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Thread: What Is With Americans' Unlimited Wants?

  1. #11
    j2k4's Avatar en(un)lightened
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    There will always be the richest (Bill Gates), the super-rich (Rupert Murdoch, Sumner Redstone, George Soros), the very rich (Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey), the merely-rich (Travolta and most other movie-people), the wealthy (none especially notable, name-wise), the well-off (many, many people), and the comfortable (some of whom live in my neighborhood; not including me, of course).

    Likewise, there will always be similar varieties of the poor and less-fortunate, from "hard time paying the bills" to "grinding, Haitian-style poverty".

    The rich exhibit altruism to the extent that they can, or want to; they also treat themselves rather well, as we all know.

    We all aspire to wealth, don't we?

    One thing to keep in mind, though:

    Wealth is not a zero-sum game; the fact of Bill Gates' or John Travolta's wealth has not the slightest thing to do with the relative "poorness" of the poorest person on earth.

    What the rich have is money, and so are equipped to create a higher standard of living for everyone by the fact of seeking to preserve their wealth.

    Money does not accrue interest automatically; it must be "put to work" in order to do so, and thus has at least the potential to benefit those further down the economic ladder.

    Poor people don't own businesses or employ people.

    Though Bill Gates has donated astounding amounts of money to a variety of worthy causes, the best thing he does for the less-fortunate is to continue being rich, as, in the long-run, many more people benefit thereby.

    Sorry to be spouting basic economics here, but an occasional reminder seems appropriate.
    "Researchers have already cast much darkness on the subject, and if they continue their investigations, we shall soon know nothing at all about it."

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  2. The Drawing Room   -   #12
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    I was watching this show on Donald Trump. He said, "I like fancy stuff, sometimes I don't even like the stuff, I just like having them."

    For some reason I used to have respect for Trump, but after that....not so much. I suppose almost anyone with his kind of money would be like that though. I would like to think that I would only buy what I would enjoy, and not stuff just to show off.
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  3. The Drawing Room   -   #13
    Busyman's Avatar Use Logic Or STFU!!!
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    Originally posted by dwightfry@13 April 2004 - 11:55
    I was watching this show on Donald Trump. He said, "I like fancy stuff, sometimes I don't even like the stuff, I just like having them."

    For some reason I used to have respect for Trump, but after that....not so much. I suppose almost anyone with his kind of money would be like that though. I would like to think that I would only buy what I would enjoy, and not stuff just to show off.
    I don't like showboating all the time but it's not a big a deal.

    In some cases it is good. It shows a sense of style. Look at basketball. There's no reason to do different styles of dunks but it pleases the fans.
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  4. The Drawing Room   -   #14
    This thread should be "What Is With Rich People's Unlimited Wants". there is a lot of poverty in America. The American general public is nothing like this. I live in a rich snob town, and we're not even close to that.

    Edit: Now that I read it over a bit more, that was very stereotypical. I'm gonna have to go make a thread "What Is With Brits' Tea and Crumpets?" .

  5. The Drawing Room   -   #15
    Busyman's Avatar Use Logic Or STFU!!!
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    Originally posted by DWells55@13 April 2004 - 14:28
    This thread should be "What Is With Rich People's Unlimited Wants". there is a lot of poverty in America. The American general public is nothing like this. I live in a rich snob town, and we're not even close to that.

    Edit: Now that I read it over a bit more, that was very stereotypical. I'm gonna have to go make a thread "What Is With Brits' Tea and Crumpets?" .
    What's funny is there weren't any Americans stereotyping Brits or anything of the like.

    If you are on top there's no need to say much. If you are on the bottom, you talk bad about the people that you think are on top.
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  6. The Drawing Room   -   #16
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    Originally posted by james_bond_rulez@13 April 2004 - 10:32
    i may have used John as an example but can we look at this on a more general setting?

    like the American general public?
    No.

  7. The Drawing Room   -   #17
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    I believe it was a Canadian who started the thread.

    Oh and I think that currently the "richest" person is asessed to be Ingvar Kamprad, the Swede who formed IKEA.

