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Try some breathing exercises-might help you to relax a bit. You're currently coming off quite rude considering how I have addressed you.
My viewpoint was stated clearly in my second to last paragraph. Rather than restating my thoughts ad infinitum I'll rely on you to re-read it.
I find it interesting you feel you know the motives of MOST filthy rich guys looking like bums. How do you come by this knowledge?
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Originally Posted by syracusa
And what exactly have you just proven by writing all of the above - other than your outrage about my "tenacity"?
What is your point about your smelly guy? That he was able to achieve wealth by being frugal? Sure, I believe you.
Many people have done just that - and this is not what I am arguing against.
I am just arguing that your smelly guy SURELY figured out that the wealth he achieved could finally afford him a shower and a washed shirt without any threat to his lifetime financial security. Yet he CONTINUES to choose the bum look DESPITE his new found wealth. What I am arguing is that he is most likely either disingenuous/a hypocrite or a complete imbecile (pragmatic intelligence is not the only kind out there).
Just because you've always lived a certain lifestyle doesn't necessarily mean you will always want to live that way. I can even give you the inch you are so desperate for and admit that some people, like your smelly guy, may in fact be just plain eccentric: unassuming, socially naive, anti-social and just plain disinterested in changing their ways regardless of changes in their socio-economic status.
However, I can assure you that this is not the case of MOST of those filthy rich guys walking around looking like bums.
As for giving yourself as an example: again, you haven't achieved much here either. You behave exactly the way you SHOULD behave: responsibly. You live within your means. So do I. Well, very well within my means. You and I behave the same way but we also have something else in common: none of us is RICH. Having no debts and a house paid off is hardly a sign of rich-ness. It is a sign of being comfortable.
If you think a filthy rich guy driving a dusty beat up car is a mark of being responsible/living within his means...then you're not understanding the concept of "within means".
Your tenacity is astounding. Admirable, even. It is unfortunate that I think you are completely wrong!
I have known several people that fit the Millionaire Next Door stereotype. It worked for them. Right down to the old truck. Here are two: 1. Co-owner of a mid-sized company. He drove a 1979 Honda Civic to work. His staff drove Mercedes, etc. He also co-owned the building the company was housed in. He built it and did most of the maintenance! 2. Guy I knew looked like a bum. Literally, he smelled, and looked like his clothes needed a good washing. Drove an old toyota truck. Major local landlord that had been approached to buy one of our malls! Brilliant man, but a bit anti-social!
The folks I know aren't trying to be "folksy." They are simply living the lifestyle they always lived. It happens that lifestyle enabled them to achieve some degree of wealth. I suspect most people are like this.
I behave similarly-living well within my means, that is. Not smelling like I need a shower-and it has made a large financial difference for me. No debt, paid off house, older paid off cars, and a good sized nest egg for my age and income level. No I don't think said behavior will make me capitol "R" Rich. But I am confident it will allow me to achieve a sound and comfortable financial future.
I have no idea about those people. Anyone who becomes a millionaire and still drives a 79 honda is a bit loony in my book, but whatever. Before when I was talking about it I was referring to the ultra-rich, inheritance, blue blood families. They are not ostentatiously rich in a show-offy way in certain respects, in fact we almost never see or hear about them in the public eye. They often drive older cars or wear reasonable clothes because they are more removed from modern fashion and consumerism. Just clarifying since that comment seemed to precede a pretty strange conversation.
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Let's just agree to treat everyone equally based on color, religion, gender and net worth.
you want to treat people based on their skin color and religion?? my GOD what is wrong with you!!???
I have no idea about those people. Anyone who becomes a millionaire and still drives a 79 honda is a bit loony in my book, but whatever. Before when I was talking about it I was referring to the ultra-rich, inheritance, blue blood families. They are not ostentatiously rich in a show-offy way in certain respects, in fact we almost never see or hear about them in the public eye. They often drive older cars or wear reasonable clothes because they are more removed from modern fashion and consumerism. Just clarifying since that comment seemed to precede a pretty strange conversation.
I don't think being rich is bad, and I don't believe anyone else believes that. The people who do hate the rich, hate the rich for a reason - they flaunt it and continue to devise more ways of stealing from the poor.
Who hates Bill Gates or Warren Buffett or Steve Jobs?
Who hates Wall Street bankers causing our financial crisis?
If you're rich and are constantly involved with the community, giving charity and creating jobs, it doesn't matter what you drive or wear. If you're a douche about it and saying stuff like "do you know who I am" to the waiter, he's gonna spit on your food whether you're rich or poor.
