Do you feel sorry for these losers?

aruna · Nov 28, 2008

For some reason, I'm not weeping.

On a more serious note, this is something I simply cannot fathom. The amounts are just mindboggling.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 28, 2008

Actually, yes I do.

Why should the fact that they are rich change my sympathies for anyone who loses money in these economic times?

It sucks for all of us.

aruna · Nov 28, 2008

It's all relative.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 28, 2008

If you say so.

People are people. Guess I don't differentiate based on economic factors.

aruna · Nov 28, 2008

Well, I just feel sorrier for the family who has to turn over every penny to and the dad has lost his job and they are going to lose their house... that these guys. Sorry! They are not going to starve; I would say, easy come, easy go.

And no, it's not Schadenfreude. I've never put much store in having heaps of money.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 28, 2008

*shrugs*

Guess I have the ability to have degrees of sorry. Yes, I feel sorry for someone who lost their job, but I'm certainly not going to make fun of anyone who's losing money, no matter how much they started out with.

But you go ahead. I won't stop you any more.

Yeshanu · Nov 28, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
Actually, yes I do.

Why should the fact that they are rich change my sympathies for anyone who loses money in these economic times?

It sucks for all of us.

Gates' net worth was valued at $58 billion in September, down only $1 billion from 12 months earlier. But by the beginning of October, his net worth had fallen to $55.5 billion.

He's still got more than enough to live off of -- HE won't suffer. It's the charitable foundations that he funds that may suffer.

I can't say I feel "sorry" for any of the folks on that list -- most of them have smarts that make me look like an absolute idiot (and that I am not). They'll recover, and recover well.

But in the meantime, the folks under them are suffering, and the charities they fund are suffering, so in the long run, SF's right. It's bad for everyone.

CaroGirl · Nov 28, 2008

If these guys have lost that much money because of the economic downturn, it means the low-wage earners are losing too. That's not good for any of us. While I won't be starting up a charitable donation fund anytime soon so Bill Gates won't lose his mansion in the south of France, I think this bodes badly for us all.

aruna · Nov 28, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
But you go ahead. I won't stop you any more.

I'm just an ol' meanie.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 28, 2008

Sorry. No, you're not.

I'm being a pistol.

scarletpeaches · Nov 28, 2008

As I don't resent anyone for being rich, I take no joy when they lose some of those riches either.

Seems to me folks just like hatin' on those who have more because they worked harder.

And since when did I talk like an American?

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 28, 2008

I'm corrupting you.

scarletpeaches · Nov 28, 2008

And I'm still picking those damn furballs out of my handivac.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 28, 2008

Don't blame me. I was as much a victim as you.

aruna · Nov 28, 2008

scarletpeaches said:
As I don't resent anyone for being rich, I take no joy when they lose some of those riches either.

Seems to me folks just like hatin' on those who have more because they worked harder.

And since when did I talk like an American?

Oh, I don't hate them in the least, and I don't resent the rich, nor do I find any joy in them losing. Not weeping is not the same as whooping for joy!

Today though it got a little personal for me, because I know somebody who works at MFI and today they went into aquisition. I just bought a new kitchen from them and I got to know him quite well. He recently found his mother and four siblings he never knew he had, and he was so happy in September when he didn't lose his job. Now he has....

So that's the one I feel sorry for. And the old folks who worked hard all their lives and lost their savings.

I am very lucky in that I had no savings. And my mortgage interest just went down by £300 a month.

roncouch · Nov 28, 2008

scarletpeaches said:
As I don't resent anyone for being rich, I take no joy when they lose some of those riches either.

Seems to me folks just like hatin' on those who have more because they worked harder.

Not so sure they worked so much harder, but the envy-turned hatred of the wealthy is pityful.

NeuroFizz · Nov 28, 2008

I agree with Ruth. Cuts in philanthropy from the deep pockets will be hard to make up.

My ex-brother-in-law has been in the new car selling business (at the car dealer ownership level) and those people have always been rolling in money. He's had to sell part of his dealership back to General Motors, and he's on the verge of losing everything. I've always resented how much the upper echelons of that business pulled in, but when it hits close to home, it's hard to say "neener neener." I'm really hurting for him because he's facing losing it all.

MsK · Nov 28, 2008

NeuroFizz said:
I agree with Ruth. Cuts in philanthropy from the deep pockets will be hard to make up.

My ex-brother-in-law has been in the new car selling business (at the car dealer ownership level) and those people have always been rolling in money. He's had to sell part of his dealership back to General Motors, and he's on the verge of losing everything. I've always resented how much the upper echelons of that business pulled in, but when it hits close to home, it's hard to say "neener neener." I'm really hurting for him because he's facing losing it all.

I know a LOT of people in that type of situation, and honestly, they are not taking it real well. A few even seem to be going off the deep end.

aruna · Nov 28, 2008

Yes, there have been a couple of suicides.

aruna · Nov 28, 2008

roncouch said:
scarletpeaches said:

As I don't resent anyone for being rich, I take no joy when they lose some of those riches either.

Seems to me folks just like hatin' on those who have more because they worked harder.

Not so sure they worked so much harder, but the envy-turned hatred of the wealthy is pityful.

Click to expand...

I hope you are not referring to me!
I repeat, I do not envy the rich. I am genuinly baffled by the need to have so much money; I'm the type who is happiest with the simple and free things in life! If I had more than I needed I would give the extra stuff away to deserving charities.

Ageless Stranger · Nov 28, 2008

I hate the rich.

But no more than I hate the poor.

scarletpeaches · Nov 28, 2008

We don't rid the world of poverty by becoming one of the poor.

Yeshanu · Nov 28, 2008

scarletpeaches said:
We don't rid the world of poverty by becoming one of the poor.

I need to paste this up on my wall or something. Honestly. It's been a real roadblock to my doing well, I think.

Aruna, I didn't get from your post that you were jumping for joy or anything. I get, from what you've said, that you're feeling far more sympathetic to the little guys in this situation.

For myself, I'm concerned that what's going on is indicative of a much deeper problem, in that our whole economic system is unsustainable. We rely on continuous growth.

But continuous growth is not a natural or sustainable state of being for anything. When it occurs in living cells we have a name for it.

Cancer.

Our whole economic model is based on cancer-like continuous growth, and I'm worried that what's happening now is only a minor blip in the scheme of things, and that the major collapse is yet to come.

[/doom and gloom]

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programme, whatever it was...

scarletpeaches · Nov 28, 2008

I wish I could claim it for my own, but it was (I think) Abe Lincoln who said it.

CaroGirl · Nov 28, 2008

scarletpeaches said:
I wish I could claim it for my own, but it was (I think) Abe Lincoln who said it.

Now what did you go and say that for? I was preparing to be very impressed.

Do you feel sorry for these losers?

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