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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,478
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,478 |
I think part of the problem is that there's probably not anyone many on this board who has spent any real amount of time around anyone who is TRULY wealthy intelligent. The disparity in this country between the bottom 99.8% of the population and the top .2% is MASSIVE.
Mathematically, there is less difference between the plastic surgeon pulling down $1million after taxes typical valedictorian, and the person living at the poverty line the C student than there is between that plastic surgeon valedictorian and some of the folks in the top 0.2% in this country. That 0.2-0.1% hold a MASSIVE MASSIVE MASSIVE amount of wealth giftedness. To the point that most people cannot even fathom it. It's literally beyond most people comprehension. Somehow the percentages called this translation to mind.
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007 |
I didn't say I'd spent any time being "the poor" in Britain. The social safety net here is quite different. I *am* the social safety net here.
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007 |
I think part of the problem is that there's probably not anyone many on this board who has spent any real amount of time around anyone who is TRULY wealthy intelligent. The disparity in this country between the bottom 99.8% of the population and the top .2% is MASSIVE.
Mathematically, there is less difference between the plastic surgeon pulling down $1million after taxes typical valedictorian, and the person living at the poverty line the C student than there is between that plastic surgeon valedictorian and some of the folks in the top 0.2% in this country. That 0.2-0.1% hold a MASSIVE MASSIVE MASSIVE amount of wealth giftedness. To the point that most people cannot even fathom it. It's literally beyond most people comprehension. Somehow the percentages called this translation to mind. I also *am* the valedictorian and the 0.1%. I wonder if that sentence was grammatically correct.
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,856
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,856 |
I didn't say I'd spent any time being "the poor" in Britain. The social safety net here is quite different. I *am* the social safety net here. Yes, but by the nature of your job, you see the worst of the worst, right? That experience would affect your perceptions, because that group isn't representative of the whole. Not that my experiences would represent the whole, either, because the working poor tend to shun people like those you represent. Nobody hates a welfare queen more than the woman with three jobs.
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007 |
I didn't say I'd spent any time being "the poor" in Britain. The social safety net here is quite different. I *am* the social safety net here. Yes, but by the nature of your job, you see the worst of the worst, right? That experience would affect your perceptions, because that group isn't representative of the whole. Mostly it's people over 50 who have been thrown on the industrial scrap-heap, so to speak. Many of the multi-generational issues tend to be mentally retarded people or psychiatric impairments. Apple. Tree. However, in addition to that, there's the amusing fact that future investment returns across all asset classes are being driven toward zero over all timeframes. Then there's the generational element. Charles Hugh Smith, my favorite pessimistic permabear, has a really nice blog post today: http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay13/genX5-13.html
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 113
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 113 |
Thanks for the article. Unfortunately, this kind of analysis is not on the front pages of the mainstream media. ETA the cartoon in the article is definitely pessimistic/disconcerting.
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,181
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,181 |
Totally random thought... my favorite pessimistic permabear We should SO start a punk band with this name. 
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,640
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,640 |
The equity risk premium (expected return differential between stocks and bonds) is positive, so it does not make sense to be a "pessimistic permabear". In general I would not like to be the source of a gloomy outlook on life for my children. They will need to develop pessimism and cynicism on their own.
"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." - George Orwell
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Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 272
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Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 272 |
Please be respectful and try to keep the topic on education, or else we will be forced to lock the thread.
Thank you,
Mark
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,513
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,513 |
The equity risk premium (expected return differential between stocks and bonds) is positive, so it does not make sense to be a "pessimistic permabear". Correct, assuming US spending doesn't continue massively unchecked into eternity.
What is to give light must endure burning.
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