General Discussion

hunter

(40,582 posts)

63. Um, okay.

Thu Feb 6, 2014, 11:46 AM

Feb 2014

Personally, I don't trust anyone who's primary ambitions are wealth and power. Buy into a corrupt system and it will corrupt you.

Some human pursuits are worthy of high compensation; it takes a big ego, a powerful intellect, and quite a bit of ruthlessness to become the sort of person who can cut a tumor out of a living brain or transplant a liver. Few people like that become billionaires, but some of them would be in your 5%.

It's the people who are the expert marketers and political manipulators who become billionaires.

Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, the Koch brothers, these are predatory creatures of opportunity, the companies that made them wealthy are not centers of human innovation.

Sam Zell, fuck him. Creatures like him trap and then poison communities and corporations like spiders and then suck the wealth out.

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Billionaire Sam Zell: "The 1% work harder." [View all] Are_grits_groceries Feb 2014 OP

Delusional, dishonest, or both??? Scuba Feb 2014 #1

It is comparing apples to oranges yeoman6987 Feb 2014 #56

He's probably a lot like my 'businessman' ex laundry_queen Feb 2014 #90

You know absolutely nothing about that world. Egalitarian Thug Feb 2014 #115

+1 a shit load! Enthusiast Feb 2014 #147

A*holes stick together durablend Feb 2014 #2

Yep. It needs a good dusting and oiling. hobbit709 Feb 2014 #4

He's partially right on this point. hobbit709 Feb 2014 #3

Please proceed asshole. tridim Feb 2014 #5

Wait? Are you talking to me? nt Are_grits_groceries Feb 2014 #69

LOL no. tridim Feb 2014 #80

I once had a post hidden for what you did. Lol Hassin Bin Sober Feb 2014 #146

There's a lot more to it than that. badtoworse Feb 2014 #6

7. They inherited wealth UncleMuscles Feb 2014 #9

Well said. JaneyVee Feb 2014 #14

None of those things apply to the rich people I know. - nt badtoworse Feb 2014 #15

I have worked in many exclusive places .... AnneD Feb 2014 #36

Yes, socialization is very different for working class people and wealthy people deutsey Feb 2014 #28

my experience as well... dhill926 Feb 2014 #57

Yep. I was public school all the way until grad school in my 40s... Hekate Feb 2014 #84

Statistically, those are small numbers joeglow3 Feb 2014 #38

Your experience is exactly what I was I was talking about... badtoworse Feb 2014 #45

An honest question wryter2000 Feb 2014 #106

I have found that situation is not as common as you may think. joeglow3 Feb 2014 #110

Thank you for your honest answer wryter2000 Feb 2014 #112

At a minimum, I am disgusted with people I have worked with joeglow3 Feb 2014 #122

I can't disagree with you there wryter2000 Feb 2014 #125

Like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama?? Bandit Feb 2014 #58

they didn't come from wealthy families. GW Bush did. nt alp227 Feb 2014 #72

I know, I was making a point about his use of such a wide brush. Bandit Feb 2014 #75

The top 5 percenters I'm related to didn't inherit squat. They work really hard, all the time. Shrike47 Feb 2014 #83

... SammyWinstonJack Feb 2014 #99

BINGO! The number one predictor of "financial success" is being born to money, period. Egalitarian Thug Feb 2014 #116

Care to back that up? joeglow3 Feb 2014 #138

Seriously? Are_grits_groceries Feb 2014 #10

Well said! smokey nj Feb 2014 #11

You lose nothing by doing the things I mentioned... badtoworse Feb 2014 #12

Seriously II? Are_grits_groceries Feb 2014 #13

It seems to be a theme in other threads with that one. Rex Feb 2014 #17

Statistically, that is a small number joeglow3 Feb 2014 #86

Yeah I know some of them to, a few are still rich. Rex Feb 2014 #88

I'm speaking from my own personal experience badtoworse Feb 2014 #18

Which seems to be very limited. nt Are_grits_groceries Feb 2014 #20

unbelievably limited UncleMuscles Feb 2014 #51

"I don't know any rich people that aren't smart" UncleMuscles Feb 2014 #50

I'm talking about people that I personally know well badtoworse Feb 2014 #52

what do you mean by "rich?" UncleMuscles Feb 2014 #53

Net worth at least $2 million badtoworse Feb 2014 #54

and what does he/she mean by 'smart' hfojvt Feb 2014 #67

My husband and I earned Ph.D.s from Ivy League institutions and NONE of the candidates came anneboleyn Feb 2014 #134

