It sure seems that it doesn't take much. Kevin O'Leary gets people to lend him money to build data centers from being on a TV show. A disturbingly large number of people think Trump is a business genius because of his TV show. Elon Musk looks very legit by comparison.
Semi-serious question: if I didn't have to pay any income, property or sales tax I think I could build my fortune. Should we get rid of those?
> the great economy.
Great for who exactly? Certainly less great for the people who have no opportunity to gain wealth, because the currently wealthy don't contribute their fair share, or debatably don't contribute at all.
The economy is great for most people, it’s usually the envy of the world. Opportunities abound. Most people have no wealth because they’re dumb, or choose not to— I know many of both. They should be able to live dignified lives, but their lack of wealth is not a slight against the system.
I grew up without any family money and found the US economy ( with some advice from the Bogleheads community ) conducive to building a good life.
I now have 3 adult children, all seem to be likewise on good paths.
I truly believe the US economy offers an excellent chance to grow wealth, if patience and discipline are used. Even for salaries that are only decent. Plenty of teachers, plumbers, etc. become millionaires by retirement age. You just have to have a little luck ( avoid the rare financial catastrophe) and follow the Bogleheads trail.
About ‘the wealthy’, don’t worry about them. Just manage your own affairs, you’ll be fine.
Do you think it is wise to have two kids on one income when you can barely make rent? Are we going to hold the mother accountable at all or is society to blame for that situation?
It isn’t only afforded to the wealthy. But lets be honest - the US is one of the easiest places in the world to make a living. If someone is unable to make it work here, they are probably making bad choices. Taxpayers should not have to subsidize bad choices.
If Elon musk can spend $500 million dollars every election year (in addition to everything else he does) the gains aren't unrealised and he can pay $500 million in taxes every year. Really the amount he can afford to pay and should fairly pay, imo at least 3%, would be much higher than $500 million.
Yes. Modern levels of reliability and safety don't come from workers trying harder or caring more, it requires systems, procedures, controls, redundancy, fail-safes.
Ya this is the big lie 2Aers are bought into, turns out being able to organize is as important or more than just having a bunch of guns and a ooh-rah attitude. And as you can see from article the government will be there if you start acting in a way the admin disapprove of
If dems take back congress this election and the Iran war is still going by the 2028 election half the country will believe democrats started the war and want to continue it.
Presumably the tax payers subsidizing SpaceX and now twitter, and soon Tesla, and perhaps also anyone where their retirement is being risked because Elon Musk/SpaceX are trying to game and manipulate the index funds.
Yes, that is explicitly and exactly the reason municipalities exist. In the U.S. they are typically made up of elected and appointed representatives and they manage public space and services in their boundaries.
Mostly I don't understand why an individual neighborhood would need it's own out of band election process (that typically allows people to gain tremendous power and authority without anyone voting for them), and representatives completely decoupled from the state or government but often times acting in parallel.
This is exactly what happens for many HOAs around the country.
Typically elections would take place during the annual meeting. Usually there is such low community engagement that there is no home owner quorum under the Covenants Conditions & Restrictions. Depending on the CC&Rs a property management or build rep will appoint the open board seats, or for example in the case of my HOA they will go by default to whomever is attending the meeting and wants the spot, assuming the current board doesn't object to that person.
For my association the board has basically been self appointing each other and their spouses for the last 15+ years. The current president has managed to obtain several proxy votes of rental property owners and the current board members use these to overrule any objections to them reseating themselves. They also squash any attempts to force a community wide vote, because again lack of quorum. Basically impossible to get enough people to actually attend the meeting to get the current board replaced, especially when they've gone all digital and tend to cancel/reschedule the meetings last minute and then provide very little notice of the new time.
> The current president has managed to obtain several proxy votes of rental property owners and the current board members use these to overrule any objections to them reseating themselves
If they are using "proxy votes", then there is in fact a vote. If your objection is that they ran unopposed because no one else bothered to give a damn, then... you should try giving a damn. Apparently you can be the person able to "gain tremendous power and authority" just by showing up, and then you can do something about it.
The current board members would need to pass away or move away first, and I personally don't want any power or authority over my neighbors and I wish they didn't have it over me.
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