[Dan.Linehan]

I disagree with elements of this post.

I don't think being grateful means what you think it means.

Right now, I live in Marin county, the richest county in the world. I didn't grow up here, I moved here from central Ohio.

The gratitude script is ran a lot here, to justify expensive purchases. My boss (at my non-profit) drives a $141k Porsche. Here are some other examples used in the article:

Isn’t it wonderful that certain people are generating so much value — and so efficiently — that they can easily afford to pay $10,000 for a hotel room, thereby helping to create new jobs and keep money flowing through the hard-working service industry? Isn’t it great that people can afford a $100,000 car in order to fund new innovations that could benefit us all? Isn’t it outstanding that people can buy a $200 dinner, encouraging the best chefs to create new culinary delights and to help the wait staff support their families?

Wow. How patronizing. And simply dishonest.

• That $10,000 could have fed a family for a year.
• That $100,000 could have funded a crisis-intervention shelter. Converted ten houses to solar power. Paid three full-time salaries to advocate environmental change. Restored eyesight to two-thousand people through Seva. Taught a thousand kids about nutrition. Made an informational DVD. Funded several startups. Any number of things really.
• That $200 dinner is a monthly salary in India.

Let's see what we really got instead:

helping to create new jobs and keep money flowing through the hard-working service industry?

Where is that money flowing again? Through the hard-working service industry? Do you mean the $12/hour desk job, or the $6/hour cleaning jobs?

I'd guess about 2% of your $10,000 went anywhere but to the owners, right into their pockets. Of course, there are very few owner operated rooms that cost that much, so that $9,800 goes directly to the Trumps or the Hiltons.

Isn’t it great that people can afford a $100,000 car in order to fund new innovations that could benefit us all?

No. Its decidedly not great. What would make you think buying a $100,000 car "funds innovations that could benefit us all"? If someone wanted to fund innovation they could directly donate to the MDI Aircar or some other truly progressive technology.

Don't you think Porsche could start manufacturing the aircar today if they really wanted to? But they don't. When you give them $100,000, it goes towards the status quo, which, if you haven't noticed, is a pretty poor thing to donate to. By not giving the money to aircar, or solar dye cell research, or any other ecologically sound venture you've actually created a $200,000 swing in the wrong direction if you consider the opportunity cost.

I understand buying a house that is conducive to a peaceful home life, thats pretty crucial. But why buy a laptop that costs three and a half times more than what you needed?


What happened to living consciously?

I think you get the gist. For someone who wrote,

If you want to say yes to what’s really important to you, you can expect to hear yourself saying the word no a lot more often.

I'd expect more.


//Still outraged by people who desperately try to justify being pandered to while others starve.