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Yep. I earn $1.2 million per year. I am sure that no one will believe that. Guess what - I don't care. I do not have to care, as I can take care of myself and my family until I die, without any further work whatsoever.
I am part of the 1%, who used to be the bottom of the barrel. The difference between me and what you perceive as "the rich" is that I am hard working, have advanced degrees, own land, am self made, and am a mean SOB. I did not get here by being a pushover.
Do I care about the 99%? Not a bit. Do I donate to the poor and charity? Quite a bit. I fully support those who are incapable of helping themselves, but despise those who are perfectly capable, yet demand handouts. For them- go to hell.
It doesn't matter if anyone believes that, as long as you do.
Your last few posts have been a defense of a poster who admitted openly that he engaged in a specific criminal activity with minors. That is hardly jumping to conclusions.
Obama came clean about it, doesn't support the use of drugs and certainly doesn't use it as a parable on How to Become President.
You do understand that these people, like Cuebald, are either purposefully lying or putting more into what the OP'er said.
Quote:
I sold pot to spoiled brats for income in high school and college- partly for money and partly to take down spoiled brats who were blowing thier golden opportunity.
They adding minors as though he was some 30 year old hanging out in H.S. to sell drugs... That may have been the case but it sounds to me like he was selling to his peers. You may not know this, maybe you do, but drugs are an epidemic in schools and it starts with middle school these days.
He would hardly be different from most kids today. I'm not defending him though, he can do that himself. Just pointing out a reality.
Seriously, hawk? You're worth $20 million? Grew up in a trailer? Got $100 for college from the old man? hmmmm....
West, your attitude is precisely indicative of everything that is wrong with America today. You don't seem to know what it means to "just get up and do it." My guess is you're a sapling who never witnessed such a thing.
This is a very sad commentary on our nation. No wonder OWS appeals to the Leftist masses. You folks wouldn't know hard work and reward if it fell out of the sky and hit you in the head.
West, your attitude is precisely indicative of everything that is wrong with America today. You don't seem to know what it means to "just get up and do it." My guess is you're a sapling who never witnessed such a thing.
This is a very sad commentary on our nation. No wonder OWS appeals to the Leftist masses. You folks wouldn't know hard work and reward if it fell out of the sky and hit you in the head.
This income mobility, Horatio Alger story, is largely a myth.
Conservatives suffer from the delusion that every poor uneducated person out their can become a zillionaire, if they only work hard. It's this fantasy that drives people who never will have enough to be subject to the inheritance tax from supporting it.
Let us examine this upward mobility fantasy. While it is certainly true that many sports stars do move from the poor to wealth, sports stars are rare. Lets look at the very wealthy on the Forbes 400 list. What we see is that most were already born on third base:
Quote:
Half of those on the Forbes 400 list started their economic careers by inheriting businesses or substantial wealth. Of these, most inherited sufficient wealth to put them immediately into Forbes' heaven. Only three out of ten on the Forbes list can be regarded as self-starters whose parents did not have great wealth or own a business with more than a few employees.
A breakdown: 42 % Born on Home Plate: inherited sufficient wealth to rank among the Forbes 400. This percentage is higher than that listed by Forbes for inheritors. The reason: Forbes listed as "self-made" people who actually inherited substantial sums or property and then later built that stake into a greater fortune. One example is Philip Anschutz (1997 net worth: $5.2 billion) who is listed as "self-made" even though he inherited a $500-million oil and gas field. 6 % Born on Third Base: inherited substantial wealth in excess of $50 million or a large and prosperous company and grew this initial fortune into membership in the Forbes 400. 7 % Born on Second Base: inherited a medium-sized business or wealth of more than $1 million or received substantial start-up capital for a business from a family member. 14 % Born on First Base: biography indicates wealthy or upper-class background that was to our knowledge less than $1 million, or received some start-up capital from a family member. Due to the study team's conservative coding rule, it is likely that some of those listed as born on first base actually belong on second or third base. 31 % Born in the Batter's Box: individuals and families whose parents did not have great wealth or own a business with more than a few employees.
This income mobility, Horatio Alger story, is largely a myth.
Conservatives suffer from the delusion that every poor uneducated person out their can become a zillionaire, if they only work hard. It's this fantasy that drives people who never will have enough to be subject to the inheritance tax from supporting it.
Let us examine this upward mobility fantasy. While it is certainly true that many sports stars do move from the poor to wealth, sports stars are rare. Lets look at the very wealthy on the Forbes 400 list. What we see is that most were already born on third base:
Work smart, not hard. That's the underlying theme of true success.
A person can work hard all their life and not achieve their desired level of success. Nothing wrong with workin hard...in fact you have to work hard to get there. But you have to be smart enough to get over the hump. Millions of American's just don't have the right guidance, the right intellect, and the right amount of foresight to get ahead. Trudging along in the "middle class morass" is not necessarily a bad thing....but if you're going to go big, you've got to think big. And you've got to be smart about it.
I'm a 1% too, and I am king of Mars with my army of squirrels!
On the internet anyone can make outlandish claims and be a jet set multimillionaire, like Terry Koeckritz was. Turns out he was an isolated crank on disability that stole money from his family, sat in his office chair so long he needed surgery for collapsed veins, and eventually died from lack of movement. My favorite though is Alex Chiu, multimillionaire real estate investor and inventor...wait no, he's a destitute loon that squats in abandoned houses.
Here he is at "home" in his mansion, I mean dilapidated abandoned house that I am not sure I would even enter.
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