hear, hear, sir!
c.captain for all his abusive rhetoric has a lot of truth + facts in most of his posts. If you want to argue minutia, then get down to facts and economics and sadly, facts will overwhelm rhetoric + home taught economics.
abusive? surely not moi?
My original point was that C Captain made a day rate that brought him 200-250 thousand a year. That to the other 99% is rich. Yet he complains about those richer than him spending their money on toys like this. At the same time, in true liberal fashion, he does not donate a dime or his time to the poor. He just complains about the rich not doing it. I would bet the owner of that, probably awesome, vessel does contribute to charity and does create jobs and is a more productive member of society than he, by far.
Apparently I’m the only non Political Science major here 
Either that or some contributors to The Economist were laid off and got their MMC and headed to sea???
I think most people log on to hear about pay raise rumors, gossip, throw mud at people new to the industry, and bitch about how long our renewals are taking!
This conversation has gotten to “Multisyllabic” for us common folks!
We do thank you for your experienced and educated insight into fixing the worlds problems. We’ll be sure to take notes and hopefully catch up to your “sage-iness”
[QUOTE=Number360;150889]My original point was that C Captain made a day rate that brought him 200-250 thousand a year. That to the other 99% is rich. Yet he complains about those richer than him spending their money on toys like this. At the same time, in true liberal fashion, he does not donate a dime or his time to the poor. He just complains about the rich not doing it. I would bet the owner of that, probably awesome, vessel does contribute to charity and does create jobs and is a more productive member of society than he, by far.[/QUOTE]
what the FUCK do you know about what my charitable actions are? Do you have a copy of my IRS 1040 there in your hand? Do you have a team of private investigators tracking me 24/7 to see where I go and who I consort with? Do you have photos and proof? What you do have is a load of DOGSHIT and unless you plan to continue to step into it with both your shoes and track is all through the house, you better find a new line to attack my premise.
[QUOTE=ForkandBlade;150890]We do thank you for your experienced and educated insight into fixing the worlds problems. We’ll be sure to take notes and hopefully catch up to your “sage-iness”[/QUOTE]
you talkin to me?
Look deep into your black heart and say it isn’t so.
it’s a fair cop…you got me dead to rights
You’re a mean one Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel.
You’re as cuddly as a cactus,
And as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch!
You’re a bad banana,
With a greasy black peel!
You’re a monster, Mr. Grinch!
Your heart’s an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders.
You’ve got garlic in your soul,
Mr. Grinch!
I wouldn’t touch you
With a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!
You’re a vile one, Mr. Grinch!
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Grinch!
Given the choice between the two of you,
I’d take the seasick crocodile!
You’re a foul one, Mr. Grinch!
You’re a nasty, wasty skunk!
Your heart is full of unwashed socks.
Your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Grinch!
The three words that best describe you
Are as follows, and I quote,
“Stink, stank, stunk!”
You’re a rotter, Mr. Grinch!
You’re the king of sinful sots!
Your heart’s a dead tomato,
Splotched with moldy, purple spots,
Mr. Grinch!
Your soul is an apalling dump-heap,
Overflowing with the most disgraceful
assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable,
Mangled-up in tangled-up knots!
You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch!
With a nauseous super naus!
You’re a crooked jerky jockey,
And you drive a crooked hoss,
Mr. Grinch!
You’re a three-decker sauerkraut
and toadstool sandwich,
With arsenic sauce!
[QUOTE=Number360;150889]My original point was that C Captain made a day rate that brought him 200-250 thousand a year. That to the other 99% is rich. Yet he complains about those richer than him spending their money on toys like this. At the same time, in true liberal fashion, he does not donate a dime or his time to the poor. He just complains about the rich not doing it. I would bet the owner of that, probably awesome, vessel does contribute to charity and does create jobs and is a more productive member of society than he, by far.[/QUOTE]
Tilting at windmills, are we? Especially as the Internet is replete with facts about how the Waltons, Romneys, etc use charity as a tax saving vehicle versus us tax payers actually doing charity.
http://walmart1percent.org/the-walton-family-foundation-how-much-do-they-give-and-to-whom/ and http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/06/03/report-walmarts-billionaire-waltons-give-almost-none-of-own-cash-to-family-foundation/ … Forbes, by no stretch of imagination, can be classified as liberal.
