Comments on: is life fair?

By: air jordan 9

air jordan 9 — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:42:51 +0000

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By: Bron

Bron — Mon, 17 May 2010 06:20:02 +0000

I beg to differ on this whole life is not fair issue and possibly have a too simplistic view of it but here it goes anyway. I believe life is very fair in the fact that all of us have something in our lives that we believe is unfair, so if we are all dealing with some sort of unfairness doesn't that then mean we are all being treated fairly by life…

By: You Need a Budget (YNAB) 3 Winner

You Need a Budget (YNAB) 3 Winner — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:55:08 +0000

[...] is life fair?. [...]

By: Friday Finance Findings for January 22nd : Generation X Finance

Friday Finance Findings for January 22nd : Generation X Finance — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:33:04 +0000

[...] Is Life Fair? – No, life isn’t fair. We can see this on a daily basis. But should it be fair? It’s a difficult question to answer, but at the end of the day it seems like there needs to be some inequality for things to work properly. [...]

By: freeby50

freeby50 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:35:59 +0000

Taxfoundation capital gains #'s:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/2089....
IRS stats:
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article...
specifically
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/06in34tr.xls

By: freeby50

freeby50 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:34:58 +0000

"If you think about it though, that 15% is probably amounting to more dollars for the govt than the 25-28% the middle class pays."

For 2006 (latest year I see all the stats) people in the 25-28% bracket paid about $360B in income tax. ALL capital gains taxes combined raised $118B in taxes.

The figures are from Tax Foundation & IRS.

By: Life or Debt 2010, Free HDTV Giveaway, Winners of Free Software

Life or Debt 2010, Free HDTV Giveaway, Winners of Free Software — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:46:41 +0000

[...] Brip Blap: Is Life Fair? [...]

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By: freeby50

freeby50 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:35:59 +0000

By: thriftygal

thriftygal — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:48:25 +0000

Excellent analysis. Life is not always fair or objective.

And I never knew about the 15% figure on investments, not that I would have to worry about that in the forseeable future!

If you think about it though, that 15% is probably amounting to more dollars for the govt than the 25-28% the middle class pays.

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:13:00 +0000

Good post! I wrote a tax post today which annoys me.

I think everything is rational, and life is pretty fair. If you want to be rich, you'll work hard and figure it out. If not, no big deal and chill!

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:42:06 +0000

Wow…you totally opened my eyes with the 15% rate…I've known about it, but two and two never clicked for me.

It's definitely a goal to look forward to…

By: freeby50

freeby50 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:42:58 +0000

Life is not fair. Half the world gets buy on less than $1000 a year. Living in USA puts us ahead of the curve.

By: ctreit

ctreit — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:22:35 +0000

When you say, “there is no fairness in a free, capitalist society” I would agree but I would also want to expand this thought. There is no fairness in life, not just in a capitalist society. Take your second example. This little child does not have the same chances another child has, neither do her parents who will lovingly carry the burden of taking care of her. All this happens irrespective of the political or economic system in which this child is born.

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:06:06 +0000

Clearly you don't have an Irish mother and grandmother or you would have had “Life's not fair!” drilled into you by the time you could walk.

I'm with you on your three examples (well without the detest and infuriated bits, accept with serenity things that can't be changed and all that) but find the smaller, closer to home examples a bit more interesting – just from my own life the guy down the street who only works nixers, the immigrant who told several white lies on paperwork to give his/her family a better life, the person doing the sponsored CN tower climb who finagles his way out of the mandatory charity donation, the kid who follows you through the turnstile when you swipe your subway card, the cab driver in the poor country who rips you off because you're a tourist but we're talking a couple bucks, and so on.

By: chris

chris — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:48:34 +0000

Your closing paragraph is excellent. And it is true, a democracy isn't always fair, however it does give everyone a chance and what they do with their chance varies highly from person to person. I would rather have opportunity than forced “fairness.” But don't worry, if Obama has anything to do about it, it will ALL be fair soon enough – it will no longer be a “concept”….lucky us (that is sarcasm).