The rich don't steal from the poor. They steal from the middle class. The US rich are absolutely out of control. We dole out more corporate welfare for the banks, wallstreet and corporations than we could ever dole out in social welfare for the poor. The rich corporatists don't give a flying frack about the US worker or the middle class. They have no loyalty to any nation least of all the US. Our government is in bed with them selling us down the river or despotism. The American public is just too stupid to realize it. We have been brainwashed and cheerlead a capitalistic free market economy that doesn't and probably hasn't existed for over 100 years. The rich manipulate the government, the control all the banks, they control our monetary supply through the FED. They own our politicians. I'm not talking about the millionaires.......I'm talking about the handful of EXTREMELY powerful multi billionaire families that exist in this country. Most of whom you and I have never heard of and will never see. These are the real "terrorists" inflicting economic violence on the US populace. Americans need to wake up. The rich don't provide anything least of all jobs. They sit on their capital only willing to use it as long as they can make more of it. And if there is any risk at all involve in losing it........dont' worry the gravy train that is government will come to their rescue. Pathetic!
I'm not talking about the millionaires.......I'm talking about the handful of EXTREMELY powerful multi billionaire families that exist in this country. Most of whom you and I have never heard of and will never see. These are the real "terrorists" inflicting economic violence on the US populace.
This is exactly why it is so frustrating to hear all these posters on Business Forums getting all misty-eyed about Rich Smelly Guy who still drives his dusty pick-up truck after he "made it" (which means they can too). They focus on a few eccentric or hypocritical figures who made a buck or two by being frugal - but they block out the pillage caused by those all the way up there - the only thing that really matters
The millionaire-next-door is just too cheesy, fuzzy-warmy, feel-good of a story to not stay focused on it.
There seems to be more and more of it as time goes on. It's seriously amazing to see how things changed so fast.
I work for the Government and regularly dealt with "do you know who I am?" folks... you know the type, the "supersize my life" McMansion and chromed Hummer crowd that has virtually disappeared in the last three years. No one has used that line with me since 2008; seriously.
These days, if you are wealthy you are scorned and shamed and demonized and joked about like never before in this country. It's as if everyone with a positive bank account suddenly became a ridicule-worthy clown like this:
I don't consider myself to be rich, but I come from a family that is. Their crowd seems to have switched their Mercedes and Cadillacs for Toyotas and Chevys, their vacations are now to Colorado or California instead of Europe or Bali, even though they really aren't any poorer than they were back in the glory days of conspicuous consumption. They seem to try very hard to not stand out anymore.
So am I just imagining this? Is being rich bad for your health these days? It's just amazing to me that we went from "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" to the French Revolution mentality in only a couple of years... and the trend seems to show no signs of slowing. Maybe it isn't a bad thing, but then again, maybe it is... whatdayathink?
To me the rich have always been the scapgoats for the perils of society and for the lack of government efficiency.
Granted, that is not to say that there are rich people that did find immoral ways to milk people but in the overall scheme of things I believe many of the rich simply worked hard for what they got. I do not have any envy on those people.
It is also interesting as political leaders use the rich against the poor but in the end government has been the one protecting the rich and yet they turn around and point the finger on them.
Another point, the people constantly talk about how rotten and corrupt politicians are and yet they are the ones that turn to the government to straighten out the rich they support and get campaign money from. Take care.
To me the rich have always been the scapgoats for the perils of society and for the lack of government efficiency.
Granted, that is not to say that there are rich people that did find immoral ways to milk people but in the overall scheme of things I believe many of the rich simply worked hard for what they got. I do not have any envy on those people.
It is also interesting as political leaders use the rich against the poor but in the end government has been the one protecting the rich and yet they turn around and point the finger on them. Another point, the people constantly talk about how rotten and corrupt politicians are and yet they are the ones that turn to the government to straighten out the rich they support and get campaign money from. Take care.
I think that you were not rich. You were trying to BECOME so.
Had you been, you would not have needed the "get rich" acrobatics you are talking about in the first place. You would have just lived your life without trying to corner some market.
Acquiring standard business lines of credit and commercial construction loans are not "get rich acrobatics." Even the "richest", most successful owners use bank financing to effectively operate and grow their businesses. I am sorry I do not have $200,000 cash laying around to pay a supplier or $1+ Million cash to pay off the commercial building.
Too bad I was not simply born rich, so that I didn't have to "corner a market." Would you approve of my life if I had just stayed in the lower socioeconomic group to which I was born? Would it have been better if I were simply born rich and never had to work a day in my life? Too bad there are self-made people who are working hard to become successful, operating cars you do not approve of, and living in houses that are not appropriate.
You are "nauseated" by those who drive "flashy" cars along with those who drive "humble" cars. You dislike when the rich dress like bums and don't live in an "acceptable" house or live "within their means." Why do you get to make all these rules and be judge? Why do you care so much about the car/house/clothes choices that strangers make?
You profess to know the personal motivations of why most "rich" people drive certain cars. You even know who is actually rich without even looking at their net worth statements (who knows if everything is on credit and they're close to bankrupt?). You judge whether a wealthy person is trustworthy simply by the "look in his eye" which is why you love Warren Buffett.
Do your thought processes and conclusions actually make logical sense to you?
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