Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

Not a bonafide tack, but I saw a post by Coincidence over in Sensory Overload the other day that's been kind of bugging me. It didn't garner much comment there, but I think it deserves its own thread and discussion.
tack

quote:

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Originally posted by Coincidence
I am the 642,565,306 richest person in the world! I am in the TOP 10.7%
richest people in the world!

Not being in the top 10%, I can feel solidarity with the poor.

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

I mean, I'm barely above trailer trash, economically, here. My family never wanted for much, but we certainly never went in much for luxuries. Never bought a new "new car" until 2 years ago. No bikes, no snowmobiles, no motorcycles/boats/fancy guns/expensive computers/jewelry/artwork/livestock/property.

Shit, it wasn't that long ago that we were living in a shack so ancient and uninsulated that I'd buy a load of straw bales in the fall to stack against the walls for insulation. We went 11 fucking months with no indoor plumbing one year when the pump busted and we decided to save up to dig our own well. And we're unimaginably wealthy compared to most people in this world? Mother fucker.

Then I added in my wife's earnings. She's a nurse and makes decent bucks, but... nigga, please! She pushes us into the top 0.69%? WTF do the other 99% of the people in the world live on, for Christ's sake?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13081

Without anyone elses wages helping out, I am the 55,146,441 richest person in the world. I'm in the TOP 0.91%
richest people in the world.

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: heat
Posts: 10750

it's all lies cherry. that's just liberal propaganda trying to make you feel guilty again.

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

You know, I certainly don't feel guilty for having what we've got. We've worked fucking hard to get where we are. But I am stunned to think, if that gauge is accurate at all, how dirt-dick poor so many , many, many of my fellow men are.

Money, as they say, isn't everything. Well, that's a fucking relief since if it was there wouldn't be a fuck of a lot of us around.

But, how do people around the world even fucking survive? Either prices are jacked up insanely high here, comparatively, or these poor people must eke out existences that make me shudder to even contemplate.

And I'm not talking about Bongo the Jungle boy, here. People who live where they can subsistence hunt and gather the fruits of the land are going to eat ok. I'm talking about civilized people in civilized countries. I'm talking, specifically, about Coincidence.

Not to make him feel bad, but I've never got the impression that this great Dane is anything other than urbane, educated and prosperous. Even without a family how the fuck does he eat if he's 8 percentage points lower than me on the fucking money scale? How is it he's not living naked in an abandoned car along some river?

Is this a result of socialism? Would he be richer in a capitalist system, yet "poorer" on the whole? Where would I rank if I'd been born and raised in some pinko paradise - and would I still have my Dance Dance Revolution if I had been?

This is kind of fucked up. By the measures of "success" I was brought up to believe in, I'm a fucking JACKPOT WINNER. Which would make 98% of the rest of the human population varying grades of "losers."

Yeah - horseshit. Obviously.

But, how else is there to measure these things that isn't "touchy feely" subjective? Love, happiness, power, blah, blah, blah - "Show Me The Money," eh? It don't mean a thing if it aint got some bling, yo?

I dunno. I'm interested to see what others here have to say about it, though. I need some different perspectives.

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

I'm fucking serious, dogchow. How do you do it, and what is it, exactly, that you do to get by?

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: heat
Posts: 10750

the difference between socialism and capitalism is that we invest a lot of the money back into society, whereas you keep most of it.

i'm in the 4.5% btw.

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

You know, I hear that a lot, but does that mean you subsidize the prices of food/clothes/housing/cars etc? So do we, in different ways.

If you want something "special" do you incur a lot of debt to get it? That's one thing I've always been chary of. I hate being in debt. We've "gone without" (I feel weird even saying that, now) to pay off a 30 year mortgage in 16 years.

There seem to be plenty of wealthy - by anyone's standards - Europeans. How does that happen? I can't imagine people paying even more freaking taxes than we do, yet you must.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Montreal
Posts: 2992

i'm poor too dogcow, glad those fucks get free rent and medicare. Makes going to work seem blissful., its gods work!

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Montreal
Posts: 2992

oh and its "tack"

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: is futile
Posts: 5027

1,107,565th richest person in zee world. Woohoo.

wait till I finish my edjumecation... then we're talking.

I think that coincidence is plagued by the 50+ % income tax and the 25% sales tax. (180% in the case of cars).

The differences in taxes, redistribution of wealth and line item subsidies makes comparisons between redistributive and non-redistributive economies a little iffy, methinks

Cheers
-m

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: heat
Posts: 10750

the state subsidizes public transportation, which is brilliant in vienna. then there is social insurance, unemployment security, pension system, education. also, you can get moneys for all kinds of culture related initiatives, especially music.

what's special? i had to get a loan for my apartment, for instance.

and yes, this why the taxes are fairly high here. i can't say i mind paying them though.

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

quote:

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Originally posted by CRSR
oh and its "tack"

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

dogchow - Do you find that you, or other people of your social class, "want" for anything that you'd purchase if you had the money for it? Not extravagances, just regular things.

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: heat
Posts: 10750

regular things like what?

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

MMmmmm - cars, computers, Dance Dance Revolution platforms, big screen tv's... deoderant. heh

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: heat
Posts: 10750

no, i don't find that. i don't have a tv or ddr but it's not because i can't afford them.

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: St Maries, ID
Posts: 6674

Something to mull over. Thanks for taking the time to shed some light.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: is futile
Posts: 5027

I don't own a tv either. I surf the web for my entertainment needs.

I have a very decent income, and I have very minimal expenses. I spend about 25% of my disposable income every month on things I "need" (food, shelter, transportation, etc.) and an additional 5-10% I blow off on gadgets and other fun little distractions.

The beloved is looking to study abroad starting in the fall, and I am saving up to spending a year or two in Norway or the UK without any income at all.

Cheers
-m

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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: USA
Posts: 24755

I am apparently the 107,565 richest person in the world, and in the top 0.001%
richest people in the world! And clever and handsome too.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: south afrika
Posts: 16803

400k a year aint too shabby

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 9026

Just playing with numbers:
An income of $10,000 still puts you in the top 14% of incomes.
An income of $10,000 puts you at $700 over the US poverty level for 2004.

So 86% of the world lives below that level. And people wonder why I have socialistic tendencies.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Den
Posts: 11291

Cherry, thank you for your interest.
The fact is, I'm unemployed about half the year (my own choice) and the figure I put in was what I get from the state in an unemployed month. When I work, I do pretty well, so I'd say all in all I'm about 5%.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 9026

quote:

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Originally posted by Hawley Griffin
400k a year aint too shabby

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