On 1/18/2014 10:17 AM, Frank wrote:
>> And, why is it greed to want to keep the money you have
>> earned, but not greed to want to take what someone else has
>> made?
>>
>>
>>
>
> Classmate of mine, is the richest guy I know. When not in school, he
> was working to support his mother and father. Probably did not see much
> income until he was in his thirties with his own business. At age 75
> he's the first one in the office and the last to leave. Does he deserve
> his ~$200 million net worth? I think so. He worked hard for it and
> gave value to his customers. He continues to do so at an age when most
> are enjoying their golden years.
I have a classmate not quite that old - early 60s - who is very much
like yours. He's worth probably $1.5 billion. He has not been the CEO
of his firm for a long time, but he still is deeply involved in his
software and financial services firm. He's a very smart man, and is
absolutely the visionary for the company. He works extremely hard, and
he sacrificed a lot along the way. He pays his employees fairly, and he
listens to them. At some point back in the 1990s, his firm bought ad
time on a right-wing talk show, because the show's listeners fit part of
the target demographic for the firm's core products. The firm's
engineering and product development offices are, of course, located in
the Silicon Valley, a bastion of fashionable liberalism. A lot of the
firm's employees objected strenuously to advertising on the radio
program, so my friend stopped advertising there. He takes his
employees' beliefs and feelings seriously, even if he doesn't capitulate
to them altogether.
He's a responsible rich man, and he earned his wealth entirely ethically
and lawfully. He deserves his billions. I'm not envious of him, in the
sense of wanting what he has without working for it, as Bugster and the
other leftists are. I don't want his material wealth /per se/; what I
wish I had had was his vision and his drive and his ability, whether
innate or acquired, to evaluate risk and make smart bets. I just didn't
have that. The seething bitter jealous poor don't have that, and they
also don't have his work ethic.