Acutally any baseball fan can tell you that was about the same price of two small beers at the ball park.

yeah. :) they're funny books

(I like to think some mccarthy commie hunter got to her.)

A rich person spent lots of money? That Scum! No, this is the ultimate sign of "I should proofread the article myself instead of using a spell checker."

Hm. Okay, I spell it out : this is not.

Making a point by referring to a fiction, or trying to illustrate a given ideology through a little fable that is supposed to validate it as some simplified basic truth of life, is very very easy and cheap, yet quite efficient at a demagogic level. It's as void, arbitrary and boring as a proverb. And you've got similar tales saying anything and its contrary...

In other words.

yeah, I know. thats what makes it funny.
(got goodwin's law in another thread so needed something here. mel gibson joke didn't go over well so tried something different)
(well that and its pretty blatant indoctrination for a children's book and it points in opposite directions at the same time for some reason. but the latter reason its funny isn't relevant here its only the reason I remembered it)

I don't have a problem with rich people necessarily, but I do question the desire to acquire (my new rhyme, I just made it up) wealth beyond a certain point. Is there really a necessary difference between making 25 million a year and 5 billion? Who seriously thinks they need that much money? I'm sure there are a lot of financial intricacies that I don't understand about the billionaires of the world and how they contribute to the backing of new businesses, and that's fine -- but the trickle down bullshit is one of the biggest lies in American political history, so that is not a valid reason in my eyes (https://nacla.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/large_image/wysiwyg_imageupload/16802/TrickleDown.jpg).

Right now for example, American wages are in decline, people are still losing jobs left and right, and many of those that still do have jobs are forced to work 5 times as hard for less pay (because they laid people off and forced the remainders to fill their roles). And now what do you have? The top % of earners are seeing record historical profits while the rest of the country is falling apart. They're sitting on their profits - that money isn't trickling down anywhere. I think the recession has taught employers that they can overwork a smaller workforce, and demand more qualifications from new hires for less pay, because people are desperate for work. I don't think this is going to change anytime soon, since they're seeing record profits from this tactic.

What I'm torn about is whether or not I think government regulation is the answer. Really, it isn't. People should stand up for themselves. The trouble is, they don't. So do you let society get trampled on until there's some sort of revolution (if it comes to that), or do you try to impose regulations?

I think part of it is that you don't plan to use it all up yourself.
You make a big pile to sleep on and when you die you make an heiress like her. These people (subconsciously based on instinct)want a giant pile of money so their kids can not work and instead be idiots with $ and somehow waste what could last 3 or 4 generations if spent smartly before they're 40 by being drunken whores(not her, more the American ones who eventually get their own reality shows).

But mostly its to have a sleeping pile like a dragon. The rest is they probably are so focused on making a pile they don't even notice when they have enough and blow right past too much....and then they die before they get around to buying their island because they were too busy making a pile(a pile they could probably make an island out of if they dropped it in the right part of the sea).
Just throw a blanket and pillow on this http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TkfVWdlZ1k0/TdgfIXERM0I/AAAAAAAAMG4/l9-T0x-5xVk/s1600/huge-stack-of-money.jpg awesome sexy bed.
or a chair like this http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/616279/616279,1316756339,1/stock-photo-throne-made-of-coins-85180630.jpg but gold bricks instead of coins.
(Oddly it was difficult to find any image results for "throne made of stacks of cash")
you don't think you'd do that if you could?
edit-
Either that or they plan to band together and make their own country. which'd be pretty cool until they got invaded.

Not that I'll ever have that kind of money, but I always hoped that I'd have the good sense to never feel like I needed to be filthy rich to be happy. Then again, they say money changes you, so there's no telling what I'd do if I started to become rich. Maybe I'd go build schools in South America, or maybe I'd turn into a giant asshole and spend every hour of my waking life trying to figure out how to make more money so that I never run out of 1000 dollar bills to use as toilet paper, which I'd wipe my ass with while laughing at the starving Ethiopian kids on those on those infomercials.

oh....well I'd at least make a chair of stacks of ones with hundred bills on all the outside bits that showed. maybe stuff one of those clear air mattresses with gold coins(enough to be fancy but not so many as to prevent its function as an air mattress....probably hire some sort of minion to follow me around too.

Then maybe get a custom tailored suit of armor.

after that who knows...maybe build a castle(a functional actually defensible one not just aesthetic. If the revenue man gets in he deserves that years tax$). I can already fence so next would be riding lessons, a good solid horse, broadsword lessons, archery lessons, jousting lessons. Then maybe if I'm not sick of it I'd somehow find a way to joust for charity and the entertainment of sick children or something.

edit- (alternatively if I am sick of it and also money has turned me evil or callous and arrogant I'd kidnap the top fighters in each of their fields(top karate, top fencer ect) and make them fight to the death to get the chance to fight me. if they win they go free with a cash prize from my estate(the rest of my will says "fuck you government you're not getting my stuff just because I have no children...I'm giving it all to fund more firefly and farscape with the rest buried with me...in space")and a signed duel contract releasing them for responsibility in my death..if they loose they get stuffed in my trophy room or whatever the guy in most dangerous game was going to do. if that doesn't bring back the spark nothing will and I'll have to find a new hobby.)

And then something practical... spend some time learning to shoot so I don't die like a samurai.
At that point I'd have the whole castle-house and hidden bunker thing disassembled and flown out to a synthetic island I secretly built in international waters to be rebuilt there. With my own island fortress I would form my own country to rule with an iron fist and repel invading banks looking for an off shore base. Put a big shiny red button on the right arm of my money chair that blows up the floats and sinks the whole thing to the depths in case invaders get the upper hand. Probably invest in some sort of escape pod so I can shout THIS ISN'T THE END i'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME MWAHAHA or something as it sinks.(oh and also buy all the gog games)

Thats what rich people do right?
I really only have video games to go by since I refuse to watch the media crap on what paris hilton does
(i forgot mortal kombat's bad guy was rich and set up the tournament so added that

edit--

wait put all that on the back burner...if I can afford an island fortress maybe I can afford space. If so then first priority is a moonbase. Maybe round up some colonists for a http://www.space.com/19174-mars-one-colony-astronauts-wanted.html[/url] to live in a dome city I'd build for them. Stick some sort of eula on the oxygen taps to make them sign on to be my subjects and agree to the constitution I drafted up"click this box to accept me as your emperor and god-king of mars y/n" "no/ I'm sorry you cannot use my air supply until you agree retracting air taps. feel free to change your mind" sort of thing.

Haha, well I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with luxury and enjoying the fruits of your labor. I don't have a problem with some people having even a considerable amount of more wealth than other people - I just think the differences right now between the working class and the upper elite are spread too far. Buying yourself some cool toys, or having a nice house, or taking some fancy vacations - Sure, have at it. But someone recently had a 165 million dollar wedding, though I forget who it was. That's overboard, imo. I guess it's all subjective as to where you draw that line, though.

But I'll admit, it would be pretty cool to have a throne made of money! (Actually I'd rather it be made from the bones of my enemies, but money is fine too.)

I can think of a rich heiress that knows how to spend her wealth productively
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYdyBT_edAg

Probably, the folks that actually have to work to earn a living and the ones that have to pay the taxes to protect the disproportionate wealth.

You mean the people who are jealous that they didn't get to have a fat inheritance, too?

No, I mean people who are upset that certain sectors get a free ride through life because they were lucky enough to be born into wealth. Having what is effectively a permanent upper class based upon work from generations back is not something which is healthy for a capitalist society to have.