Romney: http://www.thenation.com/blog/170105/romneys-ungenerous-donations#
Still, want me to carry on how we, instead of getting laid, are actually paying for getting fucked?
[QUOTE=Number360;150889]My original point was that C Captain made a day rate that brought him 200-250 thousand a year. That to the other 99% is rich. Yet he complains about those richer than him spending their money on toys like this. At the same time, in true liberal fashion, he does not donate a dime or his time to the poor. He just complains about the rich not doing it. I would bet the owner of that, probably awesome, vessel does contribute to charity and does create jobs and is a more productive member of society than he, by far.[/QUOTE]
So, without venturing an uninformed opinion about c.captain’s charitable giving or what the unknown/unnamed owner of that (interesting) boat gives/contributes/employs, it is a much-reported [B]fact[/B] that charitable giving, like taxes, falls disproportionately to working-class Americans.
Liberals, bleeding-heart or otherwise, donate neither more nor less than conservatives. See: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-conservatives-or-liberals-20140331-story.html
Income and wealth inequality in the country (and maybe more importantly, the outsize influence it has on public policy) is a real and growing issue, and something that should be of concern to anyone regardless of political ideology. It does not follow from that statement that I am pissed-off at the unknown owner of that boat for having that boat. More power to him. Or her.
And with regard to many of us who work offshore being considered rich – true story. Someone making just $72,000/year (an AB or beginning 100-ton captain on a 240-day schedule, for instance) is solidly in the top 10 percent of American earners. Someone making $200k/year is part of the storied “One Percent.” Check it out here: http://www.whatsmypercent.com/
For anyone who cares to look at what others have written about these issues (sources are as ideologically “neutral” as I could find), here are a few starters:
I personally think the Bat boat is ugly and after reading the specs it is a toy for the super rich. Flaunting ones wealth is ostentatious and in poor taste but wealth bestows neither obviously.
As the USA devolves further into 3rd world status for its citizens the super rich probably should be more discreet lest they foment a revolution that leads to their demise. I think there would be little complaint about the super rich having their toys if the Fortune 500 CEOs whose companies employ most USA citizens did not make 400+ times what the average worker does. If workers made more and could afford a few toys they wouldn’t look so hard at the CEO and their friends who actually leech wealth from companies to pad their own pocket. As a stockholder and a 99%er I get insulted every time a CEO decides to buy back stock instead of investing that capital in raising the value of the business. We all know they are compensated by the stock price which they manipulate via stock buy backs and other simple tricks. Many of these CEOs extract value and do not create value while they pay their workers less than most developed countries pay. Top that off with the fact that the old rags to riches dream is less likely today in the USA than it is in many European countries and one begins to understand why the bat boat is a symbol to many of the immorality of greed that is destroying the country and the financial system. This situation has developed over the last 50 years and accelerated in the last 30 years. One has to be a certain age to have witnessed this or study economics to realize this crap isn’t normal and it sure is not sustainable. Hence C.Captain 
Lucky for me I don’t give the same shit whether you care about me or my opinions. I am however entitled to have them. To answer a few of your questions. No, I do not own either jet powered boats nor aircraft. Even if I had the money I feel that they are both a waste and wouldn’t have them. Would I own a nicer boat than I do now? Of coarse I would but I honestly can now and don’t because it isn’t needed. Would I own an aircraft? Nope. Never wanted one. No need when I can buy airfare first class as it is now and allow someone else to deal with the maintenance issues. I have zero doubt that I will ever have that much money but I have things now that are far more valuable than anything money can buy. I have the best wife and children that have ever existed and I am sure that many here think the same if their own. Once again, they have more than any amount of money can ever provide.
