The secret to success

2011-01-24 18:54:56

#101

Shocking: sorry you feel that way; +333|6029|...

You have to be really ignorant to not realise that galt in the OP was talking about OUR society. In no way did he imply that everyone on the planet is dependant on hard work alone.

I am still baffled at your notion that money equals wealth in all parts of the world equally. In the places where there is the most poverty money has the least physical value. People rather trade a goat for a cart full of bread than throwing around cents in those societies.

I have travelled in over 25 countries, and only in Africa did I see people who were truly unhappy and truly living in poverty. I refuse to believe that 75% of the entire fucking planet is starving.

inane little opines

2011-01-24 18:55:36

#102

Ilocano: buuuurrrrrrppppp.......; +341|6697

Because in a significant part of the planet, they could care less what $1 is. They live in their own little world with very little exposure to lifestyles other than what they've known for thousands of years. $1/day doesn't matter to them because they don't need the currency. They barter what they can't produce themselves.

Oh please. A loaf of bread in provincial China is significantly cheaper than a loaf of bread in Manhattan. And not just goods. Labor as well. Back home, I can have a nanny for each of my kids, a cook, a driver, a couple guards, and two maids to clean my mansion. I can't afford that here. I can hire an enforcer much more cheaply back home than here. Back to goods, I can buy an entire bag of mango or papaya back home for the price of one here. I can take out a bus full of people to dinner for the same price as a family dinner at Chili's.

2011-01-24 19:03:01

#103

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6182|what

dayarath wrote:
I have travelled in over 25 countries, and only in Africa did I see people who were truly unhappy and truly living in poverty. I refuse to believe that 75% of the entire fucking planet is starving.

75% of the planet isn't starving, ffs. Maybe try reading it again you goose.

And Ilocano, I don't think you have any idea how a macro economy works. Let alone exchange rates so I'm not even going to bother.

2011-01-24 19:04:18

#104

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5388|London, England

AussieReaper wrote:
Ilocano wrote:
AussieReaper wrote:
How can you justify poverty levels like that? "Well - the cost of living is so low..."

If only they'd work harder, they could pull in 2, or even 3 dollars a day!

Then they'd have it sweet.

Seriously?
Because it's all relative. $100/hr in Manhattan is middle-class, while it's wealthy in parts of Tennessee.
The price of a loaf of bread doesn't change when you buy it from Manhattan or from Tennessee...

Have you heard of a concept known as purchasing power parity?

Umm, it changes drastically...

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2011-01-24 19:05:33

#105

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5388|London, England

AussieReaper wrote:
Oh, so you haven't heard of purchasing power parity.

I should have known... You have no idea what you're talking about if you're comparing what you can buy in another state, rather than the value of the dollar unit. Which doesn't change.

As for the disputing how many people are in poverty?

Try reading up on the statistics into global poverty. Come back if you still dispute that hard work is all that is what seperates you or me from being poor rather than just dumb plain luck being born into a privilaged home/country.

Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.

And that's just a few of the statistics on earning.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/ … stats#src1

Umm, the value of the dollar changes every second, and from zip code to zip code... it's never static.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2011-01-24 19:06:14

#106

Shocking: sorry you feel that way; +333|6029|...

AussieReaper wrote:
dayarath wrote:
I have travelled in over 25 countries, and only in Africa did I see people who were truly unhappy and truly living in poverty. I refuse to believe that 75% of the entire fucking planet is starving.
75% of the planet isn't starving, ffs. Maybe try reading it again you goose.

And Ilocano, I don't think you have any idea how a macro economy works. Let alone exchange rates so I'm not even going to bother.

Poverty then, and even then it is still blown widely out of proportions. 75% is literally and figuratively everyone outside of western society. There is alot of poverty, but nowhere NEAR that high a number.

inane little opines

2011-01-24 19:07:35

#107

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6182|what

JohnG@lt wrote:
Umm, the value of the dollar changes every second, and from zip code to zip code... it's never static.

The price of bread changes too.

Look up what a $100 trillion Zimbabwe banknote will buy you.

2011-01-24 19:07:42

#108

Ilocano: buuuurrrrrrppppp.......; +341|6697

AussieReaper wrote:
dayarath wrote:
I have travelled in over 25 countries, and only in Africa did I see people who were truly unhappy and truly living in poverty. I refuse to believe that 75% of the entire fucking planet is starving.
75% of the planet isn't starving, ffs. Maybe try reading it again you goose.

And Ilocano, I don't think you have any idea how a macro economy works. Let alone exchange rates so I'm not even going to bother.

