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Old 01-19-2008, 11:32 PM
 
1,080 posts, read 1,708,287 times
Reputation: 199

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tricky D View Post
Originally Posted by dunkel25 Ah yes it’s all the fault of the Africans and other poor people that we keep sending them (our surplus) food.
No, it's the fault of the bleeding heart liberals who want to save the children, when all they're doing is making it worse for their future generations.


Quote:
Maybe next time we should not offer any help too when America or another rich country gets hit by another natural disaster or other calamity?
We don't ask for or need the help of the Dutch or anyone else. It's all warm and fuzzies that you offered, but we certainly don't need it.

 
Old 01-19-2008, 11:36 PM
 
Location: southern california
61,289 posts, read 87,195,928 times
Reputation: 55551
re greed, dont know, its hard just to eat just one isn't it?
 
Old 01-19-2008, 11:44 PM
 
Location: The Netherlands
8,568 posts, read 16,198,959 times
Reputation: 1573
Originally Posted by dunkel25
Quote:
We don't ask for or need the help of the Dutch or anyone else. It's all warm and fuzzies that you offered, but we certainly don't need it.
If I only offer help when I believe others need help, that is not being helpful at all. And if I only help others so that when I need help they'll help me, also is not truly helping them (I'd only be helping myself).
And I'd rather offer help and be refused than make the mistake of not offering help because I believe that they should help themselves or that people who can't help themselves are 'worthless'.
I just try to help people when I see that they are suffering, even when I cannot relate to their problems (or the origin of their problem).
I may not feel proudness for the Dutch, but I know for a fact that they are big on charity when they see other people being stricken by calamities. In that instant it gives me hope and I am glad to be part of the human race.
I do respect that, especially since their charity is not fueled by religion.

Last edited by Tricky D; 01-19-2008 at 11:53 PM.. Reason: clarification.
 
Old 01-20-2008, 12:48 AM
 
21,026 posts, read 22,098,045 times
Reputation: 5941
Quote:
Originally Posted by dunkel25 View Post
No, it's the fault of the bleeding heart liberals who want to save the children, when all they're doing is making it worse for their future generations.




We don't ask for or need the help of the Dutch or anyone else. It's all warm and fuzzies that you offered, but we certainly don't need it.

Uh, we got donations from all over the world after 9/11 and Katrina. We needed it.
 
Old 03-26-2008, 11:31 AM
 
1 posts, read 1,238 times
Reputation: 10
Default relative riches

what you have to remember is that in a society where we depend so heavily on each other is that "richness" is not an absolute. for me to be rich, (i.e. to have buying power) someone else must be poor. take 100 people. give 98 of them $1000. give 2 of them $1 million. those 2 wealthy people will be buying goods in a market where $1000 dollars is the average "wealth." now give 100 people $1 million. the price of things will simply go through the roof until basically all goods are the same percentage of their income as they were before. thats why it's so ludicrous to complain about things like inheritance taxes. if everyone that inherets a pile of money has to give 30 percent of it to the government, then the price of things that are purchased with inheritances (e.g. cabins, land, boats, toys, for the most part, very disposable goods) simply stays lower because there isnt money to be spent on them. what people really want is for them personally to not have to pay the inheritance tax, but force everyone else to have to pay it.
now, as we, as a society, gain more control over our environment and need less and less human input into the goods that we desire, our total "richness" as a society goes up.
for example, if i am working my land and i can produce enough food for my family, i have a certain quantifiable "wealth." if i can produce twice as much as my family needs, i am twice as wealthy, regardless of what my neighbor has, because the difference in what i possess is not relative to what he possesses. but, if my neighbor and i have to take our products to market and trade with a bunch of other people, the only way for me to be rich is to either physically produce more myself, or get a bunch of people work my land for me and pay them a paltry wage and simply retain more of what is produced on my land, thereby creating wealth for myself at the expense of other people. now in america we are pretty blessed with the ability to produce like 600 times what any one of us needs, so for any of us, who have even a shred of disposable income, to complain about taxes and the rising price of necessary goods in this country, should realize that we are all very wealthy. its just that some of us are ridiculously wealthy, while some of us are just absurdly wealthy.
ok thats all i have,

seth waterhouse
duluth mn
 
Old 03-26-2008, 12:15 PM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
86,052 posts, read 84,246,121 times
Reputation: 27718
Someone has to be on top. Someone has to have more toys than anyone else.
Someone has to be "The Jones" and everyone else strives to pass them.

This is the way our society works. Not saying it's right..but that's how it works.
 
Old 03-26-2008, 12:23 PM
 
Location: Bradenton, Florida
27,232 posts, read 46,556,035 times
Reputation: 11082
Winston Churchill once said, "The problem with socialism is socialism. The problem with capitalism is capitalists."

Consumption is the main problem with too many people. They have to have "things". I don't know why.
 
Old 03-26-2008, 12:28 PM
 
20,187 posts, read 23,780,739 times
Reputation: 9283
Who is greedy?

The person who earns that money by WORKING and wants to keep what he or she earned. Or...

The person who works by wants someone else's money to supplement their income because the other people have that money.

Who is greedy?

Consumption is not a problem, its only a problem when the person that is not buying it knows others can and will buy it... if they didn't know, would they complain about the consumption?
 
Old 03-26-2008, 12:38 PM
 
Location: Bradenton, Florida
27,232 posts, read 46,556,035 times
Reputation: 11082
Quote:
Originally Posted by evilnewbie View Post
Who is greedy?

The person who earns that money by WORKING and wants to keep what he or she earned. Or...

The person who works by wants someone else's money to supplement their income because the other people have that money.

Who is greedy?

Consumption is not a problem, its only a problem when the person that is not buying it knows others can and will buy it... if they didn't know, would they complain about the consumption?
That'd be just fine...if the wealthy man was willing to do his own work to get there, instead of depending on the work of many other people to earn his wealth. That's the reason for minor things like unions and child labor laws, because the wealthy were taking advantage of the working man.
 
Old 03-26-2008, 12:41 PM
 
Location: Bradenton, Florida
27,232 posts, read 46,556,035 times
Reputation: 11082
I am reminded of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

From Chapter 5:
8If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.
10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
11When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? 12The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
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