I have a wealthy friend. I have watched him for years to have people come and go as friends in his life. He has very few of us who are his friend not because of his money but only due to liking he and his family for who they are. They have always worked their fingers to the bone for every cent that they have. I have never so much as allowed them to buy my meal when we go out to eat. I don’t want or need their or anyone else’s money that I haven’t earned. As well, no one deserves the money that I have worked my whole life since I was 14 years old to build. The bottom line is that almost everyone, except for a few with HONEST disabilities, have had the same opportunities that I did. I chose to work hard, not break the law, not do drugs, and have built a family and future. I will never buy the “poor me” junk that is constantly blown around in this society. Almost everyone is in the situation they are in, whether good or bad, by their own actions and no one else’s.
My final thought is that it isn’t my problem whether someone has more or less than I do. I have what I want and what I deserve from my work. I give praise to God everyday for what He has guided me to receive. I thank Him for the wife and children that He gifted me with many times every day. I will continue to work here or anywhere else that I decide to go. My track record of being a damn good ships officer, leader, and employee have always shown through and always will. I am grateful to have the career that I chose and that I have been successful doing it while providing very well. Is it in the sector of the industry that I thought when I started out I wanted to be in? Nope, but that’s just fine with me. Just as I have my political, financial, and religious thoughts and am allowed to have them and freely discuss them in this great nation, so do you. I may not like them and I may comment on them but you are entitled to do the same. I wish to see it no other way.
I wish you and all of the rest here only the best. I do believe you to be not a good ship’s officer or employee. It appears that many of your employers thought the same. Just because you have the knowledge to safely navigate, how weather works in your corner of the world, or what license you hold, does not make you a good mariner or officer any more that limited licenses make us who hold them lower than you. We are all created equal.
Have a great day! Don’t have a stroke!
USA was built on the image of the Roman Empire, so it’s just fitting that the plebs get bread and circus.
That yacht is so decadent that it should be a crime!
C.Captain are you sure that you are not Scandinavian?
[QUOTE=captaint76;150907]We are all created equal.[/QUOTE]
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”
[QUOTE=tengineer1;150906]… the super rich probably should be more discreet lest they foment a revolution that leads to their demise.[/QUOTE]
That ain’t going to happen in the land of the Patriot Act and Homeland Sekurity. How many believe that all that NSA domestic surveillance and military urban warfare crap was developed so that we can bring democracy to the oppressed of this world or defend Granny against <insert threat of the day> insurgents?
Technology has made a revolution impossible and that is precisely what the “defense” industry is all about. It is not about defending you and your family from foreign threats, it is about insuring the status quo. The direction this nation is moving can never be changed from the bottom. All you have to do is look at campaign financing and how rapidly it has devolved to the old system of purchasing indulgences. Our own industry is a perfect example of how little our “leaders” care about the security, health, and well being of this nation and 99 percent of its citizens.
Bread and circus just about sums it up. As someone else said, it is hard to start a revolution when your face is 6 feet from the television.
[QUOTE=Kraken;150910]“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”[/QUOTE]
Very Orwellian of a comment, why if I had a snowball’s chance in hell, I would start a farm and put some animals on it. My career as a boxer was all used up so they shipped me off to the glue factory aka offshore
[QUOTE=captaint76;150907]I do believe you to be not a good ship’s officer or employee. It appears that many of your employers thought the same. Just because you have the knowledge to safely navigate, how weather works in your corner of the world, or what license you hold, does not make you a good mariner or officer any more that limited licenses make us who hold them lower that you. We are all created equal. Have a great day! Don’t have a stroke![/QUOTE]
JESUS CHRIST! Here we go yet again. I denounce a system and all you can do is to denounce me rather than to try to rebut my claims. We just did this dance the otherday but did that stop me from speaking the truth as I believe it to be? IT DIDN’T and I will never back down even when little men like you try to thrown your SHIT! Debate me on the issues…if you are smart and have facts to support your positions you might win but to think you can better me by personally trying to make me the small one, you will NEVER succeed.
