The Wealth Machine

[PoliTalker]

Hello Frank Apisa,

Amen. I have always been relatively poor...never chased money and never accidentally stumbled onto much of it.

But I consider myself one of the luckiest people on the planet. Life has been great...and the things I missed because I did not have big bucks...just don't seem very important. A car has always just been a vehicle...not a status symbol for me; a modest house works just as fine as a mansion; clothing for me is not a thing to show off status.

I know many people of means...and several of them seem always to be seeking "more." Not the Oliver kind of more...but the "keeping up with the Rockefellers" kind.

I actually feel sorry for some of them. They seem to think that happiness and contentment are always just a few hundred thousand dollars down the road.

It actually does not require much to be happy. It is a state of mind. It can't be bought.

One simply needs to be comfortable, secure, not feel threatened.

A poor man with nothing to lose is safer than a rich man with enviable wealth.

The former would have no need of a gun nor fear, but the latter might become obsessed with both, and thus experience greater stress.

[PostmodernProphet]

FOR THE BIDENS , AND THE REST OF THE SLEAZOCRATS, IT'S "GO INTO POLITICS AND GET RICH"...IT'S BEEN SELL INFLUENCE TO OUR ENEMIES....ETC.

the other two are done stealing it.......

[PoliTalker]

Hello Jack,

Trust Fund. That's the Way to Go!

Might seem nice at the outset, but it may not be.

I've known some trust fund babies.

They never had to work, but are not particularly well off.

They don't seen to have a lot of self esteem.

They never had to earn anything or make any contribution to society.

[Jack]

Hello Jack,



Might seem nice at the outset, but it may not be.

I've known some trust fund babies.

They never had to work, but are not particularly well off.

They don't seen to have a lot of self esteem.

They never had to earn anything or make any contribution to society.

Parents worry about that. There is a downside.

[Nordberg]

the other two are done stealing it.......

How ignorant. Both Obama and Hillary made big bucks off books. They both are sought after and highly paid speakers. They are not stealing.
Can Trump pay a guy enough to write books for him next year? You know Trump cannot write at all.
Trump's con has been exposed the last 4 years. He will spend millions on lawyers.

[PostmodernProphet]

I think its amusing you think Hilliary didn't have someone write a book for her......

she made her money selling herself as the Secretary of State, like Biden did selling the VP office.......

[T. A. Gardner]

Let's look at some basic logic.

Suppose an individual had the goal of becoming fabulously rich.

How would this be done?

Obviously, working for somebody else would not make that happen.

The individual would have to set up a 'Wealth Machine.'

That would usually mean building a system that collects some money from as many other individuals as possible.

It could be a little bit from a lot of people (Jeff Bezos.)

Or it could be a lot from selected individuals (The American Health Care System, where people have partial coverage and require expensive services.)

It would be detrimental to the function of The Wealth Machine to care about the concerns of the individuals affected by The Wealth Machine.

Individuals with partial coverage requiring expensive health care would then have to forfeit their life savings to The Wealth Machine.

Great for getting super-rich, not great for those affected.

This is nether logic or correct. There are lots of ways to build wealth. One of the most commonly used is The time value of money. Another is Value of added labor.

Time value of money is you invest money for a period of time and it grows in amount due to return on investment. Value of added labor is you have some material and work on it to make it more valuable, then sell that material. You invest your time and labor into something to make it more valuable.

For most people this is the path to wealth. In many cases, it comes from generational investment and labor. They don't become wealthy overnight. Some lucky and talented individuals can do it in their lifetimes and even then, they work damn hard at it to make it happen.

The two scenarios, Left and Right, in that (loosely speaking) are thus:

On the non-Left, but we can say Right, a person has a family, owns property and material goods. They accumulate some wealth over their lifetime. Their children inherit that wealth and build on it. Over several generations, they accumulate enough wealth that they are now "wealthy." It takes foresight and planning to happen. You live for the long-term goal of your progeny being better off than you were. This means growing up, being adult, and taking responsibility for your life yourself.

On the Left, you live in "the now." You don't bother to accumulate wealth but rather strive to live a life of leisure and fun to the maximum extent that you can. You rent and lease, pay on credit, and leave little or nothing behind when you die. You want the government, or other entities, to coddle you cradle to grave. In essence, you want to remain a child for life. You want no long-term entanglements and progeny would only tie you down. You are in it for yourself and self-gratification. You take responsibility for nothing.

[TexanManWithPlans]

Park your cash in the stock market and make your fortune off the backs of others.

It's the American way.

[CFM]

While I agree with thread OP there are some rich whose luck or whatever is put to positive use. An example would be medical research or supporting causes that do good but are not always supported. But many do less good things as greed is a powerful motivator. Two histories that cover the topic below.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...nvisible-hands

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27833494-dark-money


"The trick never ages; the illusion never wears off. Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. Vote to make our country strong again; receive deindustrialization. Vote to screw those politically correct college professors; receive electricity deregulation. Vote to get government off our backs; receive conglomeration and monopoly everywhere from media to meatpacking. Vote to stand tall against terrorists; receive Social Security privatization. Vote to strike a blow against elitism; receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our lifetimes, in which workers have been stripped of power and CEOs are rewarded in a manner beyond imagining."

