[Discussion] We live better today than kings of the past

[Avani]

I'm sure you're underestimating how easy a kings life is. You can trust your family and friends but in most cases a king can't because everyone is a potential backstabber who is plotting something. Everything he does is to preserve his current status and life, he has advisors that are pressuring him make certain decisions, he has to worry about alot of stuff. It's not all pleasurable.

And in most cases you can escape the daily grind and truly live a life doing only what you want by working hard for a few years and reaping the rewards. It's called capitalism.

A billionaire running a business empire may find himself in the similar predicament as that king. I am not sure what point you are trying to make there.

And no - some people can escape the daily grind but a majority will be working real hard to keep their life style and many more will have it worse that others. The millions you hope to have in your account have to come from some where and the total money is limited. A major part of it is concentrated in hands of the lucky few- their talent skills and hard work may have played a major part but they are not their without any luck. Luck gives you opportunities to capitalize on it.

If you are successful -good for you. But it doesn't mean that everyone today lives a better life than kings of the past. It will be more appropriate to say that you like your own life and living better than kings of the past.

 

[ZK]

A billionaire running a business empire may find himself in the similar predicament as that king. I am not sure what point you are trying to make there.

And no - some people can escape the daily grind but a majority will be working real hard to keep their life style and many more will have it worse that others. The millions you hope to have in your account have to come from some where and the total money is limited. A major part of it is concentrated in hands of the lucky few- their talent skills and hard work may have played a major part but they are not their without any luck. Luck gives you opportunities to capitalize on it.

If you are successful -good for you. But it doesn't mean that everyone today lives a better life than kings of the past. It will be more appropriate to say that you like your own life and living better than kings of the past.

Wealth inequality has become accepted as an unavoidable, ewven preferable to some economists, as an intrinsic part of industrialization in a capitalist economy. I do not believe that the multi millionaires or billionaires deserve their wealth so much that the state should not redistribute some of it. I don't resent rich men and women, but their wealth can be used to better the lives of millions and create opportunities across the board where there might have been few before.
Yes, some people still live in almost medieval settings, some even worse than that, but things are improving. It may not seem like it, but there is less poor and starving people than ever. It's hard to be patient, but things really are moving in the right direction for a great many people.
Economics is not a zero sum game. We all can and are enjoying the benefits of economic and social development.

 

[Avani]

Wealth inequality has become accepted as an unavoidable, ewven preferable to some economists, as an intrinsic part of industrialization in a capitalist economy. I do not believe that the multi millionaires or billionaires deserve their wealth so much that the state should not redistribute some of it. I don't resent rich men and women, but their wealth can be used to better the lives of millions and create opportunities across the board where there might have been few before.
Yes, some people still live in almost medieval settings, some even worse than that, but things are improving. It may not seem like it, but there is less poor and starving people than ever. It's hard to be patient, but things really are moving in the right direction for a great many people.
Economics is not a zero sum game. We all can and are enjoying the benefits of economic and social development.

You are going off the tangent.

 

[ZK]

You are going off the tangent.

We're talking about standards of living. I am saying that they are improving for most. I think your outlook is needlessly pessimistic.

 

[Avani]

We're talking about standards of living. I am saying that they are improving for most. I think your outlook is needlessly pessimistic.

I don't think you paid proper attention to my post or the main thread topic/ title or the post I was replying to. That's not pessimism but a simple observation.

 

[ZK]

I don't think you paid proper attention to my post or the main thread topic/ title or the post I was replying to. That's not pessimism but a simple observation.

Let's agree to disagree.

 

[Legendary Saiyan]

I guess you've watched MercifulServant's video.

 

[Yubel]

A billionaire running a business empire may find himself in the similar predicament as that king. I am not sure what point you are trying to make there.

And no - some people can escape the daily grind but a majority will be working real hard to keep their life style and many more will have it worse that others. The millions you hope to have in your account have to come from some where and the total money is limited. A major part of it is concentrated in hands of the lucky few- their talent skills and hard work may have played a major part but they are not their without any luck. Luck gives you opportunities to capitalize on it.

If you are successful -good for you. But it doesn't mean that everyone today lives a better life than kings of the past. It will be more appropriate to say that you like your own life and living better than kings of the past.

