Tax'em.
It's the only way we'll get back the money they're stealing from us that doesn't involve pitchforks and guillotines.

I just bought new all-season mats for my 2003 Accord. Suck it haters

Opulence... I has it.

karmaceutical: Here in a couple months gasoline is going to be a luxury item.

So is food.

Sergeant Grumbles: Tax'em.
It's the only way we'll get back the money they're stealing from us that doesn't involve pitchforks and guillotines.

Nah. I'm heavily invested in pitchforks and guillotines. Let the market decide.

fifthhorseman: Sergeant Grumbles: Tax'em.
It's the only way we'll get back the money they're stealing from us that doesn't involve pitchforks and guillotines.

Nah. I'm heavily invested in pitchforks and guillotines. Let the market decide.

Just make sure you sell before your investments put you into the rich camp. Nothing worse than owning stock in a company that kills you.

Sergeant Grumbles: Tax'em.
It's the only way we'll get back the money they're stealing from us that doesn't involve pitchforks and guillotines.

I prefer the pitchforks and guillotines myself.

I can't wait for that money to trickle down to me. Thank you rich folks for your generous giving!

Old enough to know better: I prefer the pitchforks and guillotines myself.

I'd have to kill too many of the dirt-poor Republicans in my family as they tried to defend the rich.

The rich are starting to buy luxury goods again


Time to buy some Kia stock!

The rich are starting to buy luxury goods again

Hoooray, that wealth will soon trickle down to... people in...

Italy? WTF?

If pitchforks and guillotines are the coming thing, I'd better up my diversified investments in Fleet Farm and Home Depot in order to maximize ROI and leverage the consumer climate.... Opulence and riches, here I come!

Everyone can biatch all they want about not being rich and in the top 10% but living in the United States, we're all still in the top 10% of the world.

Explain this contradiction:
- Wealth inequity in the US is growing: BAD
- Wealth inequity in the world in the diminishing because of globalization: BAD

If you're in the 90% you biatch and moan about the 10% and if you're in the 10% you biatch and moan about things not being as good as it was. It's taxes or globalization or what not.

A car, or even electricity, gas and running water is a luxury in a lot of places in the world.

Theaetetus: The rich are starting to buy luxury goods again

Hoooray, that wealth will soon trickle down to... people in...

Italy? WTF?

Italy WTF indeed.

/methinks you meant Germany

mr0x: Explain this contradiction:
- Wealth inequity in the US is growing: BAD
- Wealth inequity in the world in the diminishing because of globalization: BAD

Companies employ workers for Indian wages and then expect U.S. prices for those goods.
It might be "good" for the Indian worker compared to what came before, but he's still getting fleeced by his employer who is pocketing the difference. In the meantime, the U.S. worker can't afford anything because everything around him is U.S. prices, while he's expected to compete with Indian wages.
The Company wins double, but this can only go on for so long, as U.S. Prices need to be sustained by something beyond unemployment checks and minimum wage.

At this rate, they are all going to be buying yachts and Rolexes, trickling the wealth down to us so that we'll all be able to get jobs at the Rolex Corporation and Bayliner!

Voodoo economics FTW!

Occupation with bright future: Shiner.

Yeah but for the proles it's all Hammacher, no Schlemmer.

Sergeant Grumbles: Tax'em.
It's the only way we'll get back the money they're stealing from us that doesn't involve pitchforks and guillotines.

Nah, I'm doing fine, doesn't really bother me that other people are doing better once I've got what I need. I'm spending my pitchfork money on a good lighter and my guillotine shares on a new desk chair, this one's getting a bit squeaky. Maybe a couple nice cigars if there's change after that.

We need more food producing land and lower/middle level jobs; can they buy us that?

soakitincider: We need more food producing land and lower/middle level jobs; can they buy us that?

The US has plenty of food-producing land. So much so that the Federal government is in the business of artificially inflating prices by paying farmers to leave their fields fallow. As for lower level jobs- you're perfectly welcome to work in the service industry. You're too expensive for anything else.

mod3072: karmaceutical: Here in a couple months gasoline is going to be a luxury item.

