Sunday, Mar 14, 2010
Degeneracy pays
Observer: Don't celebrate these billionaires, be horrified by their existence
"If you want to be seriously wealthy the message from the Forbes list is clear. One way or another you need to have played the system, played the financial markets, been born to the right class or manipulated government to have got rich."
"The great mistake of the free-market revolution was to argue that all that was needed to make capitalism work was free, lightly regulated and flexible markets – and that institutions imposing ethics, transparency, accountability got in the way. We now know better."
Posted by letthemfall @ 04:54 PM (1067 views) Add Comment
16 Comments
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1. mark wadsworth said...
Indeed. the only one near the top of our rich list to have actually done something creative is Philip Green.
2. letthemfall said...
Do you buy your socks from BHS, mark?
3. mr g said...
I agree entirely with the article but do we hear any criticism of wealthy footballers, rock stars, "celebs" and their like?
No, because they are part of the popular culture and "role models" for millions of people, lets hear some criticism of Wayne Rooney's and Bono's earnings.
They may have more talent in their own ways than your average banker but I still see their obscene wealth as part of the general malaise.
4. mark wadsworth said...
LTF, no my cardigans and socks are from M&S, my shirts and underwear from Primark and ties from John Lewis.
5. holding out said...
Cardigans! Are you a boomer in disguise?
6. enuii said...
Can't remember the last time I saw someone wearing a cardy, surely no self-respecting boomer would wear one!
Strictly defined as a knitted jacket that is fastened up the front with buttons (or a zip), I'm sure most would prefer a jumper, pullover, sweater or other light golf sportswear.
7. letthemfall said...
mw
I buy socks from M&S too, though have been known to get some from John Lewis. As for cardigans, I'm more a fleece man myself. Do you buy those with the suede shoulder patches? (Do they still do those?)
mr g
Yep. Anyway, I think Bobby Charlton was a better player and he only got 20 quid a week.
8. mark wadsworth said...
I celebrated my 35th birthday by buying cardigans (or having them bought for me) for the first time in my life. They rock!
You can bundle up your kids inside them (when your kids are still small), button them up when it's cold, unbutton them when it's not so cold, put stuff in the pockets (without forgetting it's there for it wobbles about and bangs into you) push sleeves up or down, take them off when warm without ruining hairstyle or getting loads of static etc. If heating in office is b*ggered, they still look OK over a white shirt and tie (as compared to a jumper over shirt and tie which looks positively sick-making).
I'd never go back to jumpers, ever. I never even liked them, to be honest.
9. clockslinger said...
It's good to know such an internal debate on shopping can be triggered by an article like this. It would be a bit too much to take it's content seriously. The thieving plutocrats have the focus and will of any opposition very accurately assessed. You could (and no doubt the posters here will) argue they don't have to care what anyone thinks. But the debate here demonstrates nicely why not...We'll soon move on to football/porn/shopping/smack/irrelevent bo11ocks to ignore the painful fact that we have lost the ability to organise and demand a single thing that isn't offered to us as a pre packaged palliative crumb by their puppets in the political class. (So... you get Nick Clegg as a "power broker"! )
10. Watching With Amusement said...
After reading an interesting and thought provoking article, I felt that the nine comments posted about it indicated lively and informed debate regarding wealth creation and distribution, and how this was affected by government policy.
To find a discussion on cardigans was something of a disappointment.
Of course, the main result of my post will have been to increase the comments count to 10, therby adding more bait for the next unwary victim.
11. charlie brooker said...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2jCbXiEQI4
12. nomad said...
I hope you are ready to accept this, but I am going to quote Chris Evans here.
He helped me to get my head round these enormous quoted figures by pointing out that Carlos Slim, the new "Numero Uno", could go out and spend thirty five and a half billion pounds tomorrow and, on checking his bank account, find he still has £500 million to spend.
13. letthemfall said...
clockslinger
It's only a bit of banter - most discussions here are fairly serious, though there's a lot of sounding-off too. But frankly whatever gets debated here, it won't make any difference to the injustices mentioned in the article. For that we should be protesting on the streets of London. We could debate why that isn't happening at present. Perhaps people need something particular to focus on (like the Poll Tax of the past) to provide the impetus to get out there. The British are not natural rioters; even if we were it is difficult to protest against such a broad and intrinsic unfairness and get results. And the anti-capitalist types seem much quieter these days.
14. Crunchy said...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35841681#35841681
The corruption is being slowly drip Fed. Cue Lehman Bros............
A penny for your thoughts clever Tim?
15. mr g said...
LTF@7 Agree re. Bobby Charlton
I also remember Denis Law being transferred from Huddersfield to Man City for £55k which, at the time, was the highest transfer fee ever paid by a British club, puts things in perspective don't you think?
16. 51ck-6-51x said...
How are property developers, hedge fund managers or retail magnates (however much they avoid tax) not productive? Are they any less productive than a journalist writing about them?
I don't think we should be horrified by their existence. I think we should be horrified by the legislation that allows (or even out right encourages) monopolies (Or, equivalently, distorts the efficient scale of any business) which are undoubtedly the major generators of these uber-wealthy (including many of those who inherited their fortunes).