Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 3]

Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 3]

TOPIC CLOSED
TOPIC CLOSED
Author
Discussion

popeyewhite

19,628 posts

119 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Shaolin said:
Surely the issue is he was trying to not call something greed that most people think of as greed, that doesn't mean it's not greed.
Yes. In the OP's case it's a purely subjective judgement.

Shaolin

2,955 posts

188 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
walm said:
As Gekko points out "greed" is an unjustly maligned word.
Not at all, greed is a negative word by definition, it means selfishly having or wanting more than is needed. What it seems he doesn't like is that his idea of need is not the same as other people's idea of need. He wants loads more stuff than everyone else and he wants everyone else to be happy about it. Greed is about "too much", the word "too" is entirely subjective.

It is not a coincidence that a word doesn't exist for his requirements as hardly anyone else requires it, it harkens back to feudalism where the lord of the manor, baron, king whoever thought it only right that his family should have so much more than everyone else and it wasn't greed, it was a good thing.

Dr Jekyll

23,820 posts

260 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Shaolin said:
Not at all, greed is a negative word by definition, it means selfishly having or wanting more than is needed. What it seems he doesn't like is that his idea of need is not the same as other people's idea of need. He wants loads more stuff than everyone else and he wants everyone else to be happy about it. Greed is about "too much", the word "too" is entirely subjective.
No, he wants loads more stuff than he was at present. If others also get more stuff he doesn't have a problem with that, so why should other people be unhappy with him?

What on earth is wrong with wanting more than is needed? Do you mean 'need' for survival? Or are you the arbiter of what level of comfort is acceptable?

Shaolin

2,955 posts

188 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
What you are describing is ambition. The fact he used the word greed implies to me that he knows what he wants is morally questionable, especially in regard to the imbalances in the amount of effort put into getting it and what other people have for working as hard. He seems to me to be looking for peer group acceptance of something he knows he won't get from society.

It's the feudal king addressing the feudal barons.

popeyewhite

19,628 posts

119 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Shaolin said:
It's the feudal king addressing the feudal barons.
Where on Earth have you got that idea from?

Dr Jekyll

23,820 posts

260 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Shaolin said:
What you are describing is ambition. The fact he used the word greed implies to me that he knows what he wants is morally questionable, especially in regard to the imbalances in the amount of effort put into getting it and what other people have for working as hard. He seems to me to be looking for peer group acceptance of something he knows he won't get from society.

It's the feudal king addressing the feudal barons.
I think the point of the speech is to say that ambition is distinct from greed even though it's often mistaken for it.

Shaolin

2,955 posts

188 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
popeyewhite said:
Where on Earth have you got that idea from?
Because at that level in that market there is a limited number of top-dogs, the only way in is displacement by competition. My interpretation based on the use of the idea of trying to re-habilitate the word greed (actually more of an attempt to redefine it so that a pejorative can be seen as positive) rather than using the simpler concept of ambition is that he knew he was at best morally ambiguous. He was saying we need to keep our positions or we might find ourselves sharing and we don't want that do we?

Sorry if the analogy doesn't work for you.

It is of course an intensely political argument too.

popeyewhite

19,628 posts

119 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Shaolin said:
Because at that level in that market there is a limited number of top-dogs, the only way in is displacement by competition. My interpretation based on the use of the idea of trying to re-habilitate the word greed (actually more of an attempt to redefine it so that a pejorative can be seen as positive) rather than using the simpler concept of ambition is that he knew he was at best morally ambiguous. He was saying we need to keep our positions or we might find ourselves sharing and we don't want that do we?

Sorry if the analogy doesn't work for you.

It is of course an intensely political argument too.
Sorry, upon re-reading my comment looks brusque. Just curious that's all.

walm

10,609 posts

201 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Shaolin said:
He was saying we need to keep our positions or we might find ourselves sharing and we don't want that do we?
If anything he was suggesting the opposite.
He wanted senior management to LOSE their positions.
That's the whole point.
He's trying to enfranchise the masses (in this case shareholders) in order to share the benefit of NOT overpaying management.

In this case NOT voting for Gekko would be a vote to maintain the status quo (management ripping off shareholders).

Sorry if the analogy doesn't work for you.

TheExcession

11,669 posts

249 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
quotequote all
How much money is there in the world?

(asked by Little Ex and one I can't answer)

illmonkey

18,112 posts

197 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
quotequote all
TheExcession said:
How much money is there in the world?

(asked by Little Ex and one I can't answer)
I've got £20 in my wallet, anyone else? It won't take long to tally it up.

Silent1

19,761 posts

234 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
quotequote all
TheExcession said:
How much money is there in the world?

(asked by Little Ex and one I can't answer)
I'd wager its infinite as there's not many currencies tied to a standard any more and as such there is no natural limit on the total as it's just paper, so I guess the theoretical limit is the total of wood or cotton or plastic in the world.

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
quotequote all
TheExcession said:
How much money is there in the world?

(asked by Little Ex and one I can't answer)
As much as the governments are willing to print.

Ayahuasca

27,427 posts

278 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
quotequote all
History question.

Why did Henry VIII not have his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, offed?

He had no qualms about offing later wives, and offing Catherine would have saved years of hassle and bother of breaking away from the pope and setting up his own branch of the church.

Was he more squeamish in his early days?


singlecoil

33,317 posts

245 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
The Spanish, at the time, were rather more of a force to be reckoned with than they are now.

He would also have needed an excuse, one which would have been believable, and there is no way Catherine would have provided him with one, unlike her successor.

Breaking away from the Catholic Church did also make him very rich, as well as allowing him to award church property to his supporters.


walm

10,609 posts

201 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
TheExcession said:
How much money is there in the world?

(asked by Little Ex and one I can't answer)
If you mean money = cash currency then it's $60 trillion.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+much+currency+is+in+the+w...

But we have more wealth - e.g. non cash assets such as houses or savings in the bank, pensions, ISAs etc...
So if you mean wealth then as of October 2013, Credit Suisse calculated it at $241 trillion.
This is taking everyone's net worth: assets less liabilities.
http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/03/combined-wealth-worl...


torqueofthedevil

2,068 posts

176 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
Why when u have a drink in the night or first thing in the morning does it take your breath away so much?

Dr Jekyll

23,820 posts

260 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
Is a 4 wheeled 2 wheel drive vehicle a 2X4 or a 4X2?

Ayahuasca

27,427 posts

278 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
Dr Jekyll said:
Is a 4 wheeled 2 wheel drive vehicle a 2X4 or a 4X2?
Depends whether it if FWD or RWD, obviously.

Dr Jekyll

23,820 posts

260 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
Ayahuasca said:
Dr Jekyll said:
Is a 4 wheeled 2 wheel drive vehicle a 2X4 or a 4X2?
Depends whether it if FWD or RWD, obviously.
So what about a 6 wheeled 2 wheel drive with middle wheel drive?
TOPIC CLOSED
TOPIC CLOSED