Email: 'Time to kill the wealthy'

I think labels such as "TPTB" or "the Government" muddy the waters. Rich people aren't the problem per se. People that use their positions of power or wealth in an immoral fashion should be identified directly and not allowed to hide behind labels such as "TPTB". I think that makes them appear to be more powerful or untouchable than they really are. They should be identified and their personal info should be shared so they can be properly shunned.

"Star Trek" is such a great piece of science-fiction; however, reality doesn't move in that particular direction.

Competing with other citizens and other nations is healthy. If it wasn't for international competition, we would not have the space program, military complex, the internet, computers, the automobile, trains, etc...

Sometimes I wished we did live in a "Star Trek" environment, but most of the times I can see the flaws within its message. In order to get to that particular point, you would have to embrace a communism, socialism, and conservatism hybrid ideology. "Star Trek" includes: national healthcare system, universal military construct, government provided necessities, etc...

In order to remove the materialistic element from society, we would have to create technologies such as material replicators, food replicators, and the ability to terraform an environment. We currently do not have those technologies. We can surely use them about now, but we just do not have those capabilities.

Do you want to get rid of wealth? Create a replicator in which makes materialistic items out of thin air.

Lol.. We are way-too-far away from that happening. We are not that technologically advanced.

Instead of evolving social media, maybe this generation should focus on creating food and clothing replicators.

That will change everything.

Irony, its just a fantasy.

The solution isn't violence. Why not just tax the wealth of the super wealthy at 10% a year. Over a few decades their control would dwindle. They would still be left pretty wealthy, but not to the same scale they are now.

Originally posted by soficrow
reply to post by Section31

 

How about competition? United States thrives as a competitive nation. Once they remove the reward system, no one will be motivated to do anything. Its a conundrum for this generation.

The idea of "competition" in Western society is pathologically manipulated. Many viable cultures successfully promote and support the idea of "competing" with oneself, not others. Healthy, imho. Competing with others is a no-win game - there's always someone richer, smarter, bigger, faster, with more stuff. Breeds discontent, destroys joy.

Also imho, the most wonderful life occurs when one can enjoy one's work - pursue one's interests, excel in that context - and still feed, clothe and shelter oneself and one's family.

It's sad when the only legitimate/recognized "rewards" are material - life really has so much more to offer.

are you living on rigel 4 wearing ruby slippers or planet earth?

you can do that when you are retired. not for a living!

and to retire, guess what?

ya needs a friggin income or MONEY!

even in the 60's we didn't get that pie-eyed.

we made our statements and then bucked up.

destroys joy? how many times you watch avatar?

reply to post by silent thunder


I support this idea. Let's burn those #er's house down.

Originally posted by Section31

Originally posted by UnitedSpiritualAlliance
Wow that is really not going to help anything. It's better to bring the wealthy to justice by finding lawyers who actually care (lol) about the protests and will go pro-bono (lol) (that's going to take the skills of a lawyer to convince one to do as such!)

You painted the wealthy with a broad brush.

Pretend this is the tax bracket:
(10% tax across the board).

$20,000 (per year) x 10% tax (.10) = $2,000 owed in taxes. - Lower Class

$30,000 (per year) x 10% tax (.10) = $3,000 owed in taxes.

$60,000 (per year) x 10% tax (.10) = $6,000 owed in taxes. - Middle Class

$100,000 (per year) x 10% (.10) = $10,000 owed in taxes.

$250,000 (per year) x 10% (.10) = $25,000 owed in taxes. Upper Class

$1.0 million (per year) x 10% (.10) = $100,000 owed in taxes. - Top 2% - Wealthy Class

Who is paying more taxes?

While "OccupyWallStreet"' and the president are saying one thing, the reality behind class warfare is something entirely different. Top 2% pay more taxes than all the other classes combined.

Using the actual and current tax scale: My uncle made $1.0 million dollars last year, and he had to pay $400,000 of it toward taxes.

How much are you paying in taxes?

edit on 10/7/2011 by Section31 because: (no reason given)

This is exactly what I've been saying for years! People go on about the wealthy, first of all, the amount of people who were actually born in to wealth is not that big. I know plenty of very wealthy individuals who worked harder than anyone else I know to gain that wealth, day and night, 24/7. People need to understand that the people who need hanging are the heads of central banks, the members of the BIS, IMF, the government heads, the people making decisions that destroy millions of average working families, working men and women, these are the people that should be sent to the gallows. Instead, we have people who I assume want every single human being to live in a tent, as another poster put it "level the playing field". Let us see how many "liberal" teenagers and adults celebrate that after a month of living it, most would wish for the old times to return and miss their PS3 too much, the rest would start stealing all the other tents or torching them! Oh but I suppose there could always be the idea of everyone having a detatched house and earning 50k a year! Yeah, I'd love to see how they are going to achieve that! It's madness, as I said before, people are upset and angry and just want change to mostly their personal circumstances, but they tainting all that have more than them with the same brush! You're rich, you're evil!! That is no different to saying, you're Muslim, you're a terrorist!
As I have said the current system is actually fine, on the whole, it is the greed that needs to go from the very top. The need for power and lust to dominate over all. This is directly at the top, from government to the Fed, BOE, BIS, IMF, all of them! They make the decisions and they could easily make decisions that improve us all, rather than improve a few! However, you still need to work for a living! Those who work, of course they should be helped! Those of working age who refuse, can go to Hell as far as I'm concerned!

Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical
The solution isn't violence. Why not just tax the wealth of the super wealthy at 10% a year. Over a few decades their control would dwindle. They would still be left pretty wealthy, but not to the same scale they are now.

i want to be super wealthy, i want all that i can make.

will i step all over you? naw, i will make you give it to me on your own, like the way the system is set up.

i will invent and market something you want.

maybe music? a new energy source?

who the putz are you or anyone to say i can make only so much?

get a job loosers.

eta; hey i need a new tv, about a 22" color flat screen. can i come by and help myself and maybe kill your family for it or will you just give it up coz i asked nicely?

reply to post by Section31


Actually, in Star Trek, things got very, very, bad before they got any better. The Star Trek way of life came to be, in that fictional universe, because there was simply no other way to keep humanity alive.

I'm not against competition, but what happens when one lucky gambler clears the table? Does that mean everyone else moves into the street permanently? In some societies it does mean that, but not in America. In America, the great grandchildren of the people who built the American labor movement with their blood, fight back.

Nobody should be allowed to run the table.

This game is put together by society as a whole. There has to be a limit to which the wealthy can cannibalize the rest of society.

There can be healthy competition. Running everyone but a few into the gutter is ruining the country.

Originally posted by Thestargateisreal
reply to post by Section31

 

Actually, in Star Trek, things got very, very, bad before they got any better. The Star Trek way of life came to be, in that fictional universe, because there was simply no other way to keep humanity alive.

Within the realm of "Star Trek", certain key events had to take place. (1) Development of food and material replicators, (2) development of cures for a crap load of illnesses and deceases, (3) establishment of a national healthcare system, (4) creation of advanced space technologies, and (5) people embracing 'self improvement' over 'accumulation of wealth'.

Do you remember what triggered those events off in "Star Trek"? 3/4th of the population was killed off by a nuclear war. "Star Trek" was referring to "World War III".

Not many people remember the last part.

Originally posted by ipsedixit
This game is put together by society as a whole. There has to be a limit to which the wealthy can cannibalize the rest of society.

Nah.

Keep on rollin'.

reply to post by ipsedixit


listen to what you're saying!

you gamble, you win or loose!

what are you suggesting? the friggin game be rigged?

who would "play"?

makes no sense at all.

eta; especially who the putz will rig it!

ya, put all that power in someones hand.

reply to post by soficrow

The idea of "competition" in Western society is pathologically manipulated. Many viable cultures successfully promote and support the idea of "competing" with oneself, not others. Healthy, imho. Competing with others is a no-win game - there's always someone richer, smarter, bigger, faster, with more stuff. Breeds discontent, destroys joy.

