The point is that money isn’t everything. People who have to work constantly to live in an expensive place and still be indoors and have food are not necessarily privileged because they make $20k/year and have internet access.
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What?
Nice edit… Lmao
Look… fuck off… I ain’t got the time to argue with your BS moving goalposts.
When I take off my bills… House rent, electricity, gas, council tax and TV licence I’m lucky to have £3,000 at the end of the year… You think I’m lying?
The only reason I can drive is because the company allows me too. I happen to stay in 1 of the poorest areas of Europe.
Well, ok, if you want to cry out about how you are both rich and virtuous, just start there next time instead of this roundabout OP.
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Lol he asked me. Nice try though.
You are not privileged?
Sure, you got asked, but this neediness was dripping from your OP. The reason why you’re going to bat for the rich is because you see yourself there or at least aspire to be there, and you also consider yourself virtuous and don’t like all the banter about how unvirtuous rich people are here.
The kinds of people posting a lot on this forum are pretty privileged. Sorry that’s just objective reality. You can be mad about it if you want I guess… but we’re all living pretty plush lives. Most of us are comfortably in the top quarter of the developed world ffs.
OK maybe except Smacc lol. Smacc might be lower middle class in a cheap part of Europe.
Also Smacc PM me.
See my edit
You sure cracked the code here. Got me.
Wait my op has this line
“Of course, I have my own bias here as I run a business, have 50 employees, and make the most money of them.”
The privilege in living in a rich country is dubious. Suicide rates have a lot of factors, so I’m not just going by that fact alone, but the suicide rate in Panama is a third of the rate in the US (probably a sixth because opiate overdoses are probably very often suicides) because life is better there. Panamanians were lucky to be born there.
There is enormous variance inside the US in terms of privilege. Speaking as someone who grew up less privileged I’m VERY privileged now.
Why would I think you are lying?
Your example is the point. These are complex issues. It is difficult to know when we are acting in our own interest, for others, both. We all advocate for progressive causes but we don’t all agree on where to draw lines and means of accomplishing them.
Personal perspective influences us all. You see me, a rich guy, pointing out that even lower income people in the west are doing better than most of the world, as obscene and “goal post moving”. That is fair. I get it.
These complexities are the whole point though.
I’d go further than most here and say that in my experience of life in sub-Sarahan West Africa, people there are on average happier than the average in the West ainec (the tropical climate plays a part but imo it’s not the biggest factor).
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When there’s a demand for an employee, the employers pay what they believe they can afford. When there’s demand for a job, employees accept whatever keeps them barely alive.
You’re in the first category, but not everyone is, and it may well be true that under global corporate capitalism it’s fundamentally impossible for everyone to be in the first category.
There is something here for sure. As I said earlier, business success should measure happiness as well as bottom line.
This is were we differ… Because I happen to live and work with these people and I see just how hard life is for some folks.
No I don’t see all rich people as evil… Theres loads a rich guys in this city who would give you there last cent.
Things we have to chip in for in my area…
- Funerals
- Wedding
- Engagements
- Holidays (we share caravans)
- Jobs (as in we help folk get work)
- All housing costs and Utility bills.
- Life…
Most every one in my area works full time but because of Universal Credit It has become difficult to say the least.
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Obvious answer to the thread title is no all rich people are not evil, nor are all businesses bad. Also IMO a lot of liberal policies being proposed by the left in America actually help good business owners and will create more good business owners. The evil part in America is the connection between money and power, which has been utilized by corporations and the evil business owners to hoard more money and power and tilt the playing field in their favor… This is to the detriment of literally everyone else, including the good business owners… but obviously it most directly impacts the poor/working class.
If asked to describe myself, I would phrase it similarly to how Liz does… I believe in capitalism, but well regulated capitalism. It’s currently the wild west in America in that regard and it’s a disaster.
Take it another step farther when talking about unhealthy food and politics. How much unhealthy food being marketed to us by corporations is:
-
Loaded up with high fructose corn syrup, which is even worse for us than sugar, because of Iowa.
-
Marketed to kids to get them hooked on it for life from an early age.
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All the stuff you said - made/sold by people being paid less than a living wage.
YOU MONSTER! Just kidding, good on you for paying your employees well and for being insightful and empathetic enough to think about how you treat them. Anyone who thinks a business owner like you is part of the problem is pretty out there on the political spectrum.
I may be in the minority here on this part, and I don’t want to encourage you to hoard all future income growth, but I’d have no problem with you making $1M a year if your employees numbers stayed the same, because it seems like they’re being fairly compensated and well above the poverty line. I have no issue with business owners getting rich, I have an issue with business owners getting rich without fairly compensating their workers. Now, at the same time, if you started making $1M a year, I might have some expectations about what you did with your income going forward and how charitable you were being. I’m not saying people in that spot should give it all away, but I do think that once you’re basically set for the rest of your life and able to leave a nice little nest egg for your kids, it’s morally proper to be doing something significant in terms of charity work with both your time and money.
And this is ultimately why a lot of the people running huge businesses making obscene amounts of money are sociopaths. Most normal people stop at some point once they have all they’ll ever need to live a way above average lifestyle, sell their business or whatever, and devote some time to chilling and some time to doing something meaningful in the world - which can take all sorts of forms. The ones who keep going are just trying to run up the score, which is not really an indicator of a natural/healthy mindset.
Unfortunately they’re the ones who get onto that money/power trip and consolidate both to the detriment of all of us.
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Many of the happiest people I’ve known/met live the simplest lives. I have a friend who for years worked as a bartender/waiter and had a policy that he had to quit every job within three years. Happiest dude I know.
He did get into a sales job a year or two ago because he wanted more than a studio apartment (he lives in the LA area), and he doesn’t love it, but he’s also very very good at keeping it simple and not bringing it home with him. He has no stress about losing his job or whatever cause he just doesn’t care that much.
At least that’s the impression I get, obviously he could just be the GOAT at acting chill.
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That’s basically me… I work my job and I’m probably the happiest taxi in my area, I love speaking to folks in and around my city.
People tell me everything and I mean everything, I’m the social worker, police, NHS staff all in one.
And its because I don’t chase money and take enough time off, and stopping playing poker was a big benifit to me, with the job it was not a healthy environment to be in.
Poker was just for fun though, and not a money maker to any extent, I did earn but not alot over the year.
Some days I work 5/6 hours some days I’m in for 10 hours, depends on how I feel tbh. As long as I make enough to survive I’m happier than most. 
Also I’m not chasing the best of everything nowadays and never did tbh.
@clovis8 Your company sounds like a decent place to work 
and decent pay. Also I don’t think your evil in the least and definitely 1 of the better employers atm.
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I don’t know about Clovis’ case obviously, but it’s pretty hard for businesses to have a lot of equity. Businesses are not easy to sell unless you have long term contracts or a lot of physical assets.