TheRumpledOne wrote:4x=0:
Most people are NOT civilized. Look at what happens when there is a natural disaster or the electricity is out... looting, rape, vandalism, ... total mayhem. Happens in the USA and the rest of the world. People are animals. The veil of civilization is very thin and fragile. Most people only follow the law out of fear not out of respect.
The fact is you and I are still slaves because we do NOT get to keep all the money that we make. Government, through the threat of violence, confiscation and incarceration, takes part of what we make.
Avery,
All too true. Government is the lie that holds together the "game" of civilization. Needless to say the winners of the game are always manipulating, conning and outright steeling from 95% of us. The failure of the revolutions of the 60s should have taught mankind that they cannot win against the power players with "love" and "peace". The rich and powerful write and re-write the laws and societal tendencies to which we adhere.
Strangely enough this sounds much like a corollary for trading. Only 5% succeed where 95% fail (or statistics to that effect). Are you the wolf or the sheep?
Mankind cannot live in a state of total equality. Utopian projects have started and failed time after time for this reason. And nearly always because of someone on the inside who wanted power.
I disagree with you on one point. If I had $100 million I would not stop playing the game. Not because I needed money, but for the thrill of the game. The only thing that would change would be the level of the playing field I engaged in.
Edward
P.S. to 4x=0: If this still bothers your sense of justness look at this way. Your wealth is no more or less great than 35% of the wealthiest in the world (as per the U.S.'s last average income analysis). Hence if you feel sorry for the poor bugger starving elsewhere you should surrender your wealth and live on their level. And you should do it immediately if your conscience still bothers you. If I hear from you in another post I will have to assume that you are still living like a fat merchant in Edo during the Tokugawa period and deep down you really don't give a damn about anyone else
Which truth be told is the way it ought to be.