Yes it does.

Post #42,588 by Arkadiy 6/17/02 10:39:01 AM Reply	Yes it does. The Vietnamese folks who I've seen working in Russia during my childhood... A watch was an equivalent of dimond bracelet for them. Having one's own appartment (2 rooms for 15 people extended family) was like having that trophy home - impossible, except in the dreamland of Soviet Union. A bycicle was an equivalent of UAV: too expensive to buy and not really necessary.
Post #42,676 by tuberculosis 6/17/02 5:57:41 PM Reply	I don't get your point. I don't want what I can't reasonably use. This is quantitatively different from, say, Larry Ellison's multiple yachts that sit dormant most of the time or Bill Gates's 100 car underground garage. For one person, that's insane. Yet he's still grasping for more more more. Thats greed. The average hunter gatherer works 20 hours a week. The average farmer works 40 hours a week. The average programmer works 60 hours a week. What the hell are we thinking?
Post #42,681 by Ashton 6/17/02 6:41:51 PM Reply	But 'quantizing' greed may be the Red Herring 100 cars? an excess which needs no painful examination of the word, excess. (nor of the idea, 'unimaginitively banal.. in equating mere ostentatious Excess with.. Good') Of course assessing "one's own 'greed content'" isn't an exact science either. I'd guess that the idea of greed suffers from a problem similar to that of honesty. Defending one's own relative greed-lessness? is akin to saying, Look.. I'm Honest. [we see why that fails - recursively] There's always a yabut since.. most any Murican possesses orders of magnitude more wealth (via any formula) than a humongous percentage of all homo-saps (present, or who ever lived). By that criterion (and our rapacity, now hegemony to date) one might determine that we are Tribbles: born ~~pregnant~~ Greedy beyond measure... Ashton Murican ergo Greedier than most bipeds extant.
Post #42,694 by Arkadiy 6/17/02 8:54:21 PM Reply	My point is... From that Vietnamese point of view, your private car is just as much greed as Larry Ellison yahts. (Private people should use public transportation or walk, ride bycicle at best. What does that car do while you sleep? What a waste!) You are sure he is wrong. Are you sure you are right? (Personally, I do not car how many private yahts Ellison has. As long as he does not have private Senators and Congressmen. Ah, yes, he does. Now, that's where I draw the line. I am actually with you on bashing Bill and Larry, just for different reason).
Post #42,701 by tuberculosis 6/17/02 10:34:18 PM Reply	Well I'm in a rare position this week ...as I've just sold my car and nearly everything else I can't take as carry-on luggage to make the hop across the pond to the new job. Plus I prefer public transportation and take it whenever possible. Modern bicycles hurt my butt. Bring back the banana seat and maybe I'll ride again. So you can't mean me. :-P But we were discussing whats wrong with AmBiz and I reiterate that the root of it is our culture of business (to the exclusion of all else). The average hunter gatherer works 20 hours a week. The average farmer works 40 hours a week. The average programmer works 60 hours a week. What the hell are we thinking?

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