district and in DC?
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
58,054
12,242
136
I think capitalism works a lot better for a country when it's tempered with compassion, and respect for the law, rather than what we have now. Blind greed is what led us to Enron and WorldCom. Bowing to the almighty dollar is all well and good, but when you're already clearing a huge amount, using shifty bookwork to put away even more of it is when we really start to have problems.
 
Jul 1, 2000
10,274
2
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Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
As a lawyer, I take exception to a salary cap. I spent 12 + 4 + 3 years in school, passed the Texas Bar Exam, and I have tremendous personal liability for what I do for my clients. If my liabiliity for what I do (or don't do) is unlimited, why should anyone limit my earning potential? Socialism robs people of economic initiative to achieve great things, and that ultimately hurts the economy. Your POV is typical of small minded, jealous, havenots who show up for a job, punch a clock, and wonder why everyone else is making killer bank. They are also the ones who would like to see government even the playing field because they did not have the talent to make it, or did not have the desire to put in the long hours to achieve success. Here is a concept - go to grad school or pick up a football. Put in hours of time perfecting your art. Become what you are jealous of, and tell me if your income potential should be capped.
Well, just like others, you're becoming defensive and contemptuous about your salary. Because someone went to school for X number of years I don't think they deserve any more or less money than the person monitoring our streets every night. You obviously have a problem with materialism if you think that your years of sitting in a classroom or nights studying in a comfortable dorm entitle you to a better living than someone who has chosen a different path than you. BTW, I'm starting my senior of college. I am a very talented person with goals, but I think that by overcoming the path that capitalism forces on people (buying things makes me happy) I will be a much, much happier, less stressed person than you in my life because I've realized that buying shiny things doesn't make me happy.

The studying was just the first part... you are forgetting about the hard work involved. I don't make a lot of money yet, but I plan to - at least soon. I would like for my family to have a comfortable existence, and I would like for my kids to get a quality education.

Will I make more than $300k? Who knows... All I know is that it is my right to, if I can make that happen. TO arbitrarily set a cap is to deny someone their liberty. Not that liberty matters anymore.

What incentive does anyone have to achieve once you get to that $300,000 per year? At that point you are simply removing economic incentive.
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
Thing is, the money they make goes to other crap like they buy a big stupid house they don't ever use and they pay for gardeners (probably mexicans), and people to build the house (mexicans). Then those mexicans eat at their favourite restaurant (mexican), and that money goes to other mexcians. They are all illegals, so really the problem is that when you pay an athlete 18million/year, about 2/3 of it by my estimation is funneled down to mexico, where it goes into the coffers of mexican families, but also about 1/4 of it to mexican drug cartels. That money is then spent on cocaine and heroin distribution, most of which ends up in the US. Some of it is then consumed by that athlete but most is consumed by the masses. Basically, when you pay an athelete 18 million/year, approximately 1.5 million of that each year ends up on the street in the US as processed narcotics.
 
Jul 1, 2000
10,274
2
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Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
Haha, I was going to see how many people I could pull into a frenzy, but only a couple of ya took bait. You're really think I'm a communist when I post fifteen YACTs a day and I have $12,000 worth a debt and I'm 21 years old? C'mon now =)

LOL.