Yes it is. If you want to call it a "rule of nature" then it would be called "Survival of the Fittest"

If we were animals in nature...all these folks crying to be taken care of by the govt. would already be some other animals lunch. :)

cream rising to the top is hardly survival of the fittest. especially in a complex social structure.

It's how I see it. :)

My motivation is actually from Rocky III the movie.

Remember? Rocky is living the big life, fighting bums and retaining his championship.

But Clubber Lang (Mr. T) is in the ghetto training his ass off.
He's HUNGRY.

That's what I always think about. Somebody out there is a little bit HUNGRIER than me. So I have to stay hungry or get eaten.

Cream rising or survival of the fittest...it's all the same to me.

sure, it's a motivational expression, and if it helps, then perfect.

but like most of those, it's not based on reality. ask any guitarist that can shred like a top 20 shredder that never got that lucky break, etc., et al. athletes that didn't have access to the proper coaching. actors that just missed that 1 role that would launch their career.

The .1% finds this thread hilarious. Yeah you know just some hard work and then you get automatic riches

6 people have more wealth then roughly the bottom 42% of Americans combined. I guess 6 = 126 million totally reasonable.

http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/0...ome-inequality

And then how many customers would you have?

And how much of your income would you need to spend o security?

Survival of the fittest does not make for a solid economy nor a good life for anyone.

So quit shopping at Walmart.

People don't even have a proper concept of what "more" is.

The person who gives "more" is the person who can less afford to give what is required of them. Study on this and you'll grow up.

be happy that even poor in US are not hungry everyday (well, usually), have electricity, running water etc...

now look at 80 % of total world's population - they usually don't have that ;]

They missed the opportunities because they didn't have the drive and ambition.

Those guitar players that can shred? They CHOOSE to stay in small towns and never take the risk to go for it.

And the ones who did go for it and failed? There's always a reason...either they didn't have the personality skills to make the right contacts and know how to move ahead, or they didn't have the right look, or they are just plain dumb.

Survival of the fittest. There's always a guy who can play as good or BETTER than you who also might be a little younger, better looking, smarter, and HUNGRIER than you are.

I remember hearing a quote similar to that when I was a child in Sunday school.
And if I recall it ended with..in the land of milk and honey.

this just does not echo reality, Robbie. if so, why isn't there a libertarian politician holding high office? why aren't libertarians making notable in-roads into government?

survival of the fittest?

I shop at amazon

this is the inequity you get when, instead of letting the least able die out, you instead prop them up and let them breed.

Because they haven't found THE guy yet.

Just because you have a better idea or can do something unique does not equate to success.

You have to have the TOTAL PACKAGE.

There are a tens of millions of guys out there who can sing a whole lot better than Mick Jagger.
But he had the total package and was hungry for it and seized the opportunity when it came his way.

Thousands of other bands of that same era with BETTER singers did not.

For the Libertarians...they need a candidate that has all the same ideas as Gary Johnson, BUT with the charisma of Obama, Clinton, or Reagan.

It's the TOTAL PACKAGE that makes you the alpha predator. Not just one thing.

Sure, that's what you all say. Closet walmart shoppers.

No one actually shops there though. It does make me wonder how they got so large.

There's another part of that equation. Things in the USA just haven't gotten bad enough for the majority-----yet.

Con Job
 

The 'Wealth' game is rigged.

1% Own ALL Politicians either directly or indirectly.

Only place available in smaller more rural areas. Setup up shop right outside a small towns city limits with cheaper property and favorable tax rates and went from there

like all the dems and repubs currently holding office? cream rises to the top here?

those are total package people? hardly.

mick jagger made it for many more reasons other than mick jagger. if mick were born in des moines and never met keith and the rest, and been fortunate enough to come across ronnie wood later, we would not be talking about him here.

but you also lend credence to my point when you say "they have not found the right guy yet." that goes straight to the gifted athlete i mentioned that never received proper coaching and is now a high school history teacher.



