June 12, 2012

"I think if I work very hard, I should be able to gather the fruits of my labor."

"And I think if you’re not about to work, you should get minimal and leave me alone. I think if you don’t wear a helmet and you fall off your bike, you pay for the doctor."

Says Joan Rivers, who denies she's making a political statement. She hates politics.
"They’re all a bunch of garbage... I’m definitely in favor of a monarchy because they’re there, they look good, and they always have good gift shops when you leave the palace. … I feel that it’s just all about party affiliation and it’s all about voting the way your party wants to vote and it’s not at all about what we should be about."
(Here's a movie about Joan Rivers. It's really good. One of the very few movies I've seen in the theater in the last 3 years. )

23 comments:

chickelit said...

My wife is a big fan of Joan's--never misses a show. I bought her that DVD when it first came out.

Toad Trend said...

Except for the monarchy part, Joan makes some sense.

It is apparent many 'folks' have ditched their 'America first' ideals for party.

Been saying that for a long time.

Scott said...

That is one heckuva documentary, I liked it too. That woman is driven.

ndspinelli said...

The movie is very good but not worth owning. Just rent it from your local library.

Sorun said...

The movie is on streaming Netflix also.

chickelit said...

ndspinelli said...
The movie is very good but not worth owning. Just rent it from your local library.

Ah but you see it was worth owning in order to give as a gift Christmas 2010 before it was available on Netflix.

Scott said...

I love streaming Netflix. It's the best movie bargain out there. There are some gaping holes in its collection (like almost no musicals) but what it does have is interesting.

KCFleming said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

Joan's schtick got old quick once she left Carson.

I think he kept her centered professionally.

Triangle Man said...

Joan may work very hard, but it is not at all clear to me that very wealthy people work any harder than middle class or blue collar workers. Family money, dumb luck, God given talent, or ruthless business practices are more likely.

KCFleming said...

"...if I work very hard, I should be able to gather the fruits of my labor."


Elizabeth Warren disagrees:

"You had a comedy show out there? Good for you.

But I want to be clear: you moved your ass to the club on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your studio because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your show, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.

Plus, did I mention that I am an Indian, by family lore, and a researcher, with only a handful of complaints about my scientific integrity?

So put that in your peace pipe and smoke it.

How.
"

cubanbob said...

Triangle Man said...
Joan may work very hard, but it is not at all clear to me that very wealthy people work any harder than middle class or blue collar workers. Family money, dumb luck, God given talent, or ruthless business practices are more likely.

6/12/12 4:40 PM

Business owners are on the job 24/7. You won't find to many self-made millionaires who didn't put extra long hours.

Amartel said...

Big Chief Triangle, back off other people's money. Whether they acquired it by "dumb luck" or God given talent, it's not your money so don't worry about it. Concentrate on making your own money.

BTW, Joan Rivers is 79 years old and still busting her hump out there in the entertainment business (which is not a kind place to work).

sakredkow said...

The fruits of your labor are arbitrary no matter how you look at it. Now if were all off the grid...

JAL said...

it is not at all clear to me that very wealthy people work any harder than middle class or blue collar workers

Was she saying that? No. She said she worked hard for her money.

(I believe it.)

The people I know who "have money," without exception have worked hard for it. Blue collar, white collar, shirtless.

harrogate said...

How exactly is this:

"They’re all a bunch of garbage... I’m definitely in favor of a monarchy because they’re there, they look good, and they always have good gift shops when you leave the palace. … I feel that it’s just all about party affiliation and it’s all about voting the way your party wants to vote and it’s not at all about what we should be about."


not drivel?

Synova said...

She's an entertainer and the monarchy thing was obviously a joke way of explaining that she wasn't going to be drawn into the partisan stuff she just said she couldn't stand.

And Elizabeth Warren is a monster.

Yes, I do mean to use that strong a word.

The roads didn't exist for JOAN, they existed for the people who wanted to go out to be entertained, and EVERYONE involved already paid for them. The transactions are complete, both the road building ones and the entertainment/money exchange ones. There is no after-the-fact "owing" or "paying back".

The roads weren't built for Henry Ford, they weren't built for the farmer, they were built for the guy who didn't want his fancy new model T shaken to bits and for the city folk who didn't want to buy their own food.

The transactions are complete. Value was exchanged. Taxes were paid by all involved. There is no owing, no suddenly needing to "pay back".

What Elizabeth Warren advocates is something near slavery, where you "owe" by virtue of someone deciding that you've got more than you need, and where you exist for the service of others.

In her world it's like the company store... you stay in debt forever, but you OWE the store, because you got your food there, you got your clothes there.

There is nothing reasonable nor just about her little fairy tale of debt.

David said...

Gift shops!

Yeah! And with the monarchy they make you pay for the gifts.

Synova said...

It would be like in a libertarian world where roads were privately owned and everyone paid a toll to the guy who built them.

And then later, much later, that guy who built the road begins demanding that everyone who traveled on it, who became wealthy, owed again. Extra. On account of they couldn't have become wealthy without the existence of his road.

Would even a single person hear that story and think, wow, she's got a point there?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Synova:
Your 7:54 comment was brilliant.

I hope Insty reads it and highlights it. .

Synova said...

Thank you. Now I feel extra self-conscious that I accidentally wrote "buy" instead of "grow their own food."

;-)

chickelit said...

Synova: A Russian immigrant once spoke at length with me about what he termed “permanent guilt.” We were both drinking vodka and so I don't recall many details. He claimed that the former Soviet Union inculcated this psychology on the their own people as means to keep people in line (no pun intended). Permanent guilt taught things like it was morally wrong to have more than your neighbors, and much like Warren’s philosophy-everything was owed in part to the past and present sacrifices of heroic workers. I wonder if there is any scholarly support for this regarding the Soviet Union.

Methadras said...

Wife and I are huge fans of Rivers for a very long time. Good for her. She is going to die onstage and love it.