Exchange rates? hah. I deal with it all the time. How much remittance do you send in a year? Have you invested in any foreign ventures? Supporting anyone in another country? Paying for education for anyone in a foreign country?

Macro economy is irrelevant for the common folk in most of the non-industrialized world.

2011-01-24 19:08:52

#109

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5388|London, England

AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
Umm, the value of the dollar changes every second, and from zip code to zip code... it's never static.
The price of bread changes too.

Look up what a $100 trillion Zimbabwe banknote will buy you.

Then what's your point exactly? You essentially said that cost of living doesn't exist and now you're agreeing with me?

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2011-01-24 19:11:54

#110

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6630|132 and Bush

AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
Umm, the value of the dollar changes every second, and from zip code to zip code... it's never static.
The price of bread changes too.

Look up what a $100 trillion Zimbabwe banknote will buy you.

This was the way it was during the period just prior to Hitler in Nazi Germany. Funny how one dictator can revive an economy whilst another can completely decimate it. Absolute power, it's a crap shoot.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2011-01-24 19:12:59

#111

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6182|what

JohnG@lt wrote:
AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
Umm, the value of the dollar changes every second, and from zip code to zip code... it's never static.
The price of bread changes too.

Look up what a $100 trillion Zimbabwe banknote will buy you.
Then what's your point exactly? You essentially said that cost of living doesn't exist and now you're agreeing with me?

I never said cost of living doesn't exist, and agree that the cost of living is lower in the 3rd world countries, but the <1 a day they earn is still well within what I would call below the poverty line.

2011-01-24 19:14:51

#112

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5388|London, England

AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
AussieReaper wrote:

The price of bread changes too.

Look up what a $100 trillion Zimbabwe banknote will buy you.
Then what's your point exactly? You essentially said that cost of living doesn't exist and now you're agreeing with me?
I never said cost of living doesn't exist, and agree that the cost of living is lower in the 3rd world countries, but the <1 a day they earn is still well within what I would call below the poverty line.

It depends on if they've replaced it with a barter system or something else. It's hard to feel sorry for Africans. They've overpopulated their continent, do not farm enough to sustain it, rape and pillage each other ceaselessly etc. Would it suck to be born there? Of course. But there's fuckall I can do to fix it even if I cared enough to make the attempt. They have to fix their own mess.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2011-01-24 19:17:47

#113

Ilocano: buuuurrrrrrppppp.......; +341|6697

AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
AussieReaper wrote:
The price of bread changes too.

Look up what a $100 trillion Zimbabwe banknote will buy you.
Then what's your point exactly? You essentially said that cost of living doesn't exist and now you're agreeing with me?
I never said cost of living doesn't exist, and agree that the cost of living is lower in the 3rd world countries, but the <1 a day they earn is still well within what I would call below the poverty line.

To your Western standards. The man with three wives, a herd of goats and cows, and two huts who doesn't even have a dollar to his name doesn't consider himself in poverty. To himself, he's living like a king. He considers the guy with no lifestock, only one wife, and only one hut as being in poverty.

2011-01-24 19:18:01

#114

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5388|London, England

Also, I fail to see why it's at all relevant to the topic at hand. Did I dismiss luck out of hand? No. Would it be unlucky to be born to an African family? Absolutely. I'd probably kill my father for not castrating himself prior to my birth

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2011-01-24 19:19:13

#115

Shocking: sorry you feel that way; +333|6029|...

You don't measure poverty in material possessions. People's values in what we would consider poor regions are so radically different from our own, they don't really give much of a shit about all that stuff.

True poverty is easily recognizable when you see it, and it has nothing to do with any of that. Only in extremes such as actual starvation.

inane little opines

2011-01-24 19:20:58

#116

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6182|what

JohnG@lt wrote:
Also, I fail to see why it's at all relevant to the topic at hand. Did I dismiss luck out of hand? No. Would it be unlucky to be born to an African family? Absolutely. I'd probably kill my father for not castrating himself prior to my birth

"It's not being lucky, or being born into the right family (though that helps cover up deficiencies to an extent). It's not being born a genius or a retard. No, the secret to success is... surprise! Hard work."

I think the being born into the right family deserves more credit than you were willing to show in the OP.

2011-01-24 19:22:57

#117

Ilocano: buuuurrrrrrppppp.......; +341|6697

AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
Also, I fail to see why it's at all relevant to the topic at hand. Did I dismiss luck out of hand? No. Would it be unlucky to be born to an African family? Absolutely. I'd probably kill my father for not castrating himself prior to my birth
"It's not being lucky, or being born into the right family (though that helps cover up deficiencies to an extent). It's not being born a genius or a retard. No, the secret to success is... surprise! Hard work."

