What bothers me is there is no conceivable way these individuals could have performed over a billion dollars worth of labor, ever. I'm not advocating communism or socialism, I'm just pointing out a basic truth. None of these people could have conceivably done more useful work than the entire lifetimes work of thousands of people.
Sure, corporate CEOs and super rich are much more productive than the average person....but their brains still tick at a mere 1000hz. They can still only speak at a slowish 150w
What bothers me is there is no conceivable way these individuals could have performed over a billion dollars worth of labor, ever. I'm not advocating communism or socialism, I'm just pointing out a basic truth. None of these people could have conceivably done more useful work than the entire lifetimes work of thousands of people.
Sure they can. They've provided work for a lifetime for thousands of people.
This is an example of a logical error. Yes, they lead the tiller on the ship...but simply because the decisions they make touch the wheel, does this mean they are 10,000 times as useful as anyone else? Is it somehow a rare trait for an individual to be able to understand and lead a corporate mechanism? Of course not.
It's like saying the hand on the wheel is 100,000 times as important as the lookouts in the crow's nests or the actual tiller man in the engine room. Sure, the captain's hand perhaps is a litle more important than the less trained hands of the kitchen boy's....but not thousands or millions of times more as in corporations.
Plenty of educated people exist who can provide these sorts of decisions, some no doubt better than the executives we have in place. The reason they are paid more is because the executive has name recognition in the minds of the company shareholders, not because his services are thousands, millions of times more valuble.
A possible analogy might be Formula 1 racing cars. Every last part on those cars from the tiniest minutae in the engine firmware to suspension tuning has to be right for the car to win the race. Yet, the fans only remember the names of the driver, even though his labor is only a small portion of the work required to reach the finish line in time.
Sure, driving a car is tough...but so is tuning the fuel system and making these machines even survive the race. Sure, leading the next level of workers as a corporate exec isn't easy...but neither is debugging code or designing candy colored computer cases.
It's like saying the hand on the
wheel is 100,000 times as important as the lookouts in the crow's nests or the actual tiller man in the engine room.
Sure, the captain's hand perhaps is a litle more important than the less trained hands of the kitchen boy's....but not
thousands or millions of times more as in corporations. Plenty of educated people exist who can provide these sorts of
decisions, some no doubt better than the executives we have
So in other words, it's something like 90% luck and 10% skill.
Sure, luck plays a significant role in separating the super rich from the rich. Bill Gates, for instance, is a viscous, cut-throat bastard who probably would have done OK starting a wide range of businesses. He just so happened to luck out and be starting out at the right time to seize a massive new industry at birth (i.e., the software industry).
Who cares, though? With hard work and smart money management, it's not too hard to become
The people on the rich list aren't there because they are steering the boat, they are there because they risked their livlihood to build the boat and set it to sea. If the boat sinks, they are the ones that are screwed the most.
Most new businesses fail. It is a risky thing for your own personal livlihood to start your own business because if it fails, you don't have income to fall back on and you are likely deep in debt. The owners of the company absolutely deserve the right to reap the benefits of the ris
I argue that you statements house the logical error.
It's like saying the hand on the wheel is 100,000 times as important as the lookouts in the crow's nests or the actual tiller man in the engine room.
1) The Captain is personally responsible for the continued livelihoods of his crew. The Captain calls the shots, the captain takes the risks, the captain accepts the responsibility. The crew follows his orders.
2) The Captain, by chance, was granted by Nature an ab
Your eugenics-smelling spiel went out of fashion in science some decades ago, except for the irreparably arrogant, of course.
Where did you get "eugenics" out of my post? I am talking nothing about Hitler-esque manipulation of races, as that is also "playing God." What I am merely saying is it is best to recognize the cards we were dealt and to do the best we can with them.
It is arguable that this is what the US Constitution is attempting to do, by recognizing the absolute power corrupts absolutely and
"The Captain is personally responsible for the continued livelihoods of his crew. The Captain calls the shots, the captain takes the risks, the captain accepts the responsibility."
What responsibility?
"Be there. Aloha."
-- Steve McGarret, _Hawaii Five-Oh_
What bothers me (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure, corporate CEOs and super rich are much more productive than the average person....but their brains still tick at a mere 1000hz. They can still only speak at a slowish 150w
Re:What bothers me (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure they can. They've provided work for a lifetime for thousands of people.
Re:What bothers me (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What bothers me (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What bothers me (Score:1)
Sure, luck plays a significant role in separating the super rich from the rich. Bill Gates, for instance, is a viscous, cut-throat bastard who probably would have done OK starting a wide range of businesses. He just so happened to luck out and be starting out at the right time to seize a massive new industry at birth (i.e., the software industry).
Who cares, though? With hard work and smart money management, it's not too hard to become
Re:What bothers me (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What bothers me (Score:2)
I argue that you statements house the logical error.
It's like saying the hand on the wheel is 100,000 times as important as the lookouts in the crow's nests or the actual tiller man in the engine room.
1) The Captain is personally responsible for the continued livelihoods of his crew. The Captain calls the shots, the captain takes the risks, the captain accepts the responsibility. The crew follows his orders.
2) The Captain, by chance, was granted by Nature an ab
Re:What bothers me (Score:2)
Where did you get "eugenics" out of my post? I am talking nothing about Hitler-esque manipulation of races, as that is also "playing God." What I am merely saying is it is best to recognize the cards we were dealt and to do the best we can with them.
It is arguable that this is what the US Constitution is attempting to do, by recognizing the absolute power corrupts absolutely and
Re:What bothers me (Score:2)
What responsibility?