Most far left-wingers think it’s wrong to make more than you need. Most musicians are at least left-wing, if not far. I think it kind of helps to have radical politics as a rock star, because it gets you attention.
AND because most people don’t know much about economics or history… if your politics sound like you’re looking out for them, you’re there hero.
Truthfully, my politics are probably more radical than most far left-wingers. Which is sad, because my politics are pretty dang close to the ideals that America was founded on. But I guess I’ll talk about that later.
I think people who look down upon making money have been had. Most of these people align being rich with being greedy. I claim bullshit.
Money, most of the time, is simply a measure of how productive you’ve been. The more you’ve got, the more value you’ve likely provided to society. Ask an economist.
Sure, some got it by inheritance or by ripping people off. Cash doesn’t travel down generations very far. Rich families become poor. And there are WAY more honest businessman than dishonest ones. Just try to claim different.
Of the rich people I know, I see a MUCH HIGHER degree of integrity than I see in other people. Why? Rich people are successful, and honesty and integrity are successful habits.
(You won’t make money long if you run a dishonest business. Your best hope is to get one big score.)
It’s all about value exchange. You won’t get rich working at Taco Bell because you can only provide a little bit of value to the few people that come to your location…
…but if you set yourself up to provide value to thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions… well you only have to make a few bucks from each to become rich.
For example, let’s say I made an awesome CD with my music on it. I know a lot of albums I’ve paid $15 bucks for. Or at least $7 for. And many of the albums I own, I would have paid much more than that. Because they give me that much value.
So say I sold my CD for $10 to a 100,000 people. Now I’m a millionaire. Was I greedy? Did I rip anyone off?
Where was the greed? After I’ve made say, $50,000.00 for the year should I stop offering the CD? Then people would be out of luck if they wanted to hear it. Should I give my CD out for free? Then people are ripping me off! I’m giving them value and they’re giving me nothing.
Would you go to work tomorrow if they weren’t going to pay you anything? There needs to be a value exchange!
Don’t hate the rich just for finding a way to provide value to more people than you.