    Current estimate of wealth $53,000,000,000

    Mr Gates currently $46,600,000,000

    Apparently Mr Kamprad is famous for a relatively frugal lifestyle. He is said to drive an old Volvo and fly economy class.

    The main reason he has overtaken Mr Gates is not because of any clever move on his part. It is simply that his wealth is actually in Crowns, of which he is said to have 400,000,000,000. However Mr Gates fortune is in Dollars. Which have been slipping back badly for quite some time.

  8. The Drawing Room   -   #18
    Darth Sushi's Avatar Sushi Lord
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    Originally posted by james_bond_rulez@13 April 2004 - 11:32
    i may have used John as an example but can we look at this on a more general setting?

    like the American general public?
    Yes, by all means since every American have two planes parked in the garage and we all drive hummers. It's also much easier to park my plane at Walmart when you have a handicap sticker.

  9. The Drawing Room   -   #19
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    Originally posted by j2k4@13 April 2004 - 05:44
    There will always be the richest (Bill Gates), the super-rich (Rupert Murdoch, Sumner Redstone, George Soros), the very rich (Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey), the merely-rich (Travolta and most other movie-people), the wealthy (none especially notable, name-wise), the well-off (many, many people), and the comfortable (some of whom live in my neighborhood; not including me, of course).

    Likewise, there will always be similar varieties of the poor and less-fortunate, from "hard time paying the bills" to "grinding, Haitian-style poverty".

    The rich exhibit altruism to the extent that they can, or want to; they also treat themselves rather well, as we all know.

    We all aspire to wealth, don't we?

    One thing to keep in mind, though:

    Wealth is not a zero-sum game; the fact of Bill Gates' or John Travolta's wealth has not the slightest thing to do with the relative "poorness" of the poorest person on earth.

    What the rich have is money, and so are equipped to create a higher standard of living for everyone by the fact of seeking to preserve their wealth.

    Money does not accrue interest automatically; it must be "put to work" in order to do so, and thus has at least the potential to benefit those further down the economic ladder.

    Poor people don't own businesses or employ people.

    Though Bill Gates has donated astounding amounts of money to a variety of worthy causes, the best thing he does for the less-fortunate is to continue being rich, as, in the long-run, many more people benefit thereby.

    Sorry to be spouting basic economics here, but an occasional reminder seems appropriate.
    I like ur thoughtful reply but really, my post is not about the rich. It's about Americans' lavish lifestyle and using up un-necessary resources.

    I mean, sure, everybody likes to be rich, and we all aspire to wealth, and that's what drives this nation. Incentives to create new ideas and innovations. You have intellitecual copyrights, you have patents, you have your industries. But while being a superpower in the face of the world. Other countries, like China, tries hard to outcompete the US by means of cheaper labour, more productive factories, more jobs available to its citizens to stimulate the economy and blah blah blah all the stuff.

    I like to address to Busyman, since he's anti-everything whenever there is any civilized discussion regarding America, that you lighten up. I am not trying to put Americans down, stop being so defensive and say that everything I've said is bs.

    no i am not sterotyping anything. This is what we have studied in our geography class, I cam vividly recall my teacher discussion this with the class.

    Let's look at an average American household compared to a Japanese household, now I dont have all the statistics numbers handy since I took that class while I was in high school. But the rationale is that on average, Americans consume more than other country in the world. Is it necessary to feed the American children so much that a good percentage of them are overweight?

    While it is hard to draw up comparasons, I've used the extreme example of John Travolta as an example to show just how far Americans will go to fulfill their "American Dream". Most families in the US have 2 cars, like, ppl complaint that the gas is so expensive, then why do you have two cars? Why not take the public transportation or car pool? And you have to buy the BIG screen TV, BIG american pickup trucks, BIG everything?

  10. The Drawing Room   -   #20
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    Why do people always assume that everyone else is striving for wealth.

    I am not, if I had been I would have lived my life in a very different way.

    I would describe my lifestyle as comfortable, I have no desire to accumulate wealth. No thanks on the eye of the needle scenario.

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