Re: OT(kinda): Texas Plane Crash - The Note

Hi James,

<dagmargoodboat@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:2caf8869-1963-419b-acdc-48199644b650@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This argument boils down to what many people believe: wealth is
random, luck, or from favor or advantage, and, in any case, a
windfall, to be shared.

But it isn't, generally. It can be, but it's mostly the result of
hard work, brilliant thinking, fortuitous discovery, or one of several
other activities it behooves us to encourage.

There's plenty of truth there, but I honestly believe that a significant number of people in, e.g., fast food are working just as hard as the CEO is (granted, there are also plenty of people who are slacking off, trying to do as little as possible without losing their jobs, too :-) ). Yet if you were born into poverty, you have to work much, much harder than someone born into a middle-class or better situation to ever have a shot at making CEO. And luck does have something to do with it too --the obvious example being Bill Gates who, while clearly a smart guy and a very hard worker, became the richest man in the world despite plenty of others working just as hard and being just as smart as he is.

There was a time when "hard work" largely did equate with "almost guaranteed to end up with a middle-class lifestyle," but those days are now largely over -- and some of the blame can be laid squarely on businessmen who put profits before their fellow citizens (whereas much of the rest can be blamed on the economy "going global" -- it's nearly impossible to compete with labor prices in Asia, after all, for). I think *that* is why you now see the brewings of a second civil war...

---Joel

.

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