I never claimed the wealth was unearned - I said it was unearned by the high school student who is gaining clout from it.
> but, like you, decided that such differential wealth displays were to be shunned. Not needing those displays caused them in part to lose motivation to obtain wealth
I don't think you'll find any evidence to support this. No one decides that since they don't need a Benz to show off, that they would like to live in a hovel and work until they are 75.
> Instead of clipping the knees of the productive, realize that envy can encourage the unproductive to imitate the habits of the productive to themselves become productive
An equally plausible scenario is that the envy leads unproductive people to spend every last penny they can earn on the displays, leaving them in a much worse financial position than someone who eschews the displays and invests their money in productive enterprises.
edit: just realized I posted this from my phone which has a different account signed on...opsec fail, just a heads up googlryas=oh_sigh
> but, like you, decided that such differential wealth displays were to be shunned. Not needing those displays caused them in part to lose motivation to obtain wealth
I don't think you'll find any evidence to support this. No one decides that since they don't need a Benz to show off, that they would like to live in a hovel and work until they are 75.
> Instead of clipping the knees of the productive, realize that envy can encourage the unproductive to imitate the habits of the productive to themselves become productive
An equally plausible scenario is that the envy leads unproductive people to spend every last penny they can earn on the displays, leaving them in a much worse financial position than someone who eschews the displays and invests their money in productive enterprises.
edit: just realized I posted this from my phone which has a different account signed on...opsec fail, just a heads up googlryas=oh_sigh