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To: arun gera who wrote (88380)3/24/2012 9:01:13 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum2 Recommendations  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217918
 
I'd love to reco your post 10 times...



To: arun gera who wrote (88380)3/25/2012 1:53:24 AM
From: average joe2 Recommendations  Respond to of 217918
 
Perhaps MQ has a poverty of ambition.

"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential."

–Barack Obama, Knox College Commencement Address 2005

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So you think that money is the root of all evil? . . . Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor—your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money. Is this what you consider evil?

Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions—and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.

But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made—before it can be looted or mooched—made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.


AYN RAND




To: arun gera who wrote (88380)3/27/2012 12:24:10 AM
From: Maurice Winn1 Recommendation  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217918
 
As an incidental afterthought. < .I gave credit to talent and hard work among other factors. > It still reads as though you think wealth is just for the lucky people, with a dash of talent and hard work, winning at the casino, inheriting the wealth of bygone eras.

Equating robbers working hard with productive people working hard is absurd. <Corrupt dictators and their cronies make hoards of money - but they probably still work hard in their own way. >

Back to the envy thing: <There have been many scientists, inventors, and artists who personally did not make much wealth although their contributions may have contributed many tradeable citizenships. On the other hand many C level executives have rewarded themselves huge packages because they control the levers of their companies funded by other people's money. > Not all scientists, inventors and whatnot care about getting loads of money. The shareholders of those companies determine what the "C level executives" receive. It's not my business nor do I care how much they pay them. It's their money.

It's not a Rand lecture. I had never heard of Ayn Rand until the late 1990s and my ideas were well-formed by then.

Mqurice