/

This is a funny thing... in both evolutionary biology and economics, a simple problem has to be overcome for the group/system to survive. All successful animals that live in groups have, in one way or another eliminated this problem... that is the "free rider". For a group to survive and succeed, they can't have those who will take more than they offer. That behavior is discouraged and often brutally eliminated. After all, if the tribe goes to war and _Richard_ stays home because he's a cowardly pussy and he then reaps the rewards of being a pussy in the form of the wealth and goods left behind, increased mating opportunities etc, the tribe will ultimately fail when it becomes a tribe of pussies and is inevitably ran over by a tribe full of 12clicks. This is why _Richards_ are treated harshly, imprisoned or even killed. This why they will be branded a coward, be said to have no honor etc etc etc - everything possible will be done to discourage this behavior as it is a great detriment to the survival of the tribe.

We now however, have evolved to an odd point that for the first time ever... we are the first social animals to go from ruthlessly eliminating free riders and celebrating success and wealth, to celebrating and protecting free riders. They've basically taken over. Theirs is now the loudest voice.

Instead of being shamed, they are being empowered. Instead of being characterized as losers as we had seen in our younger days, they are now viewed as noble. As a society and thanks to political correctness, we've come to embrace the lowest common denominator in every form... as every voice against them was slowly silenced. We've even allowed them characterize success in business as a horrible crime against humanity.

http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fin...0x300-1221.jpg

The Horatio Alger myth is alive and well on GFY, where wealth is the product of a meritocracy, and the direct consequence of "honesty, thrift, self-reliance, industry, a cheerful whistle and an open manly face".



:stoned

ADG

Liberals are Liberal. Conservatives are Conservative.

Shocking.

You cannot have a talk about wealth inequality without having a talk about:

1. Globalization
2. Technology
3. Taxes

Everyone is so fixated on taxes and how the game is "rigged." I don't think the game is rigged. There are those who are in position to exploit #1 and #2, and those that aren't. Taxes are the smallest part of the problem / solution.

You can raise taxes, it won't do a damn thing to improve the lives on the poor who have lost their jobs and leverage in a world of globalization and technology. All you'd have is a bigger and more incompetent government, that spies on you more, wastes more $, fucks more things up. Everything the government touches goes to shit, thats the general rule. :2 cents:

Maybe we could force all companies not to use technology or globalize. That would certainly flatten the income gap. It would also flatten everyone's quality of life, including the poor although they'd have more "income." Everything they'd be buying would also be way more expensive.

Nah. He did well but there are so many factors that go into how people become THAT successful and what you mentioned above is just one.

Same goes for athletes. So many stars have to align and with many, you have no control over them.

Seriously?

Yes. Some people are lazy. I don't like it.

But ...

That's not why we hate the top 1%.

In a few years the winds of change will blow. The sheep will still be sheep and the herders will be right there to remind them. :winkwink:

no, you hate the 1% because they represent what COULD have been, had you not wasted your life.

This has always been the case throughout history. History has also proven time and time again that when the sheep manage to take over and make everything "fair" according to their misguided senses, it is always met with miserable failure.

That CAN be true here in the U.S.

But I've found that the truly successful people seem to always be in the right place at the right time.

I think it again comes down to how hungry you are for what you are trying to achieve.

For instance, when Internext and AVN happen this year...how many of you will actually be there?
Lightning could strike and a situation could present itself that could lead to a huge opportunity. Or it might not.

But the people who are successful see a gathering of their industry as a chance that something MIGHT happen. And they are on the scene with all their ducks in a row waiting for that opportunity.

It's never the "right time" if you don't make sure you are in the "right place".

Yeah, you can see the Scandinavian countries "failing miserably" having among the highest GDP per capita, the most developed societies, the lowest violent crime rate, you name it ...

Ahhhh if only we could turn every inner city single mother of 7 kids into a Swede.

A few things to think about...

There are over 7 billion people on the planet, and most of them would be happy to work for pennies.

Most corporations that used to be considered "American" are now classified as "multi-nationals".

-------

Here is one of millions of true stories you can hear all over America. This is a very abbreviated tale, but it is just an example...

A friend of mine used to sell car seats. He is located in the US, his sewers were located in the US, his suppliers were located in the US, etc.

