EBTX Posted March 16, 2014 Posted March 16, 2014 When I observe the long, poor history of rationality on earth, the word that best describes its failure ... to me anyway ... is its niggardliness. People of principle are so incredibly cheap. I recall the Ron Paul 2012 presidential run to which I contributed $140. About $70 went directly to Ron Paul and the rest to Ron Paul Pacs. I did this, not so that he could win, but because I wanted his general views to be a part of the public discourse for as long as possible. And, no ... I don't agree with him on every little thing. I made a video about Ron Paul supporters not supporting him and was roundly castigated by ... guess who? My thesis was simply mathematical. Let's say Ron Paul has just 6,000,000 people who supported him (more likely he had over 20,000,000 who would've voted for him if he'd been selected as the Republican nominee and if he survived the cardiac event that was scheduled for him). And each "supporter" sent him 20 bucks. For those who don't know what 20 looks like ... it's this many ... $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ 20 x 6,000,000 = 120,000,000 Did Ron Paul get 120 mil in his war chest.... :o) If he had a measily 20,000,000 supporters and each gave him the pittance that I did it would be ... 20,000,000 x 140 = 2,800,000,000 Did Ron Paul have 2.8 billion dollars in his war chest? You get the point. Stefan Molyneux has about 143,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. If each subscriber (supporter?) gave him $20 he'd have $2,860,000.00 in his bank account to fund his operation. 20 bucks is cheesy at best. But divide 2.8 mil into about 8 years and you get $357,500 per online year. You see what I mean about that hidden unmentionable word ... NIGGARDLINESS. __________________________________ I had this thought long, long ago when working in a Jones & Laughlin steel warehouse. Why don't the unions just buy the company? Over many decades they should have now controlling interest in Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, etc. Why don't Americans just freakin' BUY their politicians? They're all for sale ... and ... they're damn cheap. They'd sell out to freedom as fast as they sell out to corruption ... because they are corrupt ;o) So, why can't they be paid off under the table to defend the Bill of Rights? If Ron Paul had gotten a billion dollars in his war chest, every man-jack one of 'em would be trolling for a payday. No one would dare say anything against the 1st, 2nd or nth amendment. Take a page from the Zionists. They know how to do it ... just buy the bastards ;o) _______________________________ There's no two ways about it ... Rational people are also the niggardliest people around _______________________________ "The difficulty is not 'getting the job done'It's getting somebody to do it for nothing" - EBTX
ProfessionalTeabagger Posted March 16, 2014 Posted March 16, 2014 I guess you're a very generous person then?
dsayers Posted March 16, 2014 Posted March 16, 2014 Ironically, I think the problem is one your post makes also. The problem is that we're not taught to think of things in terms of value. It's easy when something has a price tag on it because the value, even if disagreeable, is brought to the forefront of the exchange. Outside his books, which miss the mark a bit anyways, Ron Paul hasn't provided anything of value outside of his medical practice. Stef is a much better example because he provides a lot more value. I say this as an utter hypocrite because it took me a very long time to give value in return and the value I've given in return is a pittance compared to the value I've received. I only know this because I'm looking at things in terms of value.
