I should have stayed in Brasil!

Hey Arlie, I'm sure you donate as much of your income and savings as you would have these "fat cats" donate, right? RIGHT?????

 

Right. I'll make them a deal. I'll donate 10% of my income to charity if they will do the same. Just keep in mind that after we do this, I will be living considerably "lower" in economic standards while those "fat cats" will never miss a meal, or a cruise, or a cocktail party, or a golf game, or a polo tournament, etc. And please remember that many of those "fat cats" got FAT off the money from the little guys. Remember Enron, WorldCom, etc, ad infinitum.

And O.J. is still out looking for the REAL killers. I wonder how his search is going? Any progress reports???

 

did he get fingerprinted upon entering the country

 

I feel the exact same way. Gates has really done both, awesome charity and lavish luxury.

 

Yes, because we all know that all rich people are just evil crooks that got their money from dishonest means and don't deserve to live a nice lifestyle....

 

And Martha sold her Imclone stock COINCIDENTLY a few hours before the FDA denied their latest product. WOW! That sure was good timing on her part. Does she pick the winners at the horse track also? How about Vegas?

 

Preach on, Arlie, preach on.

The lifestyle difference between the Paul Allens and the regular folk is as big as the difference is between us and the people in Mozambique who are lucky to have 3 walls and a roof, drink from puddles, and can do more than once every two weeks.

The only other sin to top greed is vanity, IMO.

You don't have to be a fat cat either to be lumped in with the Paul Allen class. In a way, I am too just to be able to post here.

However you earned it, off your own merits, by being a part of the lucky sperm club, through the lottery winnings, Columbian drug operation, whatever. You are wonderful capitalists, businessmen, entrepaneurs, or lucky individuals. While considered shallow and horrible human beings by people like us, it gives me some pleasure in being able to enjoy the things I do have and can provide my family knowing how bad it is in the rest of the world. God bless America. LOL!

Sunny

 

A good friend had the opportunity to interview for a job on Allen's latest boat -- the opening was for a full-time "audio engineer / DJ" -- basically, his job would have been to run the ship's on-board recording studio (!) and play DJ for Mr. Allen.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the job, but man, what a job that would have been...

 

What's your point? She got nailed. Duh. And, ImClone's runner up just got FDA approval; so, she shot herself in the face, not the foot with that move. Why're you preaching man? If you're so ****ing bothered with other's wealth, and you're so impoverised maybe you should do something about it, in the real world. You mention worldcom, etc but they all got nailed too -- just like martha. Yes, a lot of people got ****ed out of their retirment, and life savings, but what's your platform of preachy whining going to accomplish? What've you done to improve their mean std. of living?
If you're so devout to your cause of skining the fat cat , go lobby -- no one's gonna hand you reform on a platter (but, you wouldn't dare accept right, as things in platters are far to riche, right?)

 

(Stands on soap box)

Arlie, why is it that when people bust their ass to become successful, there is always someone like yourself standing in the wings to say that they don't do enough for the common man or deserve what they have worked for. Hey buddy, what do YOU do for the common man? Those people pay taxes just like you and me, and I'll bet you their share is a heck of a lot more than ours, so like it or not, they put into the system just like we do. Remember this is a board that consist mainly of people who can afford expensive sports cars that we all don't NEED. Maybe we should all donate our car funds to help some poor people. DUDE get a grip and stop whinning. It really sounds more like you are jealous of the guy because he can afoord such nice toys, if you would spend half as much time as you do complaining about rich people and apply yourself more, maybe you can attain their status someday also. If that isn't what turns you on, then stop putting others down for doing something that pleases them. It is NOT the responsibility of rich people to take care of poor people. This is America buddy, everyone has the same chances in this country, some take advantage of it and some don't. Take a chill pill and enjoy the drive.

(Step down from soap box and puts on flame suit)


FIRE AWAY

 

And when those Enron guys get released from that cushy federal prison after a year or two of easy time and some severe wrist slapping, they will probably be picked up at the front gates of the prison on their day of release by a limousine and driven to one of their remaining homes for a relaxing reunion with their families and friends followed by a backyard bar-b-cue.
At the same time, those people who got shafted out of their retirement funds and their life savings will probably be working the evening shift at the local Wal-Mart stock room in order to earn a few dollars in a hopeless attempt to recoup those thousands of dollars lost when the fat cats raided their retirement accounts without their permission.

 

Darth, do you think that when those corporate swindlers get released from jail that they will have to walk several miles to the nearest bus station, ragged suitcase in hand, and buy a ticket to "somewhere" in order to start a new life? Of course not. Even if by some wild chance they don't have at least ONE lavish home to go to, they will probably end up staying at one of their rich buddie's summer homes where they will write a book about their experience, start a book signing tour across the country, and then hit the talk show circuit. Within 6 months, they will have earned more money than most people ever do. And throw in a big money offer to turn their book into a movie with a soundtrack recorded by one of the latest hip hop bands, and you've got the latest cinematic blockbuster to rake in some major scratch at the box office. (Hope they contracted for a percentage of the box office gross and not a percentage of the profits because their swindling "book cookers" at the movie studios will use some of those swindling tactics to make sure that the movie never shows a profit and therefore they will never receive a dime from the movie.) So where's the real penalty for being a crook? Of course things might not be THAT good to them. They might have to settle for a TV movie of the week and not a 2000 screen blockbuster. But hey, they gotta eat too! After 2 years of bread and water, you don't expect them to eat like working class people, do you?

