Barbienomics or Why Britain Should Make Less

ILW

Tends to favour those who were born with capital the most.

kabayiri

zagubov wrote: »

Capitalism and automation was supposed to ease our workloads so we could all work less and spend more time on leisure.

Turned out we're working more hours than anybody in Europe but the irony is there's also loads of people struggling to find any hours of work. And they can't afford to spend all day at the gym or the leisure centre or the cinema on our behalf.

We've fallen for a con trick- more fool us:(

Of course it's a con trick.

It relies on a large mass of people trying to achieve an aspirational dream, a dream in reality enjoyed by a smaller set.

Were the larger set to all achieve overnight the ability to be surgeons or nuclear physicists, then the immediate drop in salary would be all too evident.

Sales people love selling aspirational dreams. People who sell houses for example.

zagubov

Our needs are mostly met. Our wants aren't and there lies the root of much unhappiness and leads us to work harder to consume harder until we keel over.

We earn enough to pay for our food quite quickly. We spend far too much time earning our shelter. I’d shudder at living under communism but they usually charged you 1-2% of your income for (very basic) accommodation. Now we spend a fortune for the same shabby undersized accommodation our parents put up with 40 years ago for a fraction of the cost.

Our TV has become far more expensive but only the quantity’s increased- the quality’s questionable. Loads of people kill time watching reality TV which is usually just other people killing time.

We can’t afford to eat out every week if we’ve got kids or find safe places for them to play.

What's galling is when our wants have to be conjured into existence to an extent that we work like slaves, chase after work we can't find, and degrade our environment to achieve transient feelings of satisfaction.

Many more of us drive and spend a fortune maintaining a car plus all its environmental costs. We waste time on overpriced train trips across the channel when ferries were cheaper. Buying a coffee with a place to sit has now acquired a £3 price tag.

What’s demoralising is the red queen’s race of aspirational consumerism. Spending a fortune on couch potato game consoles when the young really need to get out and run about sports pitch. Premium prices for organic and other food fads when what we need is nourishing sensible affordable food well-prepared for us.


And breathe!:A

grizzly1911

kabayiri wrote: »

Sales people love selling aspirational dreams. People who sell houses for example.

Government and Workplace pension reform?

grizzly1911

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Much like democracy, capitalism isn't perfect.

But it's the least bad system we've tried so far.

It usually favours those who are smart, ambitious, driven, innovative and hard working over those who are lazy, indolent and lacking imagination.

Those more capable of exploiting others. It helps their position to develop an underclass. Heaven and hell.

It usually maximises efficiency and productivity and spurs innovation and technological advancement.

Sells us the least for the most and keeps inventing more to sell us to keep noses to the grindstone. technological advancement hasn't necessarily benefited all.

As you say usually.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

ILW wrote: »

Tends to favour those who were born with capital the most.

If that were true, so many of the richest people in the World wouldn't come from humble origins and be self made.

Some examples....

Bill Gates: Net worth -- $53 billion

Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, is a business tycoon and a philanthropist.

College drop-out, started a tiny computer company, we all know the story from there....

Lakshmi Mittal: Net worth -- $28.7 billion

The chief executive officer and founder of ArcelorMittal, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal was born in a middle class business family of Rajasthan.

During the initial years of his career, Mittal worked in the family's steel-making business. His grandfather worked with an industrial firm in pre-Independence India.

Mittal lived in his grandfather's house with an extended family of 20 members that slept on rope beds and cooked on an open fire in the brickyard. In 1976, when the family founded its own steel business, Mittal set out to build its international division and bought a run-down plant in Indonesia.

He founded Mittal Steel (formerly the LNM Group) in 1976.


Lawrence 'Larry' Ellison: Net worth -- $27 billion

Born to an unwed Jewish woman, Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, was adopted by a middle class family in Chicago.

Ellison left the University of Illinois at the end of his second year, after his mother died.

He later studied computer designing and moved to California. There, he did several odd jobs for eight years. As a programmer at Ampex, he participated in building the first IBM-compatible mainframe system.

In 1977, Ellison and his Ampex colleagues, Robert Miner and Ed Oates, founded Software Development Labs, with $1400. The company was later renamed Oracle Corporation.

Amancio Ortega Gaona: Net worth -- $25 billion

Gaona is a Spanish fashion entrepreneur ranked by Forbes as Spain's richest man and the 10th richest man in the World in 2009.

With his ex-wife Rosal a Mera, he founded the Inditex Group. He is the group's chairman at present. Ortega arrived at A Coruna, Spain, at the age of 14. His father was a railway worker.

Starting as a gofer in various shirt stores in A Coruna, Galicia, he founded Confecciones Goa, which made bathrobes.

In 1975, he opened a store called Zara, which later grew to enormous scale as one of the most well known fashion chains of the world.

Karl Albrecht: Net worth -- $23.5 billion

Karl and Theo Albrecht were born in a middle class family in Essen. Their father was a miner and later a baker's assistant. Their mother had a small grocery store.

Theo completed an apprenticeship in his mother's store, while Karl worked in a delicatessen shop. Karl served in the German Army during World War II. After the War, the brothers took over their mother's business. The first Aldi (Albrecht-Discount) was opened in 1961.

Ingvar Kamprad: Net worth -- $23 billion

Swedish entrepreneur Kamprad is the founder of the home furnishing retail chain IKEA.

According to Forbes, he is the eleventh wealthiest person in the world in 2010. The acronym IKEA is derived from the initials of his name (Ingvar Kamprad), Elmtaryd, family farm where he was born, and the nearby village Agunnaryd.

Kamprad started doing business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbours. Even at that early age, Kamprad found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, sell them at a low price and still make profit.

Over the years, he started selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, pens and pencils.

Roman Abramovich: Net worth -- $18.8 billion

Abramovich is a Russian businessman and the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC. In the initial years of his life, Abramovich worked as a street-trader and also as a mechanic at a local factory.

He started his multi-billion-dollar business during his army service where he sold stolen gasoline to some of the commissioned officers of his unit.

Mikhail Prokhorov: Net worth -- $9.5 billion

Prokhorov is the richest man in Russia at present and the 40th richest man in the world, according to the 2009 Forbes' list.

After graduating from the Moscow Finance Institute, he made it big in the financial sector. Prokhorov worked in a management position at the International Bank for Economic Cooperation and also as head of management board of the International Finance Company.

In 1993, Prokhorov along with with Vladimir Potanin was instrumental in acquiring Norilsk Nickel by Onexim Bank.

Prokhorov is responsible for transforming Norilsk from a small conglomerate into one of the most profitable natural resource corporations in the world. He is currently the chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, and president of Onexim Group.

Sheldon Adelson: Net worth -- $9 billion

Adelson is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. His father was a cab driver in Dorchester neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

As a youth, Adelson sold newspapers on street corners. He worked as a mortgage broker, investment adviser and financial consultant.

At 12, he started a business selling toiletry kits, and in the 1960s he started a charter tours business with his friends. He went to the City College of New York but did not complete his degree.

Adelson struck gold through the computer trade show COMDEX. The first show took place in 1979. It was the premier computer trade show through much of the 1980s and 1990s. In 1988, Adelson and his partners purchased the Sands Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Kirk Kerkorian: Net worth -- $5 billion

Kerkorian is the Armenian-American president and CEO of Tracinda Corporation, a private holding company based in Beverly Hills, California.

As a teenager, Kerkorian worked hard, taking up many odd jobs to help his poor parents. He became an amateur boxer under the tutelage of his older brother Nish.

At 17, Kerkorian joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1973, Kerkorian acquired the famous movie studio MGM and opened the MGM Grand Hotel, which was the largest hotel in the world at that time.

Howard Schultz: Net worth -- $1.1 billion

The 56-year-old Schultz is the chairman and CEO Starbucks. In in 2008, as the CEO of Starbucks, Schultz earned a total compensation of $9,740,471, which included a base salary of $1,190,000

Schultz was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Canarsie Bayview Housing Projects. To fight poverty, he turned to sports like baseball, football and basketball.

He went to Canarsie High School and became the first person to graduate in his family.

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/apr/07/slide-show-1-worlds-20-self-made-billionaires.htm#6



...... There are many others of course, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet, the list goes on and on and on.

None of these people were from rich families, most were middle class at best, and some were born into poverty.

History is littered with examples of the rich being unable to remain so, as future generations often lose the wealth they inherited.

BobQ

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Yes.



What is fair and equal is that everyone has the opportunity to succeed. Which they do.

It would be deeply unfair to reward failure as well as we reward success.

Yes but that should not mean (to take the extreme case) that those who try and fail or those whose motivation is to make a more caring contribution to society become slaves to those that succeed.

purch

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

None of these people were from rich families, most were middle class at best, and some were born into poverty.

Some even made their money legitimately :eek:

ILW

What proportion of FTSE 100 Ceos were privately educated. I believe it is over 80%.

Not saying it is impossible to make it from humble beginnings, just that it is not exactly a level playing field if you wish to do it legally.

zagubov

Here's what society needs
Good care facilities for the vulnerable; - basically us when we're getting on in years.
Good secure schools with a staff to pupil ratio that will meet students needs.
Leisure facilities where people can pass time. Doesn't have to be sports.
Transport efficient enough so you don't feel you need to use the car.
Good and varied affordable food and drink
Speedy efficent medical care.
A society policed well enough so we can be secure and safe.
Higher education that's flexible, affordable and available at a distance.
Good social housing we can afford and a strong rental sector to compete with the owner-occupier sector.

The fancy trainers, pricey phone packages, byzantine financial products,chelsea tractors and updated gaming machines we seem to be pouring our efforts into are pretty much a distraction. They should be a minor part of the economy we can indulge in when we've sorted the important stuff.

One payoff would be we could all have more time to spend with our loved ones and less feeling of regrets at funerals