On Tue, 6 Apr 2010 06:28:14 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:
Huh? So money doesn't count after $100,000? If you feel that way, and if =
you
have any to spare, it counts a hell of a lot to me, and would be much
appreciated. d8-)
It is not that money does not count after $100,000. It is that it
does not count as much. Well known economic theory. Sort of like the
first bite of ice cream is good, but by the time one has eaten a pint,
the desire for ice cream is greatly diminished.
Technical name for this is "marginal utility." This is
operational in the "logical economic man" on which so much of the
economic analysis depends. The problem is that there are some
people that money becomes an end in itself such that marginal
utility is not a factor/consideration in their personality. This
is not limited to the acquisition of money. One example is "sex
addiction" ala Tiger Woods.
For one example of a money compulsion (and the bad effects of
society) see Massey Energy [Don Blankenship] and mountaintop
mining (25 fatalities this week in one mine explosion)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...1&hpid=topnews
snip
Massey has frequently been cited for safety violations, including
about 50 citations at the Upper Big Branch mine in March alone.
Many of those 50 citations were for poor ventilation of dust and
methane, failure to maintain proper escape ways, and the
accumulation of combustible materials.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration cited the mine for
1,342 safety violations from 2005 through Monday for a total of
$1.89 million in proposed fines, according to federal records.
The company has contested 422 of those violations, totaling
$742,830 in proposed penalties, according to federal officials.
snip
He has also thrown his weight around West Virginia, shelling out
more than $3 million of his own money for ads to help defeat a
West Virginia state Supreme Court justice. Blankenship expected
the justice to rule against Massey in an appeal of a $50 million
award for a small coal company owner, who convinced a jury that
Massey had driven his company into bankruptcy. The new judge cast
the deciding vote against the $50 million award. The U.S. Supreme
Court later ruled that the new judge should have recused himself.
snip
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/west-v...ry?id=10293691
Records Show Upper Big Branch Mine Amassed Scores of Safety
Citations, Thousands in Fines
snip
The West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 25 workers
and left another four unaccounted for in the worst mining
disaster since 1984 had amassed scores of citations from mining
safety officials, including 57 infractions just last month for
violations that included repeatedly failing to develop and follow
a ventilation plan.
snip
The nation's sixth biggest mining company by production, Massey
Energy took in $24 million in net income in the fourth quarter of
2009. The company paid what was then the largest financial
settlement in the history of the coal industry for the 2006 fire
at the Aracoma mine, also in West Virginia. The fire trapped 12
miners. Two suffocated as they looked for a way to escape.
==Aracoma later admitted in a plea agreement that two permanent
ventilation controls had been removed in 2005 and not replaced,
according to published reports.== {emphasis added}
snip
And also we have a progressive taxation system. So earning $200,000
does not leave you with twice as much money to spend as earning
$100,000.
In terms of disposable income, after the basic necessities of
life [food, shelter and clothing] are covered, they may well have
*MORE*. It is well know that people at the bottom end of the
economy must spend every cent they earn on the necessities of
life with nothing left over.
Unka George (George McDuffee)
...............................
The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there.
L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author.
The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).