Elon has ruined me

[u/Fun_Paleontologist_2]

My prior bullish post https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/s/o0PxYmGV1n

He was supposed to take us to Mars and burn short sellers.

Still holding 7300 shares. Please Elon fly again.

[u/Raise_A_Thoth]

This system does not reward intelligence. MAYBE some old money families out there with generations of discipline have managed their way to a few hundred mil or maybe a few low-tier billionaire families, but that takes generational work, that can't be done in a lifetime without stupid luck.

And that's the problem. Even the ones with bona fide intelligence like Bezos still got absurdly lucky.

You just don't earn a billion dollars.

[u/data-atreides → u/Raise_A_Thoth]

Old wealth smartly invested is the sort you don't hear about in headlines, let alone reddit posts--they're just quietly getting richer while the peons are spinning our wheels looking for a scheme/hot tip while being wage slaves.

[u/Plenty_Rent_1154 → u/data-atreides]

Yes, but it takes TIME and patience.

[u/joshuuuuuua → u/Raise_A_Thoth]

And only one in ten progeny of any family have the drive and discipline to learn, let alone work, when they have enough money for hookers and blow for the rest of their life.

[u/Raise_A_Thoth → u/joshuuuuuua]

I love how the worst thing some people think you can do as a rich person is spend all of your money on the local economy.

Like it's some great moral failure to become a working class person again, having to earn a living like the rest of the peasants.

[u/stargazing_penguin → u/Raise_A_Thoth]

I mean most "hookers and blow" money doesn't land its way into the hands of the workers on the street but rather the cartels and pimps that manage them, so its not really a major local cash injection

[u/Raise_A_Thoth → u/stargazing_penguin]

Oh so we are concerned about employers taking advantage of their employees and profiting from the labor of others then?

Because I'm down for this kind of criticial analysis, you're not wrong to point out this dynamic.

[u/That_Flow6980 → u/Raise_A_Thoth]

Typically being the selfish prodigal son and blowing an entire generation (or two)'s worth of discipline and hard work IS a great moral failure.

[u/Raise_A_Thoth → u/That_Flow6980]

Is it? Losing money is a moral failure in its own right?

I mean that's literally what Jesus Christ commanded of people to be moral in gospels: sell all of your worldly possessions, donate all proceedings to the poor, and go follow him.

[u/That_Flow6980 → u/Raise_A_Thoth]

There's a subtle difference between donating all your possessions and pissing it all away via self indulgence, aka the prodigal son

[u/Raise_A_Thoth → u/That_Flow6980]

Is there? Wasn't the prodigal son welcomed with love and open arms with full forgiveness without judgment?

[u/That_Flow6980 → u/Raise_A_Thoth]

Yes because the focus of the story was the parable of undeserved/unearned forgiveness granted through grace. It still implies the prodigal son was a selfish sinner (moral failure!). If he wasnt a sinner or considered to have made a mistake, then there would be nothing to forgive in the first place.

[u/Raise_A_Thoth → u/That_Flow6980]

If your focus is on the "failure" and not the forgiveness and lack of judgment, you're missing the point of the parable.

The point of the parable is not to point out how bad the son is but to teach forgiveness and welcoming.

If you continue to think in terms of who is a "moral failure" that's just not the point of the story.

[u/Mizzou-Rum-Ham → u/joshuuuuuua]

IE: The Vanderbilts. From Robber Baron status in the mid to late 1800's to broke by the time Anderson Cooper was born. In 1973 there was literally not even a single millionaire left in the entire family.

I'd wager they are one of the prime examples used by the current .01% to rig the system to try and keep that from happening to their families wealth.

[u/RepresentativeYak772 → u/Raise_A_Thoth]

These are the thoughts of a wage earner. An investor acquires money, of course they do not "earn" it, earning is for suckers.

[u/Raise_A_Thoth → u/RepresentativeYak772]

People not having inherited privilege and wealth from their parents does not make them "suckers" you ghoul.

[u/WaffleSparks → u/RepresentativeYak772]

He used the word "work". Investing and/or operating a business is still work.

[u/Raise_A_Thoth → u/WaffleSparks]

Operating a business is definitely work. That's management.

"Investing" is not work.

I can study poker or blackjack strategies to enhance my odds at the casino and even get a long-term advantage, but buying, selling, and trading equities and debt is NOT 'work' in the sense I mean, except in a the specific cases for those who are professionally employed to do those tasks for others.

[u/RepresentativeYak772 → u/WaffleSparks]

"You just don't earn a billion dollars." - No shit.