I think the being born into the right family deserves more credit than you were willing to show in the OP.

Paris Hilton...

2011-01-24 19:23:39

#118

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,810|6135|eXtreme to the maX

JohnG@lt wrote:
cpt.fass1 wrote:
I just hope it's not a family firm. But did you get the job through anyone you know, is it an Internship or just based off your degree?

I am happy that you are in a firm.
It's not a family firm, it's quite large. My friends father retired as a partner and I got the interview through him but I won the job on my own merits (my military service did wonders)

So would you have got an interview without your contacts?

Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!

2011-01-24 19:24:29

#119

13urnzz: Banned; +5,830|6527

AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
Also, I fail to see why it's at all relevant to the topic at hand. Did I dismiss luck out of hand? No. Would it be unlucky to be born to an African family? Absolutely. I'd probably kill my father for not castrating himself prior to my birth
"It's not being lucky, or being born into the right family (though that helps cover up deficiencies to an extent). It's not being born a genius or a retard. No, the secret to success is... surprise! Hard work."

I think the being born into the right family deserves more credit than you were willing to show in the OP.

i left home at 17. despite my upbringing, i count my current state of affairs successful, and i owe a lot of the motivation to get here to my wife.

i finished college at the age of 35.

2011-01-24 19:24:42

#120

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5388|London, England

AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
Also, I fail to see why it's at all relevant to the topic at hand. Did I dismiss luck out of hand? No. Would it be unlucky to be born to an African family? Absolutely. I'd probably kill my father for not castrating himself prior to my birth
"It's not being lucky, or being born into the right family (though that helps cover up deficiencies to an extent). It's not being born a genius or a retard. No, the secret to success is... surprise! Hard work."

I think the being born into the right family deserves more credit than you were willing to show in the OP.

Hardly. Why is birth considered luck-based in the first place? Is there some magic conveyor belt somewhere in the stratosphere that deposits souls into newborn babies at random? Sure, it's entirely out of your control who your parents are, but it's not out of their control. You being born to them is not luck based at all. Are some kids born into impossible circumstances? Absolutely. Are they the norm? Absolutely not, especially in the Western world.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2011-01-24 19:26:18

#121

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5388|London, England

Dilbert_X wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
cpt.fass1 wrote:
I just hope it's not a family firm. But did you get the job through anyone you know, is it an Internship or just based off your degree?

I am happy that you are in a firm.
It's not a family firm, it's quite large. My friends father retired as a partner and I got the interview through him but I won the job on my own merits (my military service did wonders)
So would you have got an interview without your contacts?

I probably wouldn't have known anything about the company and thus wouldn't have applied. They were hiring at the time so it was really just a matter of being handed that info. I specifically asked my friends dad not to 'put in the good word for me'.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2011-01-24 19:27:12

#122

FloppY_: +1,010|6316|Denmark aka Automotive Hell

Meh hard work isn't worth it :p

Your thoughts, insights, and musings on this matter intrigue me

2011-01-24 19:28:59

#123

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6182|what

JohnG@lt wrote:
Hardly. Why is birth considered luck-based in the first place?

Wow. You're dismissing your own comments from two posts ago.

JohnG@lt wrote:
Did I dismiss luck out of hand? No. Would it be unlucky to be born to an African family? Absolutely. I'd probably kill my father for not castrating himself prior to my birth

Do you two want to be alone together and continue debating yourself?

2011-01-24 19:30:42

#124

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5388|London, England

AussieReaper wrote:
JohnG@lt wrote:
Hardly. Why is birth considered luck-based in the first place?
Wow. You're dismissing your own comments from two posts ago.

JohnG@lt wrote:
Did I dismiss luck out of hand? No. Would it be unlucky to be born to an African family? Absolutely. I'd probably kill my father for not castrating himself prior to my birth
Do you two want to be alone together and continue debating yourself?

In both statements I blame the parents for bringing the kid into such a shitty situation.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2011-01-24 19:33:47

#125

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,810|6135|eXtreme to the maX

But from the perspective of the child luck is a very large factor.

Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!

BF2S Forums The secret to success

dayarath wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

Ilocano wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

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dayarath wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

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dayarath wrote:

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JohnG@lt wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

cpt.fass1 wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

cpt.fass1 wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

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AussieReaper wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

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