Of course, there is one counter-example that I am familiar with of a person who has become filthy rich without loosing his soul: George Soros. But I have to thank his personal mentor - Karl Popper - for giving him something to believe in. I would probably revile Soros if he was influenced by an Objectivist philosopher.
I have no idea, nor do you, as to the state of George Soros’ soul…or Karl Popper’s soul…or anyone else’s soul. This is for God to judge.
And also the rampant crimes of business owners,politicians,corporations,and governments.
And a brass band played “Whoda Thunkit.”:newidea: IOW…it is a problem in every segment/stratum of society.
But of course, not necessarily equally a problem in every segment of society.:newidea: IOW…it is a problem in every segment/stratum of society.
You do not have a clue as to how Soros made his money do you?
By running a hedge fund utilitzing a global macro strategy that includes currency speculation.
I challenge you to find any solid data that shows that greed is more of a problem in one segment versus another.
One’s prejudices can easily lead to the assumption that “the other guy” has a bigger problem, but I just don’t see it.Which nearlly bankrupted several countires and plunged 10s of thousands of people into abject poverty. He also admits to participating in sezing Jewish Property during World War II in hungary. Like a previous poster said we cant judge the state of one souls(of course you dont beleive in souls so you comment was strange to begin with) but what we know about Soros does not paint a very favorable picture.
You just used the “P” word.I challenge you to find any solid data that shows that greed is more of a problem in one segment versus another.
I feel safe in making that challenge, because I feel it is virtually impossible to make such an objective assessment.
For clarity, I mean it in a general way. We all have prejudices that form our judgments in various areas. Greed is one area where I personally see evidence (circumstantial though it may be) that the predisposition is there for most of humanity.You just used the “P” word.
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I said not necessarily, I didn’t say difinitively one way or another. If we find data then we will will have some data to make a decision. Do you have any data to suggest greed is equal across all segments of society?I challenge you to find any solid data that shows that greed is more of a problem in one segment versus another.
I feel safe in making that challenge, because I feel it is virtually impossible to make such an objective assessment.
I haven’t read through this thread, but my question would be why wouldn’t greed be equal across all segments of society? It’s one of the seven deadlies that has plagued man since the dawn of time, as is envy, I might add.
-here is a great quote from Soros himself about how he made almost 1 billion dollars in one day by deliberately devaluing the british pound, and in the process destroyed thousands of british jobs and almost plunged the british economy into a recession:
The reason I argue that greed is not necessarily equal across all segments of society is that we don’t have exactly the same prediliction to all sins. Some are more predisposed to greed, others to sloth, etc. Now, our prediliction to sin may have different effects in our lives. Someone who has a problem with sloth is not likely to attain extreme levels of wealth. On the other hand, if greed and envy are big issues for a person it is possible that those sins may show themselves in behaviors such as the quest to get rich.
Poverty is not necessarily virtuous, although to give up material possessions for the sake of the kingdom of God is desirable.
I didn’t say that having wealth is evil. But, certainly if you want material gain, there can certainly be gains to sinning. In business, there are situations where by sinning you can make more profits. Think of Google capitulating on the Chinese censorship issue. Was it virtuous? No. Was it profitable? Yes.
Once again, you are reading things that just aren’t there. I never said that the rich were evil, nor that the poor were good. I also addressed the issue of envy. As I have said previously in this thread, I don’t spend what I earn now, so my becomming extremely wealthy would not be of much benefit to me. I know plenty of wealthy people, and they have lots of nice things. My attitude is: God bless them. But, when I look at what it has cost many of them to acquire their wealth, I see people who are very good at making money, but who are pretty clueless as to many other things. Now of course, that is just my particular experience, and I don’t want to generalize based on my experience, which is why I asked the question in the first place.
Greed** is** equal across all segments of society. But we don’t envy the poor, so we have this thread to argue that the “filthy rich” are greedier than the rest of us.
For every person you can find who is very good at making money, but pretty clueless as to many other things, I can find you a hundred who are very bad at making money, and even more clueless to many other things.