“There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire,” she writes. “If you’re jealous of those with more money, don’t just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself – spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working.”
The comments were part of a treatise on what she sees as Australia’s decline due to high taxes, high wages and over-regulation. Rinehart said taxes should fall, red tape should be cut, environmental rules relaxed and the minimum wage should be lowered.
***
My (former) best friend and I dated brothers when we were just out of high school. Compared to us, the family was really well off.
My friend was furious after the tactless one (her’s) had blithely chirped (I think he had Asperger’s…) “My dad makes more money than your dad because he works harder.”
Naturally, I forced myself to agree with her that that was a horrible thing to say. And it was unnecessarily blunt.
But it was also true.
Her dad was an oddball with a chip on his shoulder. The boyfriends’ dad was an oddball too — don’t get me started — but he was, frankly, smarter, and clearly able to shelve the “oddballness” and/or get into a profession that rewarded or overlooked it (like some kind of specialized engineering, if I recall correctly.)
My friend’s dad didn’t work hard so much as he had a shitty low level job.
Those two things are NOT identical, but, being a socialist, she thought they were. (So does Obama.)
Like her father, she never worked really hard at any job she managed to get — coming in late, leaving early and taking smoke breaks — rationalizing that she WOULD work hard when she finally landed a job she felt she deserved.
Which, you’ll never guess, never came along. Or if it did, it’s some kind of “community organizer” imaginary profession.
In contrast: For years, I’ve been doing what I’ve always wanted to do. (And what she wanted to do, too.)
That’s because — among other reasons — I do it practically 24/7.
No smoke breaks.
See below: