I don’t live in the States so I thought $50k is a lot. But it seems to corroborate about what I read that vaguely stating “I am earning six figures” will not impress anyone anymore. This does show the growing inequality and worsening inflation in the US.
$50k is too good to pass up. But my conscience probably won’t sleep well for the rest of my life if I ratted the suspect.
Precisely. The problem with some original movies is that they’re not great. Of the thousands of movies made every year, probably only a hundred will receive wide recognition and praise, let alone a tidy profit. There is a reason why people are typically skeptical of indie movies.
I knew this line will come up.
Look, I abhor billionaires who exploit workers and people (I don’t condone the murder of the UnitedHealth CEO but i understand), but is there evidence that Chuck Feeney underpaid his staff? So far, I hear nothing. I will change my opinion when I hear good evidence against him.
But here is the more important question, do cashiers or cleaners deserve director level salary? All people deserve to earn decent wage to keep food and roof over their heads, but all this rhetoric about increasing wages because the owner is billionaire is ridiculous. Up to what level should cleaners, security guards, farmhands or labourers should be paid? Leadership roles are also administrative in nature which requires a lot of effort than most people realise. You have to organise, manage people and logistics, do meetings, conduct finances, problem-solving, do legal work, ensure compliance, and if you have a family that is already another work on its own, etc. Having done various jobs in my career, I would argue that administrative roles are harder than manual labour. This is not to diminish the importance of blue collar and labour workers, but the human brain alone consumes 20% of energy that an individual takes from food. A lot of mental work will get someone tired easily in just two hours at least. That is why college-educated folks are paid more because of the intellect required for the job. Again, this is not to undermine the role of blue collar workers, but being operator or a janitor doesn’t require as much work. I know because I have worked as blue collar and labourer. I certainly don’t expect to be paid a lot for those jobs. The pay among the low, middle and high earners should be proportional, which is why it’s important to look at the ratio of CEO pay versus the lowest
Duty Free is a private company, so the owner decides how much of the profit goes to paying the workers more. But if a person wants more equal pay regardless, there are co-operatives to work in. Everyone basically gets equal income in co-ops. I’m a supporter of co-ops but I am aware of its limitations. It may be democratically run with one vote per one person, but co-ops are known to always elect increasing their wages which could affect the net earnings and may not be able to cover the operating costs.
The article and author is very layman shall we say, and has obvious libertarian bias, but it has a point:
According to Forbes, this nefarious tycoon “has aggressively tried to avoid taxes at every stage in his career– from setting up his early business in Liechtenstein, incorporating his holding company in Bermuda. . .”
Feeney transferred his business interests to his charitable organization in 1984. And for the last 30+ years he’s given away nearly $ 8 BILLION through the foundation.
While the US government has been using your tax dollars to bomb children’s hospitals by remote control, Feeney has been building them.
He has endowed entire universities, funded cancer research, invested hundreds of millions in AIDS benefit to Africa, built a $ 300 million medical center in California, and developed a new technology hub on New York City’s Roosevelt Island.
These aren’t the actions of a narcissistic robber baron.
Th**e entire concept of taxation is grounded in the idea that some politician knows how to spend money better than you do. ** But Feeney opted for a different path: taking completely LEGAL steps to stay in control of his savings and make a huge difference in people’s lives.
I’m not trying to fanboy Chuck Feeney. If it had been proven that he was very exploitative of human lives and dignity to amass billions, I will change my opinion of him. However, the results speak for itself.
I would also add that the article has a point about it. In my home country, there is tax for citizens leaving the country. I was appalled not because I will lose money, but I know that my taxes will go to the then president and his family’s fortune who unabashedly orders extrajudicial killing.
A lot of goods sold in Duty Free shops probably would have been manufactured in North America and Europe at that time, which has good labour standards. So, there isn’t much of a concern for exploitation of sweat shops in third world countries, and most of those countries at the time have too much instability to attract foreign direct investments.
You would not know who Chuck Feeney is, but you know the business he set up: Duty Free. He made billions during the golden age of air travel. I think you could become rich ethically by setting shops in places where millions of people run across 24/7.
With exceptions of few countries, I believe the modern society is closer to the novel Brave New World than 1984 story. People have been convinced to accept control by way of pleasure. To forget the mundane and realities of life in exchange for gratification by constant triggering of our own biochemistry that induces the feeling of pleasure. We are encouraged buy the things we don’t need to impress the people we don’t like, so that consumer spending will keep the all-mighty economy kept being fed. But if we complain that we don’t have enough left for essentials, then we are told it’s because we keep buying iPhone or avocado toast. The media will say that the economy is slowing down because of less consumer spending, but then chastise us for doing the exact same thing we are told to do: spend and spend.
I don’t condone the murder of the CEO of a healthcare insurance company who reject 32% of claims…
But I understand.
Yes, of course you are right. But for those less experienced on discourse, there is the principle of charity. It is important to give the benefit of the doubt that the interlocutor is acting in good faith. But when you exhaust all the good-faith and sensible arguments, and that person resorts to either providing irrational points or acting unreasonably and/or disingenuously, then it is completely safe to assume that the person is actually a bad-faith actor. It’s on that person, not on you.
But you should not readily accuse someone a troll unless you could calmly point out why the person is such and such. Trolls exactly want you to do that.
If you want to be more confused, you should know that some languages have gendered verbs.
All tankie users are in .ml, but not all .ml users are tankies.
You should always judge the merit of the comment, not whether or not the person is from .ml. If you see a comment that is pro-CCP or pro-Kremlin from an .ml user, then the point of the meme is valid. But a well-thought, benign, good-faith or wholesome comment from an .ml user should not be dismissed.
I also pretty much stopped watching TV as well. Online has more varied news sources.
Goes to show how much the media controls our knowledge on current affairs.
Not necessarily. It just means you aren’t active enough to go out of your own information bubble. Plenty of news sources would mention many things.
Inb4 Russianbots say the protestors are CIA-sponsored coup mobs
It’s similar idea with the evil gods of ancient Mesopotamia. Unlike in most religions where evil deities tempt humans to commit evil acts, evil Mesopotamian deities represent the evils of humanity.
Edit: wording
I grew up learning British spelling but I prefer American spelling. The American spelling is simplified because words are spelt as phonetically.
Hamlet is a remake of and Old Norse legend Amleth.
I don’t know what age you are, but if you’re too young not to have known, some people have medical conditions that make them struggle to pee.
Ditto. I was told that I am brave, but I just don’t care what others think or fitting in. Of course, it’s still important to be sociable and there are still some things you still have to conform to (like for example you still need to be hygienic not just for your own good but for others as well), but as long as I am not harming anyone, I don’t care about what people say.