Rockefeller on Money
"God gave me my money. I believe the power to make money is a gift from God... to be developed & used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind. Having been endowed with the gift I possess, I believe it is my duty to make money & still more money & to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience."
- John D. Rockefeller
1905, 1839-1937, the richest man of all time, worth $200 billion (in 2001 USD)
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3 comments:
I agree 100% with this quote. As a matter of fact, I think I'm going to print it out and put it somewhere I can see it every day :)
Might ruffle a few feathers though, especially people who think having money is overrated.
Yep, of course. Rockefeller managed to commercially develop oil when viable alternatives were available and has had a huge part in the massive climate problems today, never mind the monopolistic, anti-competitive business practices which the US is now so famed for.
Having a major hand in kicking off the process which is currently destroying the earth and then using his huge piles of essentially meaningless bits of paper to pay for medical research doesn't quite even out in my eyes.
Not to mention the unbelievable short sighted blinkeredness of people who still look at his example and must believe in their heart of hearts that infinite economic growth is possible in a limited physical system, clearly ignoring all common sense and that if you just follow economic indicators and use a bit of know-how, EVERYONE can get rich! FOREVER!
Clearly, a true inspiration to us all.
It might be an inspiration to some, but for me it is more interesting to get into the mind of where someone like Rockefeller was coming from. Having lived a number of years in the developing world I certainly don't buy into the infinite growth model. At the same time, it's hard for me not to get sucked into the feeling that I could do something beneficial to others with money...
Cheers,
Miel
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