Pliny Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 My potential net worth is probably if I liquidate my art work and musical matieral (market) is probably a few million bucks..seeing I am not much of a closer - and am terrible at buisness matters... in plain language, materially I live a thrid world life style as far as disposable income are concerned - so in that area I am powerless...BUT - a man who knows me fairly well who swings deals in the billions once said...regarding my so called poverty..."You are in a very powerful position" - I believe he meant I can not be bought or sold or corrupted..and I can say what I please because I have absolutely nothing to lose ..I can not be coerced through my children...cos' they are adults...nor can I be bribed to do bad things because I am simply not interested in selling my soul for luxury....I guess I am a very powerful man - and I might just start using that power soon...not for the love of money - but the making of money..in order to have wonderful things manifest in the world...some have tons of money and no real influence - or respect or brains - but they are smart enough to buy these things including a designer to tell them what colour bedding to sleep on. So you basically agree that power lies in one's principles and constitution? If a man can direct his life he has power. If he can direct others he has power. How he accumulates it is governed by how successful he is not in how right he is. So money is actually a sign of power, not a necessity to power. It will flow to success. The acquisition of money is more an effect of power and only serves to contribute to one's sphere of power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pliny Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 (edited) Power/Influence is a commodity that you can purchase with money. They are different things but one can be exchanged for the other. You have to acquire the money in the first place and it requires some power to do that. The factors considered to give one power are things like education, natural talents and skills. They are no guarantee of money themselves but of increased power to achieve them. Power could have been accumulated in families and money is passed down but certainly not power. Succcess must be demonstrated before one has power. One may run out of money but generally does not run out of power, unless the power he had was contained entirely in his possession of money. And that is definitely not impossible. A lottery winner can buy things but his power is exclusively in his possession of money. I believe the importance of money is overstressed. Edited March 17, 2011 by Pliny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pliny Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 (edited) "Money" is a claim on real assets. OTOH, "power" is the reputation to make good decisions. Can someone purchase a reputation? ----- I wondered the same. Is leadership=power? (My general response to understanding basic concepts is to translate them into languages that I know. If I cannot easily translate words, then I wonder more. "Power" is easy to translate. "Leadership" is not.) Money is a recent idea in civilization. Power is far older. IMV, it is wrong to confuse the two words. Money is indeed a later concept. I agree confusing them is wrong. I find discussing this and differentiating them at this stage in my life indicates a shortcoming in our education. I feel I should have known the distinctions since my elementary education. I suppose some with better cognitive skills do but I can't help feeling deprived in my education which seemed to concentrate more on determining how smart or stupid I was based upon my ability to regurgitate information, not think with it. Edited March 17, 2011 by Pliny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 "Money" is a claim on real assets. OTOH, "power" is the reputation to make good decisions. Can someone purchase a reputation? ----- I wondered the same. Is leadership=power? (My general response to understanding basic concepts is to translate them into languages that I know. If I cannot easily translate words, then I wonder more. "Power" is easy to translate. "Leadership" is not.) Money is a recent idea in civilization. Power is far older. IMV, it is wrong to confuse the two words. "Money" is a claim on real assets.OTOH, "power" is the reputation to make good decisions. Can someone purchase a reputation? Sure they absolutely can. Not only can you purchase a reputation, but a person who is in a position of power/influence can sell it as a commodity. And thats exactly what happens all the time. A simple example of this is the bribing of a government official, or anyone else with influence. Legal "influence peddling" is another example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted March 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) Sure they absolutely can. Not only can you purchase a reputation, but a person who is in a position of power/influence can sell it as a commodity. And thats exactly what happens all the time. A simple example of this is the bribing of a government official, or anyone else with influence. Legal "influence peddling" is another example.Dre, would you buy an Olympic Gold medal? (If you could, then the Gold medal would lose its reputational value.)You can run fast and win an Olympic medal, or you can pay corrupt judges and buy a medal. What's the difference? You have a Gold medal. At first glance, it is naive to believe that other people don't see the difference in how you earned the medal. On second glance, I'm inclined to say that buying a gold medal is a better way to earn one. ---- The issue of "power" is different. You can bribe judges. But you can't buy good judgment. You can't buy "power". Edited March 19, 2011 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Dre, would you buy an Olympic Gold medal? (If you could, then the Gold medal would lose its reputational value.) You can run fast and win an Olympic medal, or you can pay corrupt judges and buy a medal. What's the difference? You have a Gold medal. At first glance, it is naive to believe that other people don't see the difference in how you earned the medal. On second glance, I'm inclined to say that buying a gold medal is a better way to earn one. ---- The issue of "power" is different. You can bribe judges. But you can't buy good judgment. You can't buy "power". Power is influence not reputation. People can aquire influence in all kinds of different ways and there will be always lot of them that are willing to commoditize that influence. Power is simply influence over others. If I want to have influence over you I could buy it... I could buy the building you live in... I could buy the businesses you frequent... I could purchase action from other individuals that influence you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pliny Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Power is influence not reputation. People can aquire influence in all kinds of different ways and there will be always lot of them that are willing to commoditize that influence. Power is simply influence over others. If I want to have influence over you I could buy it... I could buy the building you live in... I could buy the businesses you frequent... I could purchase action from other individuals that influence you. ...and you'd be broke in no time with a poor reputation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 ...and you'd be broke in no time with a poor reputation. Maybe, but that doesnt change the fact that power and influence can be commodities like pretty much anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pliny Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Maybe, but that doesnt change the fact that power and influence can be commodities like pretty much anything else. You are using money to buy a facsimile not the real thing. People will humour you if you pay them but there will be a backlash. You could also say stealing means one has power - generally it won't be for long. If you only came into money and have no power it is best, if you want to keep your money, not to try and buy it - as I said you just get a cheap facsimile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nonpartisanindv Posted April 27, 2011 Report Share Posted April 27, 2011 The balance required to maintain good status in society is the one aspect being overlooked. As many are hinting at, without balance both money and power will eventually fall by the wayside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted April 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2011 (edited) Power is influence not reputation. People can aquire influence in all kinds of different ways and there will be always lot of them that are willing to commoditize that influence.Power is simply influence over others. If I want to have influence over you I could buy it... I could buy the building you live in... I could buy the businesses you frequent... I could purchase action from other individuals that influence you. Dre, I fear being pedantic but you are describing money. It is true that I could buy your apartment building and force you to live elsewhere.But when I use the word "power" here, I'm thinking rather of someone (friend, family member) convincing you to move out of your apartment voluntarily. Lawyers and dentists exercise power when they advise a course of action and you follow it because you trust their judgment. This trust must be based on reputation and to be credible, it cannot be bought. Think of a pathologist who has a reputation for making the correct diagnosis in difficult cases. So, I see a difference between money and power. The balance required to maintain good status in society is the one aspect being overlooked. As many are hinting at, without balance both money and power will eventually fall by the wayside.The term "good status in society" is too vague. Reputation is a loaded word because it can apply to many things. People can have a reputation for being honest or dishonest, or dressing well. This reputation may or may not have an effect on their status in society.In the case or power, it seems to me that it would mean having a reputation for making good decisions. Edited April 27, 2011 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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