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What does capitalism actually reward? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/socialism@lemmy.ml
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[–] 20 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I have a group of friends who I have known since I was a kid. This is useful in that, while it’s of course anecdotal, I can say that it’s a sample of people who all knew each other before any of us were capable of earning money.

Within this group, there is zero correlation between intelligence or work ethic and wealth/income. My wealthiest friend inherited his family business. My second wealthiest friend married into money. These two are among the least hard working and intelligent friends I have. Meanwhile the smartest friend I have - the one who almost aced his SAT - is doing ok but not like he’s swimming in money (community college professor - which honestly is a pretty great gig, he was smart enough to recognize that). Another truly brilliant friend of mine is doing research in a field he is passionate about but he’s definitely not the highest earner in our group.

Admittedly none of us are extremely hard workers, but I know tons of workers - especially some undocumented folks, who work way harder than I can even imagine, and they are of course making very little.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Of my childhood friend group, I am the second smartest, and the poorest at the moment (aside from the ones that are in prison), the smartest is the wealthiest among us, but only because she was smart enough to utilize her intelligence into a degree and a higher GS grade in a government job. None of us are wealthy, but she's doing the best. Buying a home, and can pay her bills, and has about 200 bucks per paycheck to put into savings. We all came from very economically disadvantaged backgrounds, but she had the advantage of both of her parents being in the military, so while we lived in the same neighborhood, she lived in a much nicer home, whereas the rest of us lived on roads her parents told her never to walk down.

    I am currently attempting to follow the path she did, just 15 years later.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago

    I'm very intelligent, and fairly hard working, but I also have the power of empathy and compassion for others. That drastically limits my earning potential. Even more so since I want to make a large scale positive difference in the world.

    All the best ways to get rich are exploitative: of employees, of customers, of society as a whole, of the planet.

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