What Is With Americans' Unlimited Wants?

[james_bond_rulez]

Originally posted by J'Pol@13 April 2004 - 11:06
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.

but then that's only you

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by james_bond_rulez+13 April 2004 - 21:08--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (james_bond_rulez @ 13 April 2004 - 21:08)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-J&#39;Pol@13 April 2004 - 11:06
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.

but then that&#39;s only you [/b][/quote]
I can assure you it is not.

[Rat Faced]

Originally posted by bujub22@13 April 2004 - 13:44

but hey they earn there money and are spending it anyway they want &#33;

Nobody earns multi-million dollars a year.

They may get paid that, they do not earn it.

Most CEO&#39;s (and indeed Directors) are merely an expensive overhead, with the real work being done by Middle Management and the workforce.


The sooner that the "Investors" crack down on Fat Cat Salaries the better, in my opinion. However most Investors dont care about the individual Companies policies, just at the payback on the shares.

This allows the "Directors" to basically pay themselves what they want.

Let&#39;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?

Define "Average".

If you go by wealth, then please remember that there are an awful lot of very rich Americans (Relatively Speaking) per head of population, this drags the "average wage" to a point where most Americans earn well under the "Average".....

I believe that you can be officially classed as "Poor" in the USA, and still have a quite a good standard of living (as you can in the UK). This doesnt mean that all Poor Americans have a decent standard of Living, its merely a byproduct of the above paragraph....

Fuel is often used as an example of US "waste", however;

I would expect the USA (and Canada) to use a lot more fuel per citizen than say, the UK. It takes me something like 6 hours to drive to the other side of my country...some US and Canadian citizens need to drive further just to reach the nearest city.

For this reason, the respective Governments dont tax fuel as much as our more compact European countries do (esp the UK ) ... as fuel is cheap, there really is no pressure to have very efficiant cars...its a Catch22 situation.

Despite the lack of pressure, there are a lot more "Compacts" around these days compared to 10 years ago... And even the Euro countries, with the huge price of fuel, have their "Gas Guzzlers"...

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by Rat Faced+13 April 2004 - 21:14--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Rat Faced @ 13 April 2004 - 21:14)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-bujub22@13 April 2004 - 13:44

but hey they earn there money and are spending it anyway they want &#33;

Nobody earns multi-million dollars a year.

They may get paid that, they do not earn it.

Most CEO&#39;s (and indeed Directors) are merely an expensive overhead, with the real work being done by Middle Management and the workforce.


The sooner that the "Investors" crack down on Fat Cat Salaries the better, in my opinion. However most Investors dont care about the individual Companies policies, just at the payback on the shares.

This allows the "Directors" to basically pay themselves what they want. [/b][/quote]
I think that the vast bulk of the mega salaries are actually made up of productivity bonuses.

This means that in order for the "fat-cat" to make his fortune the company he heads must make a bigger fortune.

They obviously see this as worthwhile. Yes we payed him £3,000,000 in bonuses, but profits were up £30,000,000. Given that this is measurable, profit before he came in versus profit after, they and he are quite happy with the situation.

If he fails to perform he gets the basic (still very high) payment but is also shown the door.

If both parties are happy, then there is no problem.

[Rat Faced]

Originally posted by J&#39;Pol@13 April 2004 - 20:36

I think that the vast bulk of the mega salaries are actually made up of productivity bonuses.

This means that in order for the "fat-cat" to make his fortune the company he heads must make a bigger fortune.

They obviously see this as worthwhile. Yes we payed him £3,000,000 in bonuses, but profits were up £30,000,000. Given that this is measurable, profit before he came in versus profit after, they and he are quite happy with the situation.

This is indeed "The Theory", and i would have no problem if I believed this were the case.

You dont have to look far to see huge "Productivity" bonus&#39; being paid for large companies that made a loss...

If the are fired, sorry "resign", then they also get a huge payoff.

When a large company Fires a crap CEO, with no payoff, the same way they do some poor slob on the shopfloor.........

