Quoting dukeofdentsDislikedAlso, if you truly believe that there is no right or wrong, only legal and illegal, make your money, be rich or what-not, and live your life. Enjoy your life, because you will pay it all back sooner or later, alive or dead. I'm not some hellfire and brimstone type, either, I just believe that one can be profitable in this environment without screwing other people unfairly. Every time I get a pip I take it from someone else, but I don't necessarily have to decieve them to do it. My methods have to be more sound, that's all...Ignored
I said nothing about there is "no right or wrong". On the contrary, the law is in fact about legal and illegal which means right (innocent) or wrong (guilty). I said if it's legal today, we will exploit the loophole until it becomes illegal.
But if you think the rich get rich without stretching the envelope, then you're either naive or blind to reality. The examples I mentioned in my earlier post support the point. Every example from Bush's decision to attack Iraq to EveryDay Man avoiding taxes. But at no time did I suggest there is no "right or wrong". In America, we tend to ignore the right or wrong aspect once it becomes economically detrimental.
Slaveholders, being the good capitalists they were, exploited human capital and it was clearly "unethical" but it was "legal". When it became illegal, the slave trade stopped...eventually. Today Americans pay so-called "illegal aliens" under the table, in cash, in kind, but it subverts the US economy in the long run.
Today's taxpayers avoid paying taxes as much as possible, exploiting every loophole available!! Bill Gates at Microsoft essentially runs a monopoly (ethical?). When the feds called him on it, despite his enormous wealth Gates capitulated.
All I'm saying is an individual is genetically programmed to do whatever is necessary to survive and then thrive. Duke, if you were born Irish and oppressed decades ago, you would do anything to get to America.. If you were destitute in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, you would do whatever you could to get to the good ole US of A. If you were in Viet Nam when the good ole US of A retreated at the end of the war, you would sail a rickety makeshift plyboard "boat" across the freaking shark-laden, storm-ridden PACIFIC OCEAN to get to the US of A. It's not even situational ethics....it's called survival. You will survive to thrive.
The law provides the bright line distinction of right and wrong; we pay lawyers to muddy that distinction. But ethics?? Please.... you [and everyone reading this post, including the author] will do whatever is necessary to survive and then thrive. As long as it's legal.
Enuf sayd.