Feels like you're bringing more into this than what's in the article. Your criticism doesn't illuminate much for me in that context.

Yeah. It’s literally an article about New Year’s resolutions. Calling resolutions “pre-mortem” doesn’t change what they are. lol.

There’s also more to resolutions than lose weight and/or quit smoking. I spend January planning out my entire year. There are only 52 weekends and they get filled up quickly

Everyone chooses how they want their life to shape up before it ends.

I think if most people actively chose how to shape their lives (as opposed to just floating through whatever may come their way), the world would look pretty different.

There is a bootstrap shortage. But any individual should have bootstraps.

I’ve heard somewhere that 85% of billionaires are first generation billionaires meaning they made their own money. I’m sure while they were making money they also had similar struggles to you and I.

I think if you work harder, faster, smarter and have some luck you will succeed no matter what and have some extra time to reflect on your life also.

It's about 80% of millionaires and billionaires.

Which sounds much more reasonable when you consider that many small businesses owners will be millionaires but not enough to be considered super wealthy. No evidence that billionaires are mostly self-made.

Which billionaires are being complained about that aren't self made? I suppose MacKenzie Scott-types, but I'd be happy to class them as self-made in that she wasn't born into billions. And I don't think anyone especially objects to her.

If you look at the list of top 10 richest in US, they are all founders. If you look at the top 25, there are a lot of Walton, Koch, and Mars.

> I think if you [...] and have some luck you will succeed no matter what

Ignoring the politics of it, this wording is pretty funny to me.

Or maybe if people stop trying to build socialism they could live much better? I for sure know that all the countries that attempted to "get rid of the billionaires", "stop the corrupt capitalism", "put the power to the people" lived vastly worse than people in the capitalist world and especially USA. Or maybe there is another reason that the emigration is ALWAYS in the direction of the capitalist countries, and the more capitalist the country is and them more billionaires it has, more people try to go there. If that was not the case Trump wouldn't have wanted to deport people, they would have gone themselves.

It's always strange to me people arguing against income equality.

Even though we have plenty of evidence and research that it makes society better for everyone.

And there is zero evidence that the more billionaires a country has the better it is.

there is ZERO evidence on that! we have plenty of evidence of the opposite - you can immediately go and live in a country with equality and no billionaires - Cuba, for example, but no - you prefer to stay in the USA and downvote me - who lived through the socialism and saw what absolute HELL is when people like you are in charge.

I'm not sure what the GP's post was, but I'm genuinely curious. I have no experience of socialist countries, but I have several friends and colleagues who have emigrated over the last decade or so.

1. Is income equality the primary driver of a country descending into social turmoil?

2. If not, is the USA so politically and socially similar to those countries in other ways that an income equality system - or a system that moves in that direction - would be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back?

I'm particularly interested in #2 as a non-American.

The capitalist powers have used the CIA and other groups to ruthlessly interfere with socialist countries. There must be some reason they're afraid.

It is not their wealth and quality of life they were afraid of, I can assure you of that! Or you believe that KGB didn't interfere in the capitalist countries even more? But hey, I can show you even today, in EU, couple of cases of using chemical weapons against people by the FSB(KGB) and a few blown warehouses with weapons. Can you show me a murder or attempt murder by CIA in Cuba, North Korea, China that happened in the last, let's say not 5 years, but 30? Or maybe they interfered because socialist countries waged a war against capitalism as they openly admit? Or maybe you are caring their war now.

"Please don't fulminate."

"Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Thanks for the reminder. I'll try to do better next time.