Re: the morality of owning a Leica

[Ted Grant <75501.3002@CompuServe.COM>]

Patrick wrote:

<<As a result, I think that the view that the lot of poorer people can be
improved by making richer people poorer is not generally true.  Some means of
helping people through misfortune is both moral and prudent; but wholesale
leveling of incomes will impoverish  us all.>>>>>>>

Hi Patrick,

And that is why the USSR never prospered because they leveled everyone, (OOPS!)
accept those in the Politburo and general hangers on), so there wasn't incentive
to do better as it didn't get you anywhere. You were paid whether you did a good
job, an ugly one or next to nothing, you always got your money.

And we see the results of that since it became free enterprise Russia, the
people don't understand how to legitimately run a business or what that means in
the profit loss operation.

When I was there a few years ago and things were just beginning to change over
and before the Russian mafia gained so much control, I had university students
ask me "what is a business? How does it work?"  And when you tried to explain it
to them, you realized you had to go below Business 101 to public school level
and lower in some cases, as they have never been taught nor understood how the
free enterprise market price thing operates..

There is another side of this discussion that I thought of the other day that I
would like to present for thought:

I earn very good money as an independent photographer, I could say freelance but
I'm not, not in the sense of running around shooting and then trying to sell my
work after the fact. I am paid quite handsomely for my "assigned work" because I
learned many years ago to shoot and then try to sell, you became broke and
hungry very quickly!

Now given I earn this good money for my efforts, that means I pay sizable
amounts of taxes to our Federal government,  where they in turn give money to
third world and lesser countries to help them become modernized.

If I were deprived of earning my rightful worth for my efforts, experience and
creativity, I then wouldn't earn all this money that the government takes in
taxes to give to the poor countries to survive and the poor country looses out.
Not to mention me!:)

ERGO! It is better for them, that I earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a
year, buy Leicas to allow me to work with the equipment I feel comfortable with,
so I can earn more money, pay more taxes to help the impoverished masses. 

It's so simple, I'm making a contribution to the well being of dirt farmers in
India and I didn't even think of it until someone in this LUG House sold their
Leica because they felt it was immoral to own one inrelation to some person in
an impoverished country not making more than $10. bucks a month.

Why this topic has made my day, it made me think a bit more about money and
giving. So now I'm dedicating myself to earn more, so I can pay more taxes help
somebody in a third world country. Besides it'll help pay for my two other R8's
and motors! :)

Therefore there isn't any moral issue to owning Leicas and related lenses, as if
I didn't, I wouldn't do the kind of work I do and that would be very
de-moralizing for me. As I don't know what the hell I would do if I couldn't
make all the money I do. Oh yeah and pay all those nice taxes the governemnt
keeps giving away!

So I'm all for spending lots of money on Leicas and any other material things I
feel comfortable with, simply because I'm just moving the money through the
system back to the government to give to the poor countries.

Now there you are folks the moral issue is over. Rush out, spend as much money
as you can on new Leica R8's and M6's and the taxes will go to the third world
countries and you'll all feel better doing the honorable thing knowing you have
made contributions to your fellow man's well being! :)

Like that? :)  Thought you would. :)))

ted 
Victoria, Canada
http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant