Bezos Increases his wealth by $13 Billion in 15 minutes

Bama Believer said:
times are better than they used to be,, toughness is not so much required like it used to be,, but,,, things being cyclical in nature,, tough times will come back to us.. and I'd rather have toughness and not need it,, than the other way around.
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Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.
 
CFBHome said:
. There has to be a better way to facilitate it.

Looking forward to conversing more!
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Taking the wealth of others is not the way to do it.

A couple of thoughts before I explain what I feel is the better way ...

Americans are living better now than at any point in history. Aside from the homeless situation which is largely either A] voluntary, or B] a result of mental illness - nearly everyone has more than they need. TVs. Cell phones, vehicles etc. Even poor people have these things. We are not doing so bad, and it's getting better. We should be less concerned about how much Bezos has, and more concerned with how well we are doing. Anything else is simply jealousy.

Now, back to how to better facilitate this.... By "this" I mean improving the lives of the poor (and not by stealing from the rich to do so). The Hoover Institute did a study and found that if you want to end generational poverty, outs pretty easy - just do three things. And they are all in the control of the individual.
1 - graduate high school.
2 - get and keep a job. The keep part here infers that you are learning new skills while at work, making your labor more valuable.
3 - don't have kids before you are married. There are a number of viable options for birth control out there at very low cost or even free. (And my personal opinion is that abortion should never be an option for birth control.)

That's it. Do those three things and you've broken the chain of generational poverty. And these are all choices that are up to the INDIVIDUAL. No welfare-mommy state necessary.
 
Nod4Eight said:
Taking the wealth of others is not the way to do it.

A couple of thoughts before I explain what I feel is the better way ...

Americans are living better now than at any point in history. Aside from the homeless situation which is largely either A] voluntary, or B] a result of mental illness - nearly everyone has more than they need. TVs. Cell phones, vehicles etc. Even poor people have these things. We are not doing so bad, and it's getting better. We should be less concerned about how much Bezos has, and more concerned with how well we are doing. Anything else is simply jealousy.

Now, back to how to better facilitate this.... By "this" I mean improving the lives of the poor (and not by stealing from the rich to do so). The Hoover Institute did a study and found that if you want to end generational poverty, outs pretty easy - just do three things. And they are all in the control of the individual.
1 - graduate high school.
2 - get and keep a job. The keep part here infers that you are learning new skills while at work, making your labor more valuable.
3 - don't have kids before you are married. There are a number of viable options for birth control out there at very low cost or even free. (And my personal opinion is that abortion should never be an option for birth control.)

That's it. Do those three things and you've broken the chain of generational poverty. And these are all choices that are up to the INDIVIDUAL. No welfare-mommy state necessary.
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While I generally agree with this, it ignores the reality of both the inner city and the most extreme areas of poverty in rural areas- in both, schools are inferior and role models in short supply. Like all nations and all times, we are a product of our history, and while ours certainly has it's bright spots, it's not without it's dark ones.

Simple solutions sound good, but they don't really exist universally. What most of us probably consider the norm is being born on at least first base, and we give ourselves full credit for a base hit or more. There are kids in this country (and everywhere) who never even get an at bat.

That said, do I think either party has a solution? Hell no- neither party is even looking for a solution- they are looking to get and hold onto power, they have no other real agenda.
 
Nitt1300 said:
While I generally agree with this, it ignores the reality of both the inner city and the most extreme areas of poverty in rural areas- in both, schools are inferior and role models in short supply. Like all nations and all times, we are a product of our history, and while ours certainly has it's bright spots, it's not without it's dark ones.

Simple solutions sound good, but they don't really exist universally. What most of us probably consider the norm is being born on at least first base, and we give ourselves full credit for a base hit or more. There are kids in this country (and everywhere) who never even get an at bat.

That said, do I think either party has a solution? Hell no- neither party is even looking for a solution- they are looking to get and hold onto power, they have no other real agenda.
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Surely a diploma from an inferior school is worth more than not having a diploma from an inferior school. And yes, role models are in short supply - that's why the third step here is important - emphasizing the nuclear family.

All of these steps stress personal accountability. That's what needs to change, and its a cultural change. For so long we've embraced a culture of enabling with welfare programs etc. Changing that will not be easy, but I believe it's possible. Does this mean we completely scrap welfare - no. But let's make it a hand up, not a hand out.

As far as politicians, I agree completely. They are too concerned with retaining power to actually take steps to do something. Which is why my proposal is we make changes without government intervention (or minimal.) We need a social paradigm, but I'm likely being unrealistically optimistic.
 
One point we haven’t discussed is that Bezos has actually created wealth, much of it for himself but many, many billions for others as well. Theres a huge difference between creating wealth via productivity and efficiency than simply taking it from someone else, which is what socialism calls for. Socialism, besides being inherently unfair also removes the incentive for hard work, innovation, investment, etc. Which is why people in Venezuela were eating zoo animals despite having the largest oil reserves in the world.
 
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