Competition is reality. There is no natural system in which there is no competition.

Many people opposed to the free market simply don't understand it. They get caught on terms and concepts like "competition" and "capitalism." The core of the free market is that any person can provide some good or service in exchange for another good or service. That is it.

The value of the good or service provided is mutually agreed upon by the two exchanging parties. In the event an agreement cannot be reached, the exchange is not made and the two left to seek out others who will agree to their terms of exchange.

"But, Aim - I don't get to haggle with Wal-Mart, Piggly Wiggly, etc."

Not directly, no. However - you can walk into the store, see their price, and decide that you would rather spend your money elsewhere. If no one has the good/service at the price you want - perhaps your price is simply unreasonable given the market conditions.

Also imho, the most wonderful life occurs when one can enjoy one's work - pursue one's interests, excel in that context - and still feed, clothe and shelter oneself and one's family.

It doesn't quite work that way, though. Someone has to do the dirty jobs. We can't have all of the people out there with performing arts degrees receiving enough payment to live in houses built by an ever-dwindling number of construction crews; or a town full of people serving each other hamburgers.

There is a natural hierarchy to things. The people with rare trade knowledge/ability are valued for it - often well above the services that just about any human being can do (doesn't take a genius to put a burger together). A community cannot survive if no one is producing food, building the tools and parts we use, etc.

Competing with yourself is all fine and dandy - but you can't expect someone to hand you a share of their produced goods because you beat your fastest Mario World play-through.

It's sad when the only legitimate/recognized "rewards" are material - life really has so much more to offer.

This is a horribly ignorant view of how things are. Society cannot reward -you- with happy feelings, nor can it reward you for the happiness you have brought to your own life. It is great that you have accomplished such things. However - society can only reward its members through a material medium of some kind - it may be as simple as a back-scratch, but the nature of the exchange will always be limited to the material.

Let me put it another way: When you have worked to build your own little garden/farm/whatever, spend hours each day tending it, and spend even more hours properly canning and preserving your harvests for winter... are you going to be so inclined to give some of that food to the guy who spent his days painting?

It's going to depend upon how plentiful your harvest was, isn't it? It's going to depend upon how much you were able to can and preserve. It's going to depend upon how many people you are expecting to feed through the winter with that food.

Now, if that painter spent half of his time helping you... or helping the black-smith, or doing something generally recognized as more directly productive... you would be far more likely to consider that person as being worth the food... right?

Similarly... let's say there are five doctors in your small community. Do you -really- need that many doctors? If three of them spend most of their time waiting for someone to get sick, rather than actively treating someone... are they making productive use of their time that warrants a share of your efforts?

Sure - if you were to get sick and any of them were to treat you - that single exchange would be appropriate... but we are talking a small community, here, where exact accounting is not common practice, and resources are typically shared in recognition of the mutual effort to survive.

Bettering yourself is simply not enough if you want to participate in society. You have to do your part to better society if you wish to be rewarded for your efforts.

Anyone who goes after either 'bankers' or politicians in such a way always make me think they ( like the 'terrorists') will go after the easy targets.
And as an ex-banker my advice is IF you REALLY wanted to make a difference to the world FFS threaten to or go after the CEO's and directors , DO NOT go after the regular staff who are there to provide for their families and are in pretty much the same boat as the guy on the street.
NOT every bank employee makes millions in bonuses, or is on even a decent wage these days most are on the same wages as a regular office clerk and they certainly DO NOT have ANY influence on policy, that belongs to the CEO's and directors and their corporate lobbyists.
But ANYONE who suggests such a violent course of action is only helping to derail any progress made by the public, CEOs and the such should be brought up on charges not summarily executed no matter who they are, because if you prosecute instead then you give a stronger message to the corrupt by saying "do wrong and you WILL go to jail and lose your ill gotten gains", whereas violent action just makes them dig in further and protect themselves even more and makes it harder to sort them out..

