Sherry Shaw wrote:
> "Wealth" (2) is also called "privilege" because that's what it is--a 
> privilege.

Actually, I'm going to dispute this. Your ability to hang on to the 
money that others have voluntarily given you is not a privilege. It's a 
fundamental fact.

This is what a war-lord is: someone with enough money to buy weapons and 
defenses and to hire people to man them in order to keep you from taking 
away what's left.

Midieval knights didn't get their armor by collecting taxes to pay for 
it. They got their taxes by wearing armor to collect it.

In what conceivable sense is it a "privilege" to take at gunpoint 
someone else's labor? I don't know about where you live, but here we 
used to call that slavery.

I suspect that if Bill Gates took his $140 billion dollars to Kenya in 
some form that wasn't just fiat currency, he would have no trouble at 
all keeping it, given that he'd have twice the GDP of all of Kenya at 
his disposal for buying fortresses, weapons, etc.

So no, having money that *you* earned isn't a privilege unless you think 
"privilege" means "i've decided to not try to kill you for your money." 
If you think it's a privilege not to be torn apart by the mob, yeah, I 
can see where you might think being wealthy is a privilege.

-- 
   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."

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St. wrote:
> "Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message 
> news:48038975$1@news.povray.org...
> 
> 
>> It's not that you know lots of doctors. It's that you ignore all the poor 
>> people who you pass every day.
> 
>      That was a low call.

Perhaps I phrased it wrong. It's that you're not conciously counting all 
the people who aren't making $400K that you pass each day, because 
they're not exceptional in your mind. (That's what "selection bias" 
means, in some sense.)

-- 
   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."

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Darren New wrote:
> St. wrote:
>> "Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message 
>> news:48038975$1@news.povray.org...
>>
>>
>>> It's not that you know lots of doctors. It's that you ignore all the 
>>> poor people who you pass every day.
>>
>>      That was a low call.
> 
> Perhaps I phrased it wrong.

I.e., not that you're "ignoring them" as unworthy, but that you're 
"ignoring them" when counting the percentage of people who make lots of 
money. You obviously interact more with people who make lots of money - 
that's how they make it.

Me, I think I know very few people who make >$250K who don't have 
millions and millions of dollars.  (I know a fair number of people who 
have millions and millions of dollars, tho.)

-- 
   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."

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Phil Cook wrote:
> Nota Bene. With the real figures the bottom 50% pay between 7% and 12% 
> on their taxable income whereas the top 50% pay between 12% and 28%, 

You're missing the AMT there, which goes 29% to 36% this year, I think.

Anyway, here's another question to ponder: How much of the government 
services do people making >$200K consume?

I'd expect they're paying for public schools and sending their kids to 
private schools.

I don't imagine the police are coming around to their house every week.

I don't imagine they take up *too* many hours of public defender's time.

They're not on welfare.

They're indeed paying half of *everyone*'s FICA taxes.  If not 3/4'ths.

I wouldn't imagine they use up (say) ten times as much military 
preparedness.

They can afford to hire their own bodyguards, so they don't need police 
cruising the neighborhood.

So what *is* the excuse for taking more, other than "the rich people 
don't get hurt enough to actually fight back with violence."

-- 
   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."

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On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:18:53 -0700, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>
wrote:

>Me, I think I know very few people who make >$250K

And you work in IT?
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:14:01 -0700, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>
wrote:

> yeah, I 
>can see where you might think being wealthy is a privilege.

Come the revolution, comrade :)



That's how the B*st*rds grind us down by promises that we can join
them.


-- 
Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here.
:-)


-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Stephen wrote:
> On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:41:29 +0200, andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom>
> wrote:
> 
>> Stephen wrote:
>>> On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:49:59 +0200, "Gail Shaw"
>>> <initialsurname@sentech sa dot com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Look how many of the comments are only blaming the government. Is everyone
>>>> else completely without blame?
>>> Governments are an easy target and it is healthier than blaming
>>> minority groups.
>> You mean that in western societies we have a silent majority of civil 
>> servants?
> 
> What part of the Netherlands do you live in, again? ;)
Zaandam, just north west of amsterdam, why?

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On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:13:16 +0200, andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom>
wrote:

>Zaandam, just north west of amsterdam, why?

It seemed such a Dutch reply. (No bad thing :)
I am working in Sluiskil, Zeeland just now, for my sins :)
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Stephen wrote:
>> Me, I think I know very few people who make >$250K
> And you work in IT?

Yes. Relatively speaking, I know personally not that many whose AGI is 
more than $250K.  One out of 100 of the people I know? Yeah, that's 
about right.

-- 
   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."

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Stephen wrote:
> On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:14:01 -0700, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>
> wrote:
> 
>> yeah, I 
>> can see where you might think being wealthy is a privilege.
> 
> Come the revolution, comrade :)
> 


Thinking that it's actually *right* for the mob to tear the rich people 
apart instead of simply mob violence? Yeah, that *is* so yesterday.

I subscribe to the "if it needs to be done, don't try to justify it with 
morality" school. If the rich need to be beat up, don't try and get God 
or Right or History to justify you. Just go do it.

-- 
   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."

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