I will only say to defend myself that I know my profession and know it well. I consider myself to be as good as any other master out there with equal skills to command safely and effectively. Any problems I have had with employers in the past has nothing to do with my abilities but it has much to do with my willingness to loudly speak to what is RIGHT! Right for my ships and right for the men who work on them. I know that my comments here in this forum are read by Joe Boss or his minions and are not appreciated by him yet I will continue to speak against his practices because I believe they must be denounced. It is called having a voice and using it for the courage of conviction rather than live in fear of his heavy hand. The sheep like yourself who just like to bleat to Joe throwing you some corn is what is making this industry the pathetic place it is today rather than the powerhouse it once was. Enjoy your handful of feed this morning.
[QUOTE=tengineer1;150906]I personally think the Bat boat is ugly and after reading the specs it is a toy for the super rich. Flaunting ones wealth is ostentatious and in poor taste but wealth bestows neither obviously.
As the USA devolves further into 3rd world status for its citizens the super rich probably should be more discreet lest they foment a revolution that leads to their demise. I think there would be little complaint about the super rich having their toys if the Fortune 500 CEOs whose companies employ most USA citizens did not make 400+ times what the average worker does. If workers made more and could afford a few toys they wouldn’t look so hard at the CEO and their friends who actually leech wealth from companies to pad their own pocket. As a stockholder and a 99%er I get insulted every time a CEO decides to buy back stock instead of investing that capital in raising the value of the business. We all know they are compensated by the stock price which they manipulate via stock buy backs and other simple tricks. Many of these CEOs extract value and do not create value while they pay their workers less than most developed countries pay. Top that off with the fact that the old rags to riches dream is less likely today in the USA than it is in many European countries and one begins to understand why the bat boat is a symbol to many of the immorality of greed that is destroying the country and the financial system. This situation has developed over the last 50 years and accelerated in the last 30 years. One has to be a certain age to have witnessed this or study economics to realize this crap isn’t normal and it sure is not sustainable. Hence C.Captain :)[/QUOTE]
Thank you, thank you, thank you…
your words are wise and true sir and I applaud you for speaking them here…it is nice to know I am not the only one standing up for what is right
.
it is very interesting that a person not of the US can see what we have become
That yacht is so decadent that it should be a crime!
since they cannot be prohibited, at least it should be made to be painful to own one such as a very steep VAT and luxury tax placed on the ownership of something so utterly useless to society. At the very least a tax equal to the value of the asset as a defacto “permit” for ownership. Is this not how the system works in much of Europe?
C.Captain are you sure that you are not Scandinavian?
believe me, there are many times I wish I was…I would love to live in a society which was much more equitable to ALL
[QUOTE=c.captain;150923]Is this not how the system works in much of Europe?[/QUOTE]
I cannot speak for much of Europe, but in Scandinavia we pay high taxes to smooth out the differences and make the game a little more fair. So if one has the money to buy a expensive toy like a bat boat, one can also afford to pay a little extra into the basic human needs in a society such as schools, hospitals and infrastructure through VAT and horsepower tax.
[QUOTE=Kraken;150925]I cannot speak for much of Europe, but in Scandinavia we pay high taxes to smooth out the differences and make the game a little more fair. So if one has the money to buy a expensive toy like a bat boat, one can also afford to pay a little extra into the basic human needs in a society such as schools, hospitals and infrastructure through VAT and horsepower tax.[/QUOTE]
I thought so an admire such a society and you certainly don’t see capital flight from the wealthy residents of the Scandinavian nations. Even the very rich know that the system is right and fair.
All except this asshole
and this guy
too much money is a problem everywhere.
Be our guest to move over there at any time you see fit. We won’t try to stop you.