Did anyone else roar laughing upon reading this article? (Indo on quality of life)

Mr. Presentable

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

[Who are these people, how much were they payed to compile the statistics, and what eejit published it without actually reading it first???

Or perhaps more pertinently, who would post a critique (I use the term advisedly) of the article without actually thinking about and understanding the content?

enda1

Why would anyone want to live in a society where wealth was spread evenly?

In a society where effort is not rewarded there is no drive to succeed and better yourself. Production drops and GDP follows.

Yes you can theoretically have even distribution of wealth but, what is zero divided by 4 million anyone?

nesf

nesf wrote: »

16th least corrupt? Yeah, that's actually possible. Can't remember the last time I had to bribe a Garda or bureaucrat to get a form filled out which is the norm in far too many parts of the world.

Look at it this way, 16th puts us as one of the worst of "better off" countries of which there aren't that many.

Spot on. For all our beating of chests, we are far from the world's worst. But of course for a 'better off' country, we are far from the best.

me_right_one

enda1 wrote: »

Why would anyone want to live in a society where wealth was spread evenly?

In a society where effort is not rewarded there is no drive to succeed and better yourself. Production drops and GDP follows.

Yes you can theoretically have even distribution of wealth but, what is zero divided by 4 million anyone?

I think the word should be "proportionately", not evenly. The fact is that effort is not rewarded, nor has it ever been.

As for "bettering yourself", the drive to do this is almost never to do with money or wealth, and almost always to do with insecurity and weakness. The drive to survive, sustain and share is what most people naturally aspire to. Its like a social insurance policy, that ensures all members of society are treated fairly, and no-one is left behind because they fall on hard times. Dont forget, there's still no cure for cancer!

In our current society, and most capitalist societys for that matter, those who exert most effort get awarded the least, and those who exert the least effort, get awarded the most. eg you have workers desperately doing 60+ hrs per week and spending money on fuel and food just to remain a bit above dole level, versus solicitors, bankers, politicians etc. who thank themselves for being great (as they see it) and try to keep everybody out of their circle as long as they can get away with it. As long as this unfairness remains the status quo, economies will always struggle, inefficiency will always flourish, and the corrupt and weak will worm their way as far as they can until they are exposed.

ei.sdraob

me_right_one wrote: »

I think the word should be "proportionately", not evenly. The fact is that effort is not rewarded, nor has it ever been.

As for "bettering yourself", the drive to do this is almost never to do with money or wealth, and almost always to do with insecurity and weakness. The drive to survive, sustain and share is what most people naturally aspire to. Its like a social insurance policy, that ensures all members of society are treated fairly, and no-one is left behind because they fall on hard times. Dont forget, there's still no cure for cancer!

In our current society, and most capitalist societys for that matter, those who exert most effort get awarded the least, and those who exert the least effort, get awarded the most. eg you have workers desperately doing 60+ hrs per week and spending money on fuel and food just to remain a bit above dole level, versus solicitors, bankers, politicians etc. who thank themselves for being great (as they see it) and try to keep everybody out of their circle as long as they can get away with it. As long as this unfairness remains the status quo, economies will always struggle, inefficiency will always flourish, and the corrupt and weak will worm their way as far as they can until they are exposed.

erm

you just describe the blue collar white collar divide

if you looking close the one thing that separates the 2 is education and aversion to risk taking

ireland is one of them countries where its possible for someone from an extremely poor background to move to very top of the ladder quickly, thanks to free education


and your post is also insulting to me btw

ive come from a very poor background, went thru the education system up to and including 4th level for mostly free
and now doing very well for myself despite a recession
and yes i work very hard, i had no holidays for 2 years now, often work 7 days, have to wake up and work in middle of night sometimes if equipment fails


so dont be pushing your marxist/communist/socialist mantra there are hard working people in all walks of life, sometimes they get to the top by working hard

learn hard, work hard and you can get fairly far, thankfully ireland is a fairly conductive place for people to move across "classes"

yes there are chancers but thankfully the recession is now clearing out some of that rubbish, im talking about developers and speculators