"Why should I suffer for making all the right decisions, and everyone else benefit for making all the wrong decisions?" This is a quote from memory, that the chairman of Westgate said to his employees publicly, when he threatened to absolve their positions, and take his fortune to an island beach, if Obama gets re-elected. I can't say how many times I've heard this sentiment, in more or less the same words time and time again throughout my life. It just seems arrogant to think that anyone one of us could have so much control of our own destiny. Is he even considering that his mother at least made one "right decision" for him by giving birth to him in a country that allowed him to prosper from day one? Is he considering the fact that even if his parents had been unemployed, he still would have been able to attend public funded schools, and also access to public funded libraries where he could receive the education it would take to run a multi-billion dollar company? And when he considers his employees to be the ones to have made all the wrong decisions, Does he consider whether or not he could have ever made billions of dollars had they not also been granted many of those same opportunities? Does he consider, that those and many other opportunities and "hand-outs" may have been granted to both himself and his employees by much of the same means that he is profanely complaining about? Then again he could have been born into a wealthy family, which would mean his forefathers had made a whole lot more right decisions for him before he even came along. I don't have the facts in front of me, but I'm pretty sure when he was born into this country, there was probably some other fat ass millionaire bitching about how he was being robbed by a socialist society. I realize this may be late in timing, but just the same, Thanks for letting me rant about that!
He is not a socialist. He believes that it is his money. Therefor he believes that how it is spent should be done under his control. Do you believe otherwise? If so do you believe that someone else should be able to tell you how you can spend your money? Most of us believe that we should pay for necessary government services ,but that those services should limited to needs not wants.
I do believe to an extent that others should tell me how to spend my money. I don't really have a choice other than to pay income taxes. So, in those regards I am being told how to spend my money. The only control I have on how that money is spent is to cast my vote, and hope the elected officials do what is right by others. And I agree too with the majority that we should pay for needs and not wants. I guess that's just where the line gets fuzzy- on how to determine the difference between wants and needs. For instance, I'm not sure we need a cell phones for the unemployed program, but I'm not sure we need to go into another war anytime soon either, or that we need another hole in the ozone. I'm not sure we should all want a better bottom line either, when it allows more to suffer.
The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias according to which better-informed agents find it extremely difficult to think about problems from the perspective of lesser-informed agents. As such added information may convey some dis-utility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge
yes, there are guys that started 5 meters before the finish line that actually believe they started 100 meters back, like the rest of us. Being born in the royal family makes a difference between being born in a slum. Luck of the draw.