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I consider people like Calvin Ayre (or <insert billionaire here>
to be the biggest thieves of all time. What right do they have to such a big chunk of the worlds resources for themselves?
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This is terrible. Since when is having earned a lot of money evidence of theft?
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So if it were possible for one single person to amass the rights to every single resource on the planet and just sit back and watch everybody else suffer and die, then this would be fine just because they "earned" it?
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You didn't answer my question, but I'll answer yours anyway: No. If you really feel this is in danger of happening soon, let me know and we'll see what we can do about it.
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The law shouldn't protect the billionaire from losing his money to thieves;
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I'm just going to leave this out here percolating for a while...
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the law should protect the normal person from the billionaire taking far more than their fair share...
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You keep saying things like "fair share". Who decides? You?
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The problem is that your argument applies to any two people who have different amounts of money. According to you, the one with less is justified in stealing from the one with more.
If this is not the case, exactly how much money do I have to have before I deserve to be robbed?
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Exactly how much money do you need to live a reasonable quality of life?
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You didn't answer my question again. The answer to your question is "it depends". While I certainly have an opinion about what the answer is for me, You seem to think you have the "correct" answer and would like to impose that answer on everybody else. I doubt if you would want somebody else imposing his answer on you.
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Do you think Calvin Ayre put in several million times more effort to make his money than some random guy making carpets 16 hours a day in an Indian sweatshop?
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Obviously not. As with poker, there is a lot of luck involved. Does this mean the carpet guy has some claim on Calvin or any other person with more resources than him?
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If you want a society that encourages extreme greed as the ultimate goal for all humans to aspire towards then that's your view and nobody can change that, but I think you'll find that's there's a few billion people on this planet that struggle just to feed themselves each and every day and I don't see why some [censored] like Calvin Ayre or Bill Gates should be allowed to just suck up the rights half the world's resources for their own private use.
Juk [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]
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What I want is a society that encourages extreme liberty and doesn't punish extreme ability (or extreme luck). You seem very angry about this. Why would you hate somebody for being successful/lucky? Does that somehow make it harder for you to be successful/lucky?
The reason I reject your position is that it seems like a copout that allows you to rationalize stealing from those you deem deserve it while simultaneously rejecting that defense from somebody who would steal from you.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but the next time you're out walking the mean streets of Leeds, UK, if some poor person hits you in the head with a tire iron and steals your wallet, I don't think your first thought upon regaining consciousness is going to be, "Gee whiz, I didn't get a chance to thank that guy. After all, what right did I have to such a big chunk of the worlds resources for myself?"
Cliff notes: Be careful what you wish for. You are somebody else's billionaire.