So is food.

Fortunately, neither will be counted in measures of inflation.

/Whew

Goodfella: At this rate, they are all going to be buying yachts and Rolexes, trickling the wealth down to us so that we'll all be able to get jobs at the Rolex Corporation and Bayliner!

Voodoo economics FTW!

I was given my rolex, and don't like sailing

can i get a used bmw to flog instead

Macinfarker: I can't wait for that money to trickle down to me. Thank you rich folks for your generous giving!

Or you can work hard, get an education, save money, make smart investments and get rich yourself. Why do so many people not want to take that route?

karmaceutical: Here in a couple months gasoline is going to be a luxury item.


This ^

mod3072
So is food.

and this ^

What about gold-plated pitchforks with diamond tips and a jeweled handle for better grip? Are those still allowed after the Worker's Revolution?

MrBigglesworth: Or you can work hard, get an education, save money, make smart investments and get rich yourself. Why do so many people not want to take that route?

because that involves work, and not attending seminars on get rich schemes

MrBigglesworth: Macinfarker: I can't wait for that money to trickle down to me. Thank you rich folks for your generous giving!

Or you can work hard, get an education, save money, make smart investments and get rich yourself. Why do so many people not want to take that route?

Work is hard and takes too long. Also: Math.

loonatic112358: MrBigglesworth: Or you can work hard, get an education, save money, make smart investments and get rich yourself. Why do so many people not want to take that route?

because that involves work, and not attending seminars on get rich schemes

And it has a low probability of success. Money tends to congregate over time- it's nearly impossible to ascend from poor to rich within a single lifetime. True wealth can only be achieved via dynasties.

Also: there's really no such thing as smart investments, unless you've already got enough bank that you can speculate on promising new business ventures. You already have to be rich for that. Everybody else is playing the market, where you're better off just picking randomly than trying to be "smart".

Also: working hard is for suckers. Nobody ever got rich working harder.

jweedy: Theaetetus: The rich are starting to buy luxury goods again

Hoooray, that wealth will soon trickle down to... people in...

Italy? WTF?

Italy WTF indeed.

/methinks you meant Germany

QFT. Not every sports car comes from Italy.



Also, Stuttgart does not sound Italian.

hard work is the reward for hard work.

t3knomanser: loonatic112358: MrBigglesworth: Or you can work hard, get an education, save money, make smart investments and get rich yourself. Why do so many people not want to take that route?

because that involves work, and not attending seminars on get rich schemes

And it has a low probability of success. Money tends to congregate over time- it's nearly impossible to ascend from poor to rich within a single lifetime. True wealth can only be achieved via dynasties.

Also: there's really no such thing as smart investments, unless you've already got enough bank that you can speculate on promising new business ventures. You already have to be rich for that. Everybody else is playing the market, where you're better off just picking randomly than trying to be "smart".

Also: working hard is for suckers. Nobody ever got rich working harder.

Not to mention that even if someone takes the "go to college and get a degree" path, there's no guarantee of getting a job that pays well enough for that person to pay off their student loans or even live better than paycheck-to-paycheck.

/this is partly because because every penny that a company pays to an employee or for employee benefits is a penny that cannot be given directly to the corporate executives or the shareholders.

Ball of Confusion: hard work is the reward for hard work.

Hahaahahaaaaaa this.

/Sadly my dad could be the poster guy for that saying.
//Me, I was on that road, now I'm here and still improving...

haagen: jweedy: Theaetetus: The rich are starting to buy luxury goods again

Hoooray, that wealth will soon trickle down to... people in...

Italy? WTF?

Italy WTF indeed.

/methinks you meant Germany

QFT. Not every sports car comes from Italy.



Also, Stuttgart does not sound Italian.

Stuttgartti?

Theaetetus: haagen: jweedy: Theaetetus: The rich are starting to buy luxury goods again

Hoooray, that wealth will soon trickle down to... people in...

Italy? WTF?

Italy WTF indeed.

/methinks you meant Germany

QFT. Not every sports car comes from Italy.



