(April 17, 2015 at 10:21 pm)KUSA Wrote:

(April 17, 2015 at 5:41 pm)Brian37 Wrote: I live in a trailer and my mom pays my bills for me.

Really, what the fuck?

How is that any different than a trust fund kid. How is that different than a stay at home wife? Why should it matter to you how I support myself? She isn't going broke, and still has a savings. I wonder if you would say that if I was a woman?

Meh, I'm withya bud, it's good to have parents who love you and are in a situation to support you.  Kinda what family is for.  Love, support..that sort of thing.  I hope that my kids are comfortable enough with themselves that they don't feel the need to prove how big they are to others by "striking it out on there own" - as though that could prove any such thing to begin with....I hope they never see any reason to feel shame for being my children, or for having me take care of them.  We got here by sticking together, after all.

Besides...someones going to have to change my diapers one day.

(April 18, 2015 at 10:18 am)Rhythm Wrote: Meh, I'm withya bud, it's good to have parents who love you and are in a situation to support you.  Kinda what family is for.  Love, support..that sort of thing.  I hope that my kids are comfortable enough with themselves that they don't feel the need to prove how big they are to others by "striking it out on there own" - as though that could prove any such thing to begin with....I hope they never see any reason to feel shame for being my children, or for having me take care of them.  We got here by sticking together, after all.

Besides...someones going to have to change my diapers one day.

I am still productive, I do things for her around her retirement home apartment, I take her out to shop and to her doctors appointments and out to eat, things that she would have to pay even more for a professional on top of her rent. And I also spend all day promoting science(edit), and fight religious bigotry and homophobia. There are more ways to be productive than simply earning a paycheck. Not saying everyone should do what I do, but it is what works for us.

(April 17, 2015 at 6:29 pm)Heywood Wrote: The poor are rich compared to the poor a even just a century ago.

Although this is true, it doesn't mean that persons in desperate situations no longer exist. I tire of all the talk about how the poor have computers and TV sets and cell phones. Secondhand computers are dirt cheap and you can get a free or subsidized cell phone if you're poor. Yet you may experience difficulties getting a doctor or dentist despite Obamacare since many conditions that impact quality of life require insurance prerequisites be met; Obamacare hardly insures everyone. Can you say "chronic anal fissure with discharge"?

(April 18, 2015 at 11:54 am)Brian37 Wrote: There are more ways to be productive than simply earning a paycheck. Not saying everyone should do what I do, but it is what works for us.

Not to say the peanut gallery on a forum has no business evaluating you in an effort to determine how you don't measure up to their standards. That's another thing parents are for, if anyone is going to sit on the judge's bench. Best wishes.  

I hate that argument that our poor are better off. That is the lie the top uses to explode the pay gap an keep the working hamsters on their wheel. It really is nothing more than a lie the top uses to justify slave labor.

The west should raise the living standards as an example to the world, not compete to a race to the bottom. It is a lie that competition has to be about labor doing whatever big business wants. Business is needed in life, but the rich are only one aspect of society, not more or less important.

(April 18, 2015 at 1:07 pm)Hatshepsut Wrote:

(April 17, 2015 at 6:29 pm)Heywood Wrote: The poor are rich compared to the poor a even just a century ago.

Although this is true, it doesn't mean that persons in desperate situations no longer exist. I tire of all the talk about how the poor have computers and TV sets and cell phones. Secondhand computers are dirt cheap and you can get a free or subsidized cell phone if you're poor. Yet you may experience difficulties getting a doctor or dentist despite Obamacare since many conditions that impact quality of life require insurance prerequisites be met; Obamacare hardly insures everyone. Can you say "chronic anal fissure with discharge"?

No one is arguing there are not still people in desperate situations. What is being argued is the disparity between the rich and the poor. Brian claims the disparity is increasing. I am claiming it is decreasing. Is there a growing disparity between the rich and the poor. Are the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? The truth is everyone is getting richer.

Are the rich getting richer faster than the poor are getting richer? That depends upon what you look at. Brian looks at numbers in a ledger and thinks they are the most meaningful measure. I look at quality of life and find that to be the most meaningful measure. There is a disparity between the lifestyle of the rich and the life style of the poor and it is shrinking in my opinion.

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(April 18, 2015 at 8:02 am)Brian37 Wrote: How is that any different than a trust fund kid. How is that different than a stay at home wife? Why should it matter to you how I support myself? She isn't going broke, and still has a savings. I wonder if you would say that if I was a woman?

I really don't care how you support yourself. If you mom is willing to support you awesome! That being said if you don't have a job, aren't looking for a job, then you shouldn't be whining about your situation.

It is one thing to be supported by another. It is another thing to whine about it. You whine about.

(April 18, 2015 at 8:02 am)Brian37 Wrote: I wonder if you would say that if I was a woman?

Say what? Perhaps something like this?

(April 18, 2015 at 2:45 pm)KUSA Wrote:

(April 18, 2015 at 8:02 am)Brian37 Wrote: I wonder if you would say that if I was a woman?

Say what? Perhaps something like this?

Ask me if I give a fuck what you think of me? 


Don't care, the richest person on this planet today wasn't around 4 billion years ago and wont be around 4 billion years from now. I don't owe you or anyone any justifications as to how I live my life. I only have one and I will live it as I see fit. I'm not out to win a popularity contest.

(April 18, 2015 at 2:03 pm)Heywood Wrote: What is being argued is the disparity between the rich and the poor...Are the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer?  The truth is everyone is getting richer.

It's that "relative" thing, I suppose. It is possible for everyone to get richer while the gap between top and bottom increases. For instance, say the endpoints are $1000 and $4000 at time A, then $1500 and $9000 at time B. Everyone is richer at time B yet the gap has gone up from $3000 to $7500, and it's gone up in percentage terms, from 300% to 500%. This is what I believe is happening in the USA and probably worldwide as well, if wealth and income are measured in money terms.

There is a problem with that $ sign. The rich are subject to a lot of "paper" valuation that can balloon or vanish overnight while physical circumstances remain unchanged. I think part of the increasing disparity is in artificial monetary valuations that don't reflect realities of well-being and lifestyle. But monetary valuations do confer real political power. The building of a plutocratic stratosphere above the rest of society is an ill omen in a democracy, so I look at this trend with some fear.  

(April 18, 2015 at 2:53 pm)Hatshepsut Wrote:

(April 18, 2015 at 2:03 pm)Heywood Wrote: What is being argued is the disparity between the rich and the poor...Are the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer?  The truth is everyone is getting richer.

It's that "relative" thing, I suppose. It is possible for everyone to get richer while the gap between top and bottom increases. For instance, say the endpoints are $1000 and $4000 at time A, then $1500 and $9000 at time B. Everyone is richer at time B yet the gap has gone up from $3000 to $7500, and it's gone up in percentage terms, from 300% to 500%. This is what I believe is happening in the USA and probably worldwide as well, if wealth and income are measured in money terms.

There is a problem with that $ sign. The rich are subject to a lot of "paper" valuation that can balloon or vanish overnight while physical circumstances remain unchanged. I think part of the increasing disparity is in artificial monetary valuations that don't reflect realities of well-being and lifestyle. But monetary valuations do confer real political power. The building of a plutocratic stratosphere above the rest of society is an ill omen in a democracy, so I look at this trend with some fear.  

He's already ignored a Billionaire named Nick Hanauer who would agree with you and me. I wouldn't expect him to suddenly go " oh crap, I might be wrong".