reply to post by DataWraith


yeah, good points.

so these idiots are complaining about their student loans?


does the frikkin collage have anything to do with it?

or is it just the banks?



who the frik are you paying for that education?

wells fargo or harvard?


if people don't see this then their money was ill spent, lol!!

reply to post by DataWraith


Do you think that 'ending the Federal Reserve' would be a better direction to move in....as far as assisting people to gain the freedoms they are seeking by this protest?

reply to post by Aim64C


Brilliant response, one of those star things for you! Do we get a free Mcdonalds meal or something if we collect enough of these stars? Anyway, good response, should be printed out and handed to all these people who seem to think an ideal world is a free world, made of chocolate and ice cream and raining money...It's HARP that's stopping this! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAARP!!! in fairness I wish for nothing more than a free world, a world where we deal with each other and not banks, where we grow our own and all have a trade to help each other within our communities and collectively help and trade with other communities...Unfortunately, I personally know too many people who would sit around for half of the day, while trying to steal from this ideal world during the other half of the day, which is why most of them are for this ideal world too!

Originally posted by fooks

what are you suggesting? the friggin game be rigged?

When you talk about rigging the game, that opens up the question of whether the game is rigged at the moment.

But leaving that aside, if you take rules out of the game, and open up American society to the kind of exploitation that existed during the era of the "Robber Barons", you will have the same results, i.e., bloody battles fought in the streets and the eventual breakup of the largest corporations by the government.

This will keep happening in American society until one day you have this:

Originally posted by TinfoilTP

Originally posted by Biigs
I see this as one of the many looming problems thats about to errupt soon.

Would it be so bad if there was a max limit for personel wealth, before it becomes dangerous for the country that individual lives in due to the rich mans wealth respect and influence (also on the street side, celebraty value).

Once you hit 500m, is there really anything you cant do when you 'only' had 250m?

Besides buy a bigger island....

How is one like Soros expected to take over the world with a paltry 500 million??? He already gave out over a billion in his quest for power and needs more.

A billion ??? maybe last month.
try not to forget ... more than one revolution has been funded by George Soros
Soviet Revolution
Colour Revolutions - soviet / balkans
*** Orange - ukraine
*** Rose - georgia
*** Yellow - phillipines
*** Cedar - lebanon
*** Bulldozer - serbia
*** Blue - kuwait
*** Tulip or Pink - kyrgyzstan
*** Velvet - czechoslovakia
and others. his revolutionary fingerprints are deeply involved in each ... so, how well are any of them doing today? (notice, i didn't even mention his nazi participation cause he was an impressionable minor but still, does anyone believe the nazi foundations have vanished from his motivations?)

so long as the distractions keep focus away from the master manipulators, we don't stand a chance of changing a dang thing except the population numbers.

if there is any asset stripping to be done, perhaps Soros should be the first ... stripped and re-distributed?
he is a man who thrives off chaos, are we really voluntarily feeding this beast, more?

reply to post by DataWraith


I think everyone understands that idea.

Originally posted by Partygirl

Originally posted by Taupin Desciple
That e-mail is a joke. Whether it was meant to be serious or planted by someone to cause an uprising........it's a joke. One Million dollars makes you rich? Maybe in Uganda. But certainly not in America.
:

A million doesn't make you rich?!?!

I'm pretty sure if you total up all the money I will be able to earn in my lifetime it will not reach $1 MM. (unless we have hyperinflation lol).

But hey, if you say so...then I suppose you wouldn't mind paypalling me a million...heck, a hundred thousand would be just fine. Even ten thousand will do. I'll take a hundred, why not. Can you spare me $25 until next payday? Cup of coffee?

edit on 6-10-2011 by Partygirl because: (no reason given)

and this is another fancy misnomer ...
did you know ?? if you save $50 a week every week beginning on your 18th birthday, you will have accumulated 1 million dollars (cold hard cash) on your 40th birthday ??? no? do the math.

that's less than $10 a day ... i would bet most of these protesters spend that on their coffee.