Also, Stuttgart does not sound Italian.

Stuttgartti?

That sounds like a meat-filled pasta product.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=fn+scar&cp=3 & bav=on.1,or.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9418982086968191071&sa=X&ei=PARsTYqpD5OmsQOzysymB A&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ8wIwBA#


Who has the money to pay 2,500 to 3,000 USD for this rifle when a regular AR works just as well for half the cost?

Luxury items indeed.

t3knomanser: loonatic112358: MrBigglesworth: Or you can work hard, get an education, save money, make smart investments and get rich yourself. Why do so many people not want to take that route?

because that involves work, and not attending seminars on get rich schemes

And it has a low probability of success. Money tends to congregate over time- it's nearly impossible to ascend from poor to rich within a single lifetime. True wealth can only be achieved via dynasties.

Poor to rich? Sure. But it's not difficult to improve YOUR situation.



Also: there's really no such thing as smart investments, unless you've already got enough bank that you can speculate on promising new business ventures. You already have to be rich for that. Everybody else is playing the market, where you're better off just picking randomly than trying to be "smart".


So you are saying it's all one big crapshoot?


Also: working hard is for suckers. Nobody ever got rich working harder.

Depends how you define 'working hard.'

Sergeant Grumbles: Tax'em.
It's the only way we'll get back the money they're stealing from us that doesn't involve pitchforks and guillotines.

Do enough of that and you wont get back as much as you think. Incentives matter. Refer to Laffer Curve...

DubyaHater: I just bought new all-season mats for my 2003 Accord. Suck it haters

I just bought a brand new accord for my 2003 all-season mats...suck on that DubyaHater!!!

Well thank god. This means that the results of trickle down economocis are right around the corner, folks!

Any day now......

stappawho: Sure. But it's not difficult to improve YOUR situation

You have about a 33% chance of improving your situation, and the same chance of hurting it. The chance of a middle-income individual rising to the top 5% of income in the US is 1.8%. Which is a whole 0.8% more than the chances of a poor person doing the same. The US ranks the very low on social mobility among westernized nations. Generally, you're born into a station and you will die in it, just like the old days. (And, by the old days, I mean Feudal Europe).

stappawho: So you are saying it's all one big crapshoot?

Statistically, an index fund beats managed funs over the long term. Much like how the house always wins at a casino, random chance always wins on Wall Street.

t3knomanser: stappawho: Sure. But it's not difficult to improve YOUR situation

You have about a 33% chance of improving your situation, and the same chance of hurting it. The chance of a middle-income individual rising to the top 5% of income in the US is 1.8%. Which is a whole 0.8% more than the chances of a poor person doing the same. The US ranks the very low on social mobility among westernized nations. Generally, you're born into a station and you will die in it, just like the old days. (And, by the old days, I mean Feudal Europe).

By your own numbers doesn't that only happen 1/3 of the time?

Came for the miniture giraffe reference, leaving unsatisfied.

jst3p: By your own numbers doesn't that only happen 1/3 of the time?

No. Unless you consider "slightly better" a "change of station". Serfs will stay serfs, freemen will stay freemen, nobles remain nobles, and each of them has roughly a 1/3 chance to do slightly better than that.

I'm one of the 33%-uppers, and I've been able to do so mostly through natural talent and charisma, without putting in any more than a bare minimum of effort. Hence my comments that only suckers work hard- working well is vastly more important.

t3knomanser: jst3p: By your own numbers doesn't that only happen 1/3 of the time?

No. Unless you consider "slightly better" a "change of station". Serfs will stay serfs, freemen will stay freemen, nobles remain nobles, and each of them has roughly a 1/3 chance to do slightly better than that.

I'm one of the 33%-uppers, and I've been able to do so mostly through natural talent and charisma, without putting in any more than a bare minimum of effort. Hence my comments that only suckers work hard- working well is vastly more important.

I went from selling plasma poor in my 20's to ... well much better and I agree. Working well is the way to go.

I personally think charisma is entirely underrated. If I can land the interview I almost always get the job.

Wait. I thought they were going to use extra cash to hire people?