A billionaire could pull out and live the rest of his life in prosperity. A king usually don't have the same option. Billionaires or any rich person that works usually makes that choice out of their own free will.

And I never said everyone lives better than kings, I said the middle class and I was referring to our standard of living, not the power a king has. However it could be argued that we have more freedom than a king.

 

[slimreaper]

Again...I'm against outsourcing and I'm against the TPP. So way to assume shit about me and make yourself look like an idiot.

I know you're against the Tpp... If bernie told you to jump off a cliff, you'd do it **** first.


You're missing the entire point. When you increase wages here(whether incrementally or otherwise) the incentive for business owners is to send the jobs they can to areas that pay their employees less.

 

[Lightbringer]

I know you're against the Tpp... If bernie told you to jump off a cliff, you'd do it **** first.


You're missing the entire point. When you increase wages here(whether incrementally or otherwise) the incentive for business owners is to send the jobs they can to areas that pay their employees less.

Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary, yet I'm still not voting for her. So again, stop making stupid assumptions about me. You're only embarrassing yourself by doing so.


Again, oversimplifying everything. That's the excuse billionaires give in order to keep wages low. They say that robots will replace people, etc. etc.

So why doesn't every company just take all of their business into lower income countries instead of keeping them in the U.S. where they have to pay workers more?

And let me guess, your solution is to lower wages then? So you want to bring the minimum wage down to a point where it'd be considered slave labor? What would the incentive be to work if you can't even make ends meet?

 

[Marin]

Not really. We simply have more stuff to aquire, but when it comes to wealth and power we get negged.

 

[Avani]

A billionaire could pull out and live the rest of his life in prosperity. A king usually don't have the same option. Billionaires or any rich person that works usually makes that choice out of their own free will.

And I never said everyone lives better than kings, I said the middle class and I was referring to our standard of living, not the power a king has. However it could be argued that we have more freedom than a king.

Because a country is not same as running a company. And you are comparing apples with oranges there.

I am referring to standards of living too but we are using different parameters. As I said before -you like yours better and that's fine. But you are making a subjective statement.

Different people may judge according to their own standards and also there were numerous kings who lived their life very differently from each other. You are generalizing them all as if there was a set rule for all of them all the time and all over the world. Some of the lived through very hectic and chaotic times, some had very simple. Some of them lived in palaces and yet are known for living very simple life even when they could afford better. Some had enough luxury to make up for the gadgets we have today and had more. Some managed and brought many good reforms to their country or did their best to keep it safe and I will say that was a good life too even if not a comfortable and easy one.

 

[Pumpkin Ninja]

What they have is social status and real power, which can make up for things like medicine, smart phones, and shit. A lot of kings enjoyed the luxuries of life, while if we don't further ourselves in life, we can feel like shit.

 

[eyesofthekyuubi44]

Much agreed.

This really is due to economics. The fact of the matter is, compared to kings of the past, we have an abundance of food. Think back in the year of 1750. What would a king do if he had milk? Where would he put it? It would go bad in a few hours. There were no refrigerators or freezers. Bread would go stale much more quickly. If you killed a cow, you would literally have to eat the meat within a few hours or risk DEATH considering what little medical advances they had and what disease the cows carried. The fact that we are able to more efficiently produce things means that our costs are cheaper. Also, we've realized now that you can make more money if you can make your products affordable.

Think about Biggie Smalls in his song "Juicy", in which he says, "Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, when I was dead broke man I couldn't picture this". A super nintendo would have taken 52 hours to earn on minimum wage BEFORE taxes and that was it costing 210 dollars. Fast forward to today where minimum wage here in Michigan USA is 8.15 it takes 49 hours to afford a PS4 when it was 400. Less time for more money. Back in that time period, poor people rarely had consoles. Nowadays, even people in poverty have something, including at least a Wii. The SNES came out in 1990 btw and was released here in the US in 1991. Like I said in the first paragraph, being able to mass produce PS4's create a surplus which also makes them more affordable as companies slash prices to get their products out of storage. If there was a shortage, companies would up the prices to deter people buying except those who couldn't live without it.

We absolutely live better than kings of the past, but are still obviously commoners to those perceived as kings/have the power of a king today. A king of the past could still be subject to famines. They were still often susceptible to diseases that today are just a minor inconvenience.

Moral of the story, never underestimate the power of today and know we can build a better more productive future.