 

If they are smart enough to capitalize even further on their experience, why not let them? It's not like your random street thug couldn't write a book. The difference is that nobody would care. The "evil big wig" is just playing it smart and trying to capitalize on what the people want to see/hear.

And geez, god forbid that he have friends who would want to help him out....

 

Must have been some garage. I know they deserve credit for a lot of "hard work", but "starting in a garage" makes it sound more amazing than it really was. After all, it's not too hard to start a business when your parents are well connected wealthy people.

 

Slim, the defining moment was being able to take a product and sell it, not because he was a shrewed business person or a brilliant programmer. With the help of his partners created a market for a product that requires a constant demand. That is the amazing, and simple, truth behind the Microsoft corporation. An early business partnership taking someone else's product and marketing it in a way the original authors could not and it took off from there.

Sunny

 

I was taking some notes from this thread, and here's what I came up with.

~Rich people are applauded for being good consumers~

~Rich people deserve a lavish lifestyle~

~The majority of Arlie's challengers are accepting of their place in the unequal levels of financial wealth in our society~

~As long as I pay my taxes, I'm doing my part~

~Life and liberty have been completely overshadowed by property~

~Everyone has the same chances as everyone else, at least, here in America; this doesn't apply if we look outside our box at the rest of the world~

~Its ok to capitalize on ill gotten gains after you've been punished by the system~

~There is no shame in having wealthy friends to help you rebuild when you had your ill gotten gains stripped (or punished and left with nothing by an act of government, society, or god) because we all have them~

Thanks, fellas. Its been very educational!

Sunny

 

Consumerism is good for the economy...

Many do.

Some people are rich, and some arn't. You shouldn't have to apologize for your success.

I don't think there are any rich people out there who "just" pay taxes...

I'm not sure how you drew this conclusion...

For the most part, that is true...

If yoou can guage what the public wants and sell your story, what is to stop you? It's the public's fault for being so enamored with scandal.

So it's okay to have poor friends, but not rich friends?

 

The point that Arlie, or at least I, would like to make is not what makes Arlie so bitter, but rather, what makes you and so many other people so accepting of that?

The attitudes of, "I can't control it or change it by myself, but I'm not a part of a group that is able to either, because I'm comfortable living as a fat cat or in between or I just don't care" is what amazes me the most.

Or maybe it doesn't. After all, this is a site to chatter about expensive, rare, unique, and lavish automobiles with an off topic section, not exotic cars anonymous.

Sunny

 

Wow! Paul Allen's yacht is really awesome. Now that guy knows how to travel. Heh, I bet he flies (one of) his 757's down to the coast and choppers out to the boat, just to turn it around and cruise into the harbor . Is the boat normally docked in Florida? Seattle-Brasil would be a looong cruise.

Oh, wait, I guess this thread has dissolved into petty bickering about wealth and distribution. I will try and restrain my utter shock...

Back to the boat, it's incredible, but I'm still not comfortable about the idea of having hired hands to manage your life for you - having other people revolve their life around you. I'm just a little too possessive and territorial: I dread the thought of ever having a babysitter (or even lawn care co.) snooping around my house, let alone a crew of 80 on my boat. But, like all luxuries, I assume it's easier to get used to such pampering than to have it taken away!

 

Why do rich people deserve a lavish lifestyle? Perfect example of why I said property overshadows the other aspects of our society.

There are plenty of rich people who just pay their taxes. Most of the people paying the taxes, are by definition, better off than the bottom 50% of the worker pool.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/menu/top_50__of_wage_earners_pay_96_09__of_income_taxes.guest.html
(calculated from public IRS data made public in 2001 in Oct 2003 on his show)

That is a public I don't wish to be a part of, but you and I take the good with the bad I guess! I would consider it immoral, but the great cog of capitalism doesn't slow over one reformed or unreformed crook.

No. The point that Arlie and I are trying to make is we don't think its ok that a "reformed" criminal gets to live "better" than the bottom 50% of society. Or, its not right that criminals (who likely prey on the middle class by the numbers) are that way because 3 hots and a cot in prison is better than what they currently have, because the extravagently wealthy or someone in the top 50% would never take someone like this into their homes.

Sunny

 

I don't see why they shouldn't get to live that sort of lifestyle if so they chose...

You'll ahve no argument from me that its the rich pay almost all of the taxes, as thats a fact that I like to spread myself. It seems to me though that giving to charity is also a fairly common practice....

Well, I'm personally disgusted by the public's desires, but they are what they are. Obsession with scandal is pretty low on my list of cultural traits to try and fight.

Two points here: I don't think our punishment system is harsh enough. Prison should not be like a low end hotel room. It should be tough to make you truely feel sorry for what you've done. I also don't think that many of our prison sentences are long enough. That said, I don't think its right to blame the "top 50%" for crime. Nobody FORCES anyone into a life of crime.