Most people I know who have done well have done so with some sort of social subsidy. haele Feb 2014 #77

Really? How about GW Bush? choie Feb 2014 #66

Strongly suggest you watch "The Queen of Versailles" wickerwoman Feb 2014 #97

Let's be realistic. Becoming part of the 1% is unlikely to happen to any of us badtoworse Feb 2014 #103

I'm not going to argue wickerwoman Feb 2014 #126

You seem to know a lot of millionaires who fit a certain profile. anneboleyn Feb 2014 #135

And the final point for success is in the nature of hierarchy, which is how humans socialize. haele Feb 2014 #70

Ugh, thank YOU! That first list was especially condescending. nt laundry_queen Feb 2014 #92

We know very different rich people. Starry Messenger Feb 2014 #21

Sorry, your list is NOT typical of the 1%, quite the opposite actually. JaneyVee Feb 2014 #22

"The rich people I know actively avoid hard work like the plague." KansDem Feb 2014 #46

Did George Bush work hard? Ikonoklast Feb 2014 #29

I don't know. Do you have an informed opinion? badtoworse Feb 2014 #31

Well, here he is "working hard" after learning of the second WTC attack KansDem Feb 2014 #40

The one percent and their trust blunderer off-spring are ruining the nation. kairos12 Feb 2014 #114

well he said it himself hfojvt Feb 2014 #55

"Prezidentin is hard work!" Ikonoklast Feb 2014 #136

The top 5% minus the 1% is about $160K to $250K JHB Feb 2014 #35

still, do they really work any harder? hfojvt Feb 2014 #64

Is that really where the fight is, politically? Especially nationally? JHB Feb 2014 #78

I think it IS where the fight is politically hfojvt Feb 2014 #93

K & R for this post nt riderinthestorm Feb 2014 #142

"hard" is a poor choice of words joeglow3 Feb 2014 #91

and I blew it by NOT majoring in accounting hfojvt Feb 2014 #95

You are overlooking something laundry_queen Feb 2014 #102

I know a lot of people who went to college and got degrees joeglow3 Feb 2014 #107

I never said lower the wages. Not once. laundry_queen Feb 2014 #113

I agree with making the tests harder joeglow3 Feb 2014 #117

exactly, the 160k to 250 k are not the problem questionseverything Feb 2014 #79

Why just one? JHB Feb 2014 #98

gotta start somewhr questionseverything Feb 2014 #111

Yeah, they're something of a "if you can't find what you're looking for... JHB Feb 2014 #130

Um, okay. hunter Feb 2014 #63

Yeah Mitt Romney, Charles and David Koch worked hard for their inheritance. tenderfoot Feb 2014 #68

Items one through six sound like a rather accurate description of Ken Lay... LanternWaste Feb 2014 #85

you mentioned what they have; here's what they don't have: a conscience. nt TheFrenchRazor Feb 2014 #118

What qualifies you to make that statement? badtoworse Feb 2014 #120

the proof is in the pudding, isn't it? nt TheFrenchRazor Feb 2014 #145

You said the magic word, LUCK notadmblnd Feb 2014 #128

Good points, but being in the top 5% is very different from being in the ownership class. Incitatus Feb 2014 #148

Depends on your definition of work seabeckind Feb 2014 #7

"The billionaire chairman of Equity Group Investments ..." KansDem Feb 2014 #41

Well, in all fairness, nobody said they had to be intelligent or compassionate. Rex Feb 2014 #8

What a steaming pile of bullshit. City Lights Feb 2014 #16

sure they do ... harder at being sociopathic assholes. Tuesday Afternoon Feb 2014 #19

They sure do! n2doc Feb 2014 #23

They can't wait to get home and take a hot shower... kentuck Feb 2014 #24

Yes, like a big ol' turd being expelled from a fat man's asshole rock Feb 2014 #25