EBTX Posted March 17, 2014 Author Posted March 17, 2014 I guess you're a very generous person then? Hardly. But ... if I had, say, a billion dollars ... there are about two dozen people I've found on the internet whom I would set up for life (with maybe 10 million) ... without any conditions ... just because I want them to continue what they are doing. Mr. Molyneux is one of them. In general, I multiply the number of subscribers someone I like has ... by 20 and ... if ... that would put them on "easy street" ... I send them 20 bucks and consider than I've done my part. If 20 is not enough, I will send more ... if ... I can afford it. But I only have a couple thousand dollars to my name, so my assistance is quite limited. Ironically, I think the problem is one your post makes also. The problem is that we're not taught to think of things in terms of value. It's easy when something has a price tag on it because the value, even if disagreeable, is brought to the forefront of the exchange. Outside his books, which miss the mark a bit anyways, Ron Paul hasn't provided anything of value outside of his medical practice. Stef is a much better example because he provides a lot more value. I say this as an utter hypocrite because it took me a very long time to give value in return and the value I've given in return is a pittance compared to the value I've received. I only know this because I'm looking at things in terms of value. One problem is the mechanisms of rewarding what we like on the internet. People will part all at once with 10 cents very easily but not with 10 bucks. I made a video about a tip jar thing I'd like to see on YouTube and anywhere else. Like a browser add on. And ... I realized afterwards that it would be ideally suited to Bitcoin as well. If you could just make a two clicks to give somebody a dime or quarter ... those bits would add up quick on a site that gives lots of value. I think people would hit the quarter button almost as much as they hit the "like" button to offer encouragement to the value creator. About 8 min. if interested ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XzFRA0v3XE
cab21 Posted March 17, 2014 Posted March 17, 2014 About 8 min. if interested ... ok so some thoughts don't connect this this system to tipping, tipping is not universal, might as well call it a payment. the payment button can be a app that you create, and don't make it soviet union colors. give a option for write in amount have your own online store where people can make accounts now transactions of a penny likely wont be worth it, but make a assessment if it would work instead of google doing this, you doing this and selling the button is a better start, then google can pick up or buy if it wants. the companies are going to negotiate cuts rather than randomly take 10% cuts take another look into youtube systems of payment and advertising and profits youtube does have people making living from youtube its better to get people on websites than a major corporation what is the demand for this already? i think you would have to set up free processing, because other companies don't want to free proccess
dsayers Posted March 17, 2014 Posted March 17, 2014 I think people would hit the quarter button almost as much as they hit the "like" button to offer encouragement to the value creator. That would certainly make the like system that much more useful. It would have to be via frictionless currency, or else those microtransactions wouldn't be so useful. A side story on the topic at hand: Once upon a time, I did mods for a video game series. I was good, professional, and prolific. I had never considered donations as I was doing it for my own pleasure. Releasing it was just for the sake of returning value in light of those who did the cracking and tool design that made my work possible. Still, I actually had somebody ask me to set up a PayPal button on my site to donate and sure enough, they followed through. That's why I wanted to emphasize talking to others in terms of value. A lot of people watch YouTube videos. Most of them understand that clicking a link is less beneficial than watching the whole thing is less beneficial than clicking like is less beneficial than clicking subscribe. If we associate that with value, it would change the way some people think about the subject. I think it would be interesting to see how many such people don't bother donating because YouTube has monetization options already. Larken Rose recently released a video telling the story of his incredibly unfortunate cross-country trip. He ended up having to appeal to his subscribers and they supported him. Same as when Stef was diagnosed with cancer and people supported him. Because they provide value already. Which is another reason to push the point of value: To reveal that welfare programs are basically handouts for those not providing value to others.
EBTX Posted March 18, 2014 Author Posted March 18, 2014 ok so some thoughts don't connect this this system to tipping, tipping is not universal, might as well call it a payment. the payment button can be a app that you create, and don't make it soviet union colors. give a option for write in amount have your own online store where people can make accounts now transactions of a penny likely wont be worth it, but make a assessment if it would work instead of google doing this, you doing this and selling the button is a better start, then google can pick up or buy if it wants. the companies are going to negotiate cuts rather than randomly take 10% cuts take another look into youtube systems of payment and advertising and profits youtube does have people making living from youtube its better to get people on websites than a major corporation what is the demand for this already? i think you would have to set up free processing, because other companies don't want to free proccess I can see where some options could be added ... if ... the initial thing worked. A penny can add up if you have a "cute baby" video. A million pennies will put junior though community college and that's probably all a cute baby 20 second video is worth. I now that some people make a living on YouTube but I think many more could do so if I could send 'em a quarter ... which I would do ... if it were easy. There are probably problems I haven't thought of but I think this would be a game changer.
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