He made some decent money, and rented a space with 8 full-time employees.

Over time, everything became more expensive, and more competitive, so he started buying supplies from overseas to save a buck. Pretty soon, so did his competition.

The profit margins per/seat were squeezed, so he embraced the internet, added e-commerce, downgraded to a smaller space, and reduced his staff to just 2 full-time employees.

Over time, the internet, which was originally his saving grace, turned on him. Within no time, his replacement seats were being sold on eBay, through China, for less than his cost!

At that point he had to let his final 2 employees go, he moved into the basement of his own house, and now he is looking for a job, while in his early 60's.

He is not a lazy "taker" - he is one of millions of "victims" of the new unregulated corporate world.

Some people are smart/lucky enough to weather this storm, and some are not so fortunate.

---------

Now let's cut to reality....

Almost none of our elected officials give a shit about the people or their country any more. Big money interests have trumped the interests of the people.

There are no more checks and balances for the largest multinationals. They can do whatever the fuck they want now, and no one can stop them.

They piss in your water, pollute your food, kill your unions, eliminate pensions, etc.

Leaders on both sides PRETEND to give a shit, but the writing's on the wall now, and the politicians are grabbing what they can before the ship goes down.

The mainstream media, which is now owned by only 5 or 6 corporations, have done a superb job of hiding the realities of corporate injustices, and redirecting the anger to people-vs-other people, to deflect the guilt.

Rather than come up with real solutions to make the world better, we have people in congress, who want to eliminate the minimum wage completely. In other words, rather than build up the lower and middle classes, they don't even want to bother.

The corporate interests tell them they can hire people for $1 p/hour somewhere else, so if the US wants to compete, our "elected officials" are told they should remove all regulations from American business, and reduce the worker's pay to that of 3rd world countries, so there is an even playing field.

As long as corporations can offshore everything, hire workers from anywhere, never pay the price for pollution, etc., they win, and we all lose. It is a race to the bottom.

This is not necessarily a D vs R issue. Even as we speak, Obama is ramming through a new trade Pacific Trade agreement, that will only exasperate this imbalance.

As an example, Walmart buys tons of shit from China. Small businesses in towns where there are Walmarts can not compete with this behemoth, so they go out of business. Then the people in town have to line up for shit Walmart wages, since there are no other places to work, and the cycle continues.

Shit wages are too low for American made products, so you need to buy from shit stores like Walmart, so Walmart says, "look, we only sell crap from China because our customers need low priced items" and around and around we go.

The big money sees what's going down, so they invest in corporate-run prison systems, as they know that's where a good number of people will wind up.

They've also polluted the military with private contractors, so now war and weapons are just another cash cow.

Things can be fixed, but only if the slave people rise up against their captors.

I am impressed! you can type a comment.:thumbsup

And a good one at that. This was the part that really sums it all up.

Almost none of our elected officials give a shit about the people or their country any more. Big money interests have trumped the interests of the people.

There are no more checks and balances for the largest multinationals. They can do whatever the fuck they want now, and no one can stop them.

My thoughts are this:
There is NO bigger "big money interest" than the govt. itself.

Walmart made 15.7 billion dollars profit in 2012. The U.S. Govt. spends more than that in TWO DAYS.

Our "captors" ARE the federal govt.

The U.S. govt. is bigger and has more money than every corporation combined.

A properly implemented government is the ONLY chance the people have against corporate corruption and imbalance.

Sadly, we do not really have a government "of the people for the people" any longer - It is "by the corporations for the corporations" now.

The idea that Fox and Hate Radio have convinced so many fools that the Government is the villain, is just another success story for those who own you.

I love the old quote that says, "Luck is where the crossroads of opportunity and preparation meet."

The code is not country specific by my understanding. Did not know it was bush. Still not a fan of it. Leave it alone is a better idea. Let business take a long term look versus try and force us to do what is good for your re election in two years.

Still not sure what you are getting at with the commercial building. It has little or nothing to do with your net worth. Your tax rate is based on value times mill rate. It is the same if you are worth a ton or down under on the mtge.