I say again... despite the "Theory". The work is done mainly by Middle/Lower Management and the workforce. The Directors often just live off and take the credit for a "Team Effort", where they were not part of the Team.

No One deserves to be paid &#036;multi-millions as a salary.

I am willing to say that some, ie Some guy that has built his business up and works all the hours under the sun, and hasnt made it a public company etc etc etc....Deserves every penny he makes. He has earned it.

[hi_what_is_up!]

We americans do it because we are successful and we can afford to do it. It is our right to do so.

[Biggles]

I would tend to agree with J&#39;Pol

If I had wanted great wealth I would not have chosen to be a Civil Servant. I also suspect that on buying the occasional lottery ticket I would remember to check it, but I rarely do.

I have always been rather taken by the teachings of Epicurus. He advocated that the purpose of life was enjoyment. When questioned that many Stoics appeared to live a more extravagant life than himself, he replied, "when I walk the hills in solitude and dine on bread and fresh water I despise shallow pleasures and could not be happier".

Many take Epicurus&#39; teachings as licence to do as you please and, indeed, they could be. However, he taught caution. For every rampant sexual fling a bunny was waiting in trepidation, for every lavish meal there is a coronary by-pass lurking (ok I am paraphrasing now ) and for every reckless drunken night a day of pain to follow.

In other words, do as you like but be kind to yourself. Consequently, comfortable is all that is required.

Happiness is not the product of wealth although it is perfectly possible to be wealthy and happy. However, it is certainly true that poverty can bring misery if that poverty prevents one from being kind to oneself. (I am not a sackcloth and ashes individual I would hasten to add)

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by Rat Faced+13 April 2004 - 22:02--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Rat Faced @ 13 April 2004 - 22:02)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-J&#39;Pol@13 April 2004 - 20:36

I think that the vast bulk of the mega salaries are actually made up of productivity bonuses.

This means that in order for the "fat-cat" to make his fortune the company he heads must make a bigger fortune.

They obviously see this as worthwhile. Yes we payed him £3,000,000 in bonuses, but profits were up £30,000,000. Given that this is measurable, profit before he came in versus profit after, they and he are quite happy with the situation.

This is indeed "The Theory", and i would have no problem if I believed this were the case.

You dont have to look far to see huge "Productivity" bonus&#39; being paid for large companies that made a loss...

If the are fired, sorry "resign", then they also get a huge payoff.

When a large company Fires a crap CEO, with no payoff, the same way they do some poor slob on the shopfloor.........

I say again... despite the "Theory". The work is done mainly by Middle/Lower Management and the workforce. The Directors often just live off and take the credit for a "Team Effort", where they were not part of the Team.

No One deserves to be paid &#036;multi-millions as a salary.

I am willing to say that some, ie Some guy that has built his business up and works all the hours under the sun, and hasnt made it a public company etc etc etc....Deserves every penny he makes. He has earned it. [/b][/quote]
No footballer earns £5,000,000 per annum.

Or £500,000 per annum as far as I am concerned, or anywhere near it.

How much is Alan Shearer paid, for playing a game. How is that justified, because he can kick a ball hard and in a straight line.

Its a supply and demand thing mate. If someone is identified as a top executive then they must be paid top wages (in bonuses) to secure their services. I would rather we gave the salaries to the wealth creators than to the football players.

Look at some of the feckin semi-literate neds who will be paid millions of pounds in salaries and sponsorship deals. Wayne Rooney springs to mind.

There are worst crimes against society than top executives being paid large sums of money.

[4th gen]

I&#39;ve not read the thread, but I just thought I&#39;d say that Michael Schumacher makes approximately £30 million per year, before bonuses and sponsorship

[Moby.]

Originally posted by james_bond_rulez@13 April 2004 - 19:55
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.

Oh, well there&#39;s no way I can argue with that.

I guess we all do live extravagant lifestyles. So exactly what IS with all us Americans?