Thomas Frank, What's the Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

What's greedy about using YOUR money the way YOU choose to use it?

[CFM]

Park your cash in the stock market and make your fortune off the backs of others.

It's the American way.

Work smarter not harder.

[TexanManWithPlans]

This is nether logic or correct. There are lots of ways to build wealth. One of the most commonly used is The time value of money. Another is Value of added labor.

Time value of money is you invest money for a period of time and it grows in amount due to return on investment. Value of added labor is you have some material and work on it to make it more valuable, then sell that material. You invest your time and labor into something to make it more valuable.

For most people this is the path to wealth. In many cases, it comes from generational investment and labor. They don't become wealthy overnight. Some lucky and talented individuals can do it in their lifetimes and even then, they work damn hard at it to make it happen.

The two scenarios, Left and Right, in that (loosely speaking) are thus:

On the non-Left, but we can say Right, a person has a family, owns property and material goods. They accumulate some wealth over their lifetime. Their children inherit that wealth and build on it. Over several generations, they accumulate enough wealth that they are now "wealthy." It takes foresight and planning to happen. You live for the long-term goal of your progeny being better off than you were. This means growing up, being adult, and taking responsibility for your life yourself.

On the Left, you live in "the now." You don't bother to accumulate wealth but rather strive to live a life of leisure and fun to the maximum extent that you can. You rent and lease, pay on credit, and leave little or nothing behind when you die. You want the government, or other entities, to coddle you cradle to grave. In essence, you want to remain a child for life. You want no long-term entanglements and progeny would only tie you down. You are in it for yourself and self-gratification. You take responsibility for nothing.

What a load of bullshit. Besides, most wealthy Americans are liberal. You think Bill Gates and Warren Buffet support Trump?

[PoliTalker]

Hello T. A. Gardner,

This is nether logic or correct. There are lots of ways to build wealth. One of the most commonly used is The time value of money. Another is Value of added labor.

Time value of money is you invest money for a period of time and it grows in amount due to return on investment. Value of added labor is you have some material and work on it to make it more valuable, then sell that material. You invest your time and labor into something to make it more valuable.

For most people this is the path to wealth. In many cases, it comes from generational investment and labor. They don't become wealthy overnight. Some lucky and talented individuals can do it in their lifetimes and even then, they work damn hard at it to make it happen.

That's all fine and well, and I agree. Those are normal viable ways to build wealth. No doubt about it. Those are good ways for individuals and generations of individuals to become wealthy and rich. But those are not ways for an individual to become, and I quote, 'fabulously rich.'

The two scenarios, Left and Right, in that (loosely speaking) are thus:

On the non-Left, but we can say Right, a person has a family, owns property and material goods. They accumulate some wealth over their lifetime. Their children inherit that wealth and build on it. Over several generations, they accumulate enough wealth that they are now "wealthy." It takes foresight and planning to happen. You live for the long-term goal of your progeny being better off than you were. This means growing up, being adult, and taking responsibility for your life yourself.

On the Left, you live in "the now." You don't bother to accumulate wealth but rather strive to live a life of leisure and fun to the maximum extent that you can. You rent and lease, pay on credit, and leave little or nothing behind when you die. You want the government, or other entities, to coddle you cradle to grave. In essence, you want to remain a child for life. You want no long-term entanglements and progeny would only tie you down. You are in it for yourself and self-gratification. You take responsibility for nothing.

Well, thanks for sharing how you view the left and the right. Naturally I disagree. I do not share your view.

I am quite certain there are people on the right who do not have a job, live off government hand-outs, make nothing useful out of their lives, and save no wealth to pass on.

And I am just as certain that there are people on the left who work very hard every day, take few holidays or sick days, save up, get a mortgage, work their lives away, pay off a house, raise children, leave something to them, contribute to society, pay their taxes and also strive to have each generation do better than the last.

Stereotypes are usually a mistake.

[CFM]

What a load of bullshit. Besides, most wealthy Americans are liberal. You think Bill Gates and Warren Buffet support Trump?

Why aren't all those wealthy liberals that claim to care so much about the "less fortunate" giving them their personal fortunes instead of supporting forcing someone else to do it? Just like a left winger to claim to care then try to show it by having someone else foot the bill.

Do you care about the homeless? Do you care about the people that go hungry? Do you care about people without healthcare coverage?

[TexanManWithPlans]

Work smarter not harder.

Passive income isn't work.

[TexanManWithPlans]

Why aren't all those wealthy liberals that claim to care so much about the "less fortunate" giving them their personal fortunes instead of supporting forcing someone else to do it? Just like a left winger to claim to care then try to show it by having someone else foot the bill.

Do you care about the homeless? Do you care about the people that go hungry? Do you care about people without healthcare coverage?

I care as much as the next guy, but what does that have to do with anything? Why do conservatives who claim to care about the poor and who believe that charity trumps government welfare donate so little? How much has Trump donated to charity?