The only correlation I was making was that if we only blame the very worst offenders instead of us all taking responsibility then we are truly hypocrites. I guess to put it even shorter, picking on the rich is wrong and flawed thinking.
The only correlation I was making was that if we only blame the very worst offenders instead of us all taking responsibility then we are truly hypocrites. I guess to put it even shorter, picking on the rich is wrong and flawed thinking.
Even authors can be wrong. Particularly writers from the 20"s-50's who wrote before seeing the full born fruits of ideas.“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we
are. They are different. ”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Yes,” Hemingway is said to have replied, “they have more money.”“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me…”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hemingway offered up his even more famous response, in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”: The rich were dull and they drank too much or they played too much backgammon. They were dull and they were repetitious.“Yes,” Hemingway is said to have replied, “they have more money.”
I would say the government we have now is different than the one we had in the space race.
Rob, I'll provide some direct experience context on my viewpoint.The only correlation I was making was that if we only blame the very worst offenders instead of us all taking responsibility then we are truly hypocrites. I guess to put it even shorter, picking on the rich is wrong and flawed thinking.
Rob, I'll provide some direct experience context on my viewpoint.
I had an unusual decade in high tech. Originally hired as the lead project manager to straighten out the build of a critical data center that was having massive completion issues, my success in doing so opened the door to becoming the Corporate Facilities Director for a high tech company on a buying spree, ending up responsible for 85 facilities in 22 countries.
Whenever we had another business acquisition on the table, I would fly to that business on a discreet basis to meet directly with the the top executives of the company to map out how we would integrate them, which typically included finding better real estate for the business, launching a project to ready the new high tech facility, and once the acquisition was complete and the project finished, forklift the entire operation into their new building.
Work which over the years = hundreds of hours of discussions with CEO's, CFO's, COO's, folks worth hundreds of millions and a few worth billions. Listening to them talk in their offices, in their homes at their dinner table, in meetings, and a couple of times on their private jets while hitching a ride.
And did they ever talk. About their brilliant visions and business sense, how unfair taxes and regulations were, how employees were so lucky to work for them, what wonders they brought to the 'rest of us.' In fact they never f'n stopped talking about how wonderful they were. Of the dozens of power movers I met, I'm not sure I would want a single one of them for a neighbor.
And I watched them in action. Give themselves huge stock options awards worth tens/hundreds of millions, make bad strategic decisions, respond by laying off 10% of workers in acquired companies, and then award themselves more stock options. I witnessed fraud investigations, pay-outs for sexual harassment, and stock manipulation charges by the SEC.
Final straw for me? Brought into a meeting in the CEO office, and was told I was being given a highest priority, absolutely hush hush project. Build an entirely new software engineering facility in India. Once it was built, the company would start recruiting India engineers. At that point the company would announce these new engineers would be partnered with the software engineers throughout the companies we had acquired, so the time to market for new product development would be halved.
The actual plan? Once the India engineers were fully up to speed, the company would begin laying off the core engineers from the various acquired companies 300 at a time, until we had moved all of the core software development to India. Once the engineers were all moved, terminate now unneeded management teams and support staff, buy out the leases of the buildings that were now either radically downsized or zero'd out. Reduce the entire company employment by 40%, improving the bottom line by 20%, which would be returned to shareholders as profit and surviving executives as bonus.
That afternoon I handed in my 60 day notice per employment contract, put my home up for sale the following week, moved to Oregon three months later, done with rich folks.
My youngest son is a Senior Director at Google. Their stock price is at an all time high. His job has changed twice in the past month due to back to back lay-off's. A month ago he was assigned 30 mid level managers, and last week he had to call them into his office one at a time to tell them they have been laid off.
My son has told me he would not want one of the senior executives he works with for a next door neighbor.
So are individual people.To echo others, I am in the midst of some industry-pollution issues.. from what I have seen, "industry" seems pretty darn comfortable killing a lot of things to make a buck more, even when it's totally clear what needs to be done. If they can get away with it, they will.
Looks like Jared Isaacman's (Shift4 Payments/Drakken International) Dornier Alphajet. He also owns Paul Allen's former MiG-29UB painted similar which he bases out of Bozeman and flies around to airshows with the Black Diamond Jet Team. Talk about carbon footprintAn awesome private jet in Dallesport WA
Saw it flying over The Dalles, saw it dirty up then went looking for it on the ground..Looks like Jared Isaacman's (Shift4 Payments/Drakken International) Dornier Alphajet. He also owns Paul Allen's former MiG-29UB painted similar which he bases out of Bozeman and flies around to airshows with the Black Diamond Jet Team. Talk about carbon footprint
Ok...I made it to about halfway on page 5. By then it looked like everything was figured out.
I buy used rods. I buy old reels and reuse them. I buy used boats. I buy used camp trailers. I buy used cars. I have been known to tie flies with roadkill and pet hair. I leave my grass clippings on the lawn. I use aluminum water bottles. And, I do my laundry on the "quick" cycle.
Ok...I made it to about halfway on page 5. By then it looked like everything was figured out.
I buy used rods. I buy old reels and reuse them. I buy used boats. I buy used camp trailers. I buy used cars. I have been known to tie flies with roadkill and pet hair. I leave my grass clippings on the lawn. I use aluminum water bottles. And, I do my laundry on the "quick" cycle.
I've been saving mine up, so I can hopefully get a new Hummer.Seven carbon credits awarded. You may use your meat rations.
Which reminds me...I may have some used waders for sale.