Sherry Shaw wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
>> It *is* the "cream rising" if you define "cream" as "capable of 
>> creating wealth."
>>
> 
> Ah, that's my problem.  I keep defining "cream" as "having a brain and 
> using it in some productive way" or even as "being a decent person."

Well, those two are certainly not mutually exclusive. If you look at 
"wealth" as "the result of being productive", then yes, people are using 
their brains in a productive way.

> No, just observing.  It's like real estate--"location, location, 
> location"--not something over which Bill and Oprah had any particular 
> prenatal control, just incredibly good luck.

Sure. But you seem to be complaining that they're wealthy.

> Again--what is the relationship between any individual's _taxpayer_ 
> percentile and _income_ percentile? 

It's in that table. I'm not sure what question you're asking, if that 
table doesn't answer it.

> (And don't those figures paint a 
> lovely picture of the gap between the filthy rich and the dirt poor?)

What, that less than 1% of the people in the country make more than ten 
times the median income? You know, that doesn't seem too bad to me.

> Which leads to a bizarre, sideways-to-the-topic speculation:  Is it 
> actually possible to have more money than you can spend? 

I think you can have more than you can *not waste* pretty easily. I 
think having more than you could actually *throw away* would be harder.

> or is it like that business about not being able to march all the 
> Chinese past a given point? 

Clearly, if you had more than half the money in the world, you couldn't 
spend it all. Other than that...

> You could calculate/guesstimate the amount 
> of income per day or second or whatever (and the amount of expenditure 
> necessary to reduce that amount consistently), but how do you calculate 
> potential expenditures?  In a world that has space tourism and Japanese 
> toilets, this could be a problem.  Not actually trying to change the 
> subject, just slightly distracted by a shiny thing. ;)

Sure. I read that at one point, assuming Bill Gates worked 14 hours a 
day, it wasn't worth the four seconds it would take for him to bend over 
and pick up a $500 bill he dropped. I'd say that's "faster than you can 
spend it."

Not faster than you can invest it, of course.

> Yep.  Of course, that Microsoft stock *smells* a lot like money... ;) 
> But it has to make you wonder--weren't the people who designed the AMT 
> aware of that particular point?

Yep. Trust me. :-)  I know several friends who got into serious grief 
with the IRS by getting stock grants at $2/share, exercising (but not 
selling) it when it was $50/share, and then selling it when it was back 
to $1/share, and nevertheless owing taxes on $48/share even tho they 
lost money in the whole thing.

But yes, Gates pays his 36% or whatever it is this year on any stock he 
gets. He doesn't pay it on stock that just went up in value until he 
actually gets the value of that stock in FRNs.

> I *like* arg-- erm, "discussing" with you--ye're rat smart.  ;)

I *think* that's a compliment? :-)

> P.S.:  Sorry it took me so long to get back to an interesting 
> discussion--the so-called Real World keeps intruding on my Me-time, 
> dammit.  The other day, I looked out in the yard and thought, "Hmm, the 
> ice storm left quite a lot of tree limbs lying around, but then the last 
> couple of floods carried some of them away...but the the tornado left 
> some new ones behind."  OK, that's wacky even by Missouri weather 
> standards.  I keep expecting to look out and see giant steaming piles of 
> glowing neon-colored sparkly horse doo, from the Four Horsemen of the 
> Apocalypse riding overhead.*  And then there's school.

Heh.

> *<Pratchett reference> I imagine Binky's is silvery colored, with blue 
> and clear glitter. </Pratchett reference>

I think it's made clear he's just white, a plain old horse.  Magically 
enhanced, yes. But isn't Mort's first job to shovel up after Binky?

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

Post a reply to this message