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Someone Asks “What’s Your Excuse” With ‘Billionaire Beginnings’ Pic, Gets 15 ‘Real World’ Replies
Just like all the other ‘isms,’ capitalism relies on some form of indoctrination to survive. We are taught from a very young age about the rewards of succeeding at school, working at a steady job, buying plenty of stuff, eating processed foods and just believing that life is a competition searching for ways on how to become rich.
As long as the theoretical possibility of starting a business from scratch to make one’s own fortune exists, the idea is that people will continue to work hard and chase it, despite the increasingly vanishing odds.
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To keep the millionaire dream alive we need role models, and in our times these are often people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.
These ‘self-made’ billionaires are often venerated for their humble beginnings, spawning their business empires from a garage with a virtuous combination of technical brilliance, business acumen and absolute dedication to their work. If these guys can do it, anyone can! What’s your excuse?
Happily, more and more people are coming to the realization that the current form of the neoliberal capitalist system is unsustainable not just to the vast majority of people, but for the Earth itself. Things have to change, so why not start by busting the myth that we are all potential millionaires, if only we worked harder at it?
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Our wealth is our shared humanity and our beautiful planet, we don’t need to become millionaires to live our own personal ‘American Dream.’
Perhaps we should follow Bhutan’s lead and measure progress in “gross national happiness,” rather than simply the net worth. And while we’re at it, let’s find better role models than these ‘self-made millionaires’ and their ideas to make money, focusing on the people who achieve genuinely good things for all of us!
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What do you think ?
Frances M 5 years ago
Who says you are successful only if you are a millionaire or richer? I know a woman who was widowed young, lived in a council owned terraced house with her young kids, and sold groceries from a table she setup just inside her living room window, through the window to her neighbours. By the time she was old, she’d bought her own house with a small shop on the ground floor that she sold groceries and sweets out of. That to me is a success story.
The Cappy 5 years ago
Yes indeed. But that wasn't what the original post was about. ;)
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nanashi 5 years ago
with enough money, you can buy your own Success In Business While Being A Self-Made Person.
Drew 5 years ago
We don't even have a lot of the most basic "leg ups" these days. Here in the UK, one of the most fervent critics of our centre-left opposition Party, Lord Sugar, was recently ridiculed for going on about how he "made it rich despite growing up in a council estate". Effectively, he benefitted from policies that he now campaigns relentlessly against.
Drew 5 years ago
JK Rowling is another fervent critic. She was a single mum on State benefits when she wrote the first Harry Potter.
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Frances M 5 years ago
Who says you are successful only if you are a millionaire or richer? I know a woman who was widowed young, lived in a council owned terraced house with her young kids, and sold groceries from a table she setup just inside her living room window, through the window to her neighbours. By the time she was old, she’d bought her own house with a small shop on the ground floor that she sold groceries and sweets out of. That to me is a success story.
The Cappy 5 years ago
Yes indeed. But that wasn't what the original post was about. ;)
Load More Replies... nanashi 5 years ago
with enough money, you can buy your own Success In Business While Being A Self-Made Person.
Drew 5 years ago
We don't even have a lot of the most basic "leg ups" these days. Here in the UK, one of the most fervent critics of our centre-left opposition Party, Lord Sugar, was recently ridiculed for going on about how he "made it rich despite growing up in a council estate". Effectively, he benefitted from policies that he now campaigns relentlessly against.
Drew 5 years ago
JK Rowling is another fervent critic. She was a single mum on State benefits when she wrote the first Harry Potter.
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