Thousands, 100s of thousands, million times harder BeyondGeography Feb 2014 #26

********** Urgent Action ********** eossipov Feb 2014 #27

Done The Blue Flower Feb 2014 #37

There are 2 threads about the act: muriel_volestrangler Feb 2014 #39

They really believe this. ananda Feb 2014 #30

They do laundry_queen Feb 2014 #104

Maybe they should take some time off treestar Feb 2014 #32

His wikipedia page Ichingcarpenter Feb 2014 #33

A CNBC favorite . .. just like fellow shitpigs Ken Langone and Bernie Marcus. HughBeaumont Feb 2014 #34

Our wealthy class is the most pampered, hypersensitive collection of crybabies on the planet. Marr Feb 2014 #42

The 1% are mstinamotorcity2 Feb 2014 #43

if you two factories too close together, just buy them and close one! don't be lazy! unblock Feb 2014 #44

The Children of The 1% Don't Work At All otohara Feb 2014 #47

I'd love to see him spend just one week working two minimum wage jobs while taking mass transit riderinthestorm Feb 2014 #48

No Mr Asshole. If we taxed you enough you'd have to produce more volume and hire more workers... L0oniX Feb 2014 #49

The 1% wouldnt last till lunchtime in my line of work. nt Earth_First Feb 2014 #59

Man those dudes really think there shit doesn't stink. upaloopa Feb 2014 #60

His father was a successful grain broker in Poland, became a successful wholesale jewelry dealer El_Johns Feb 2014 #61

He probably paid one of his flunkies to outline his "talking points". Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2014 #62

...at justifying their parasitic existences." n/t Orsino Feb 2014 #65

They measure work's value by the dollars earned. Trillo Feb 2014 #71

Yeah, they work hard at shafting the rest of us. alarimer Feb 2014 #73

The super rich don't "work" at all.. SomethingFishy Feb 2014 #74

My first thought MadashellLynn Feb 2014 #131

There you have it: Poverty is a moral failing, a character flaw. All better now? Hekate Feb 2014 #76

Knitting needles ready! (n/t) SMC22307 Feb 2014 #81

On the occasions I had to work as an assistant/secretary to the CEO of Cleita Feb 2014 #82

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday SomethingFishy Feb 2014 #87

I can't imagine anyone's eight hour day being worth hundred of thousands of Cleita Feb 2014 #89

Zell is an interesting character... Jesus Malverde Feb 2014 #94

Or he works on insider information. Cleita Feb 2014 #96

It is Accurate to blame those whose actions resulted in distruction. eossipov Feb 2014 #100

Indeed! HangOnKids Feb 2014 #119

They really believe they EARNED IT! liberal N proud Feb 2014 #101

pitchforks and torches.... mike_c Feb 2014 #105

Yeah, well, then why are my closets still in disarray if he's workin so hard? Kurovski Feb 2014 #108

Holy Shit I Feel You Brother HangOnKids Feb 2014 #132

Hey, sister! Kurovski Feb 2014 #149

I know people who are rich because they worked their asses off building a business. Nye Bevan Feb 2014 #109

If each of us started with nothing and lived in a vacuum then, yes, nyquil_man Feb 2014 #121

if the whole world emulated the 1%, as this halfwit suggests... Javaman Feb 2014 #123

Sure the 1% work harder.... sendero Feb 2014 #124

I saw the jerk was on Bloomberg yesterday making an ass out of himself. He started to rant about lostincalifornia Feb 2014 #127

I know a number of very rich people and they are mainly lucky Gothmog Feb 2014 #129

Andrea Tantaros on Fox (regarding the 99%): "they sit around eating fried chicken" anneboleyn Feb 2014 #133

watch out ...Karma's a bitch! DemForLife Feb 2014 #137

Yeah. Bankrupting the Chicago Tribune is hard work. GoCubsGo Feb 2014 #139

BULL CRAP ! Liberalynn Feb 2014 #140

Fuck you Zell! Texasgal Feb 2014 #141

Did you know some of our soldiers are so lazy that they qualify for food stamps? TheKentuckian Feb 2014 #143

sooooo what he's saying is that people should be paid precisely according to how hard they work? MisterP Feb 2014 #144