Semck,

So now lawyers and doctors are "academics?"
Bill Gates is an academic I guess. Donald Trump is an academic?

Thanks for the humor. I appreciate it.

Please let me know of a rich lawyer who never entered "private practice."
Please also list rich doctors who never entered "private practice."

I look forward to it.

Here is a thought.
You get a phone call from a boiler room that tells you they have a business opportunity about how to make $500 dollars with no risk because they are experts.

Whenever an academic economist says they know what will happen to the price of oil or the bond rate or any other future event they are no different than the cold callers in that boiler room.

They are telling you they know about the future while taking on no risk of their own.

When a businessman hires workers they don't know they future at all. They are taking a risk that can bankrupt them or make them wealthier.

That is the difference.

Have you ever actually read Freakonomics TC? It's not actually about making money, you know. I highly recommend the sequel, Superfreaknomics. It has a chapter on prostitution that you'd probably enjoy quite a bit, seeing as you're quite the forum whore tonight.

Back to work kids. I'll check in on your BS that has nothing to do with the real world a little later.

Haha...I get it, you're trolling!

Jesus Christ, TC, did your college girlfriend fuck her professor for an A or something? What do you have against academia?

he's insecure

Maybe he was paddled and put in a 'dunce' cap all of his schooldays...

Those cocktail parties must be awesome for everyone else:

http://images.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/16710129.jpg

Abgemacht, so "pretty well off" is rich? If they are rich then did they forego their government pensions and benefits?
I would argue than individuals who are "rich" don't need government pensions or benefits at all because they provided for themselves at a level far superior to anything that government subsidies provide.

So why are all those 'Rich' people you are refering to paying all those Accountants to make sure they pay the smallest amount of taxes posible?

(I hope someone can repost this please, because i am pretty sure he had me muted the first time i said something he didnt agreed with)

@ava: does levitt have to lie about not teaching courses so that the lecutre hall isnt overwhelmed with people coming to hear him?
http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Teaching.html

@2WL - you know in that chapter of prostitutes, there's a few pages about a high flying woman named Abby? I got to meet Abby. Levitt paid her to come talk to us about how she made tons of money. She's pretty hot.

LET IT BE KNOWN....

That Atom only about $24,000 away from being in the 1%.
I also be genius.
Tettleton, you probably have me muted, but you should know this.

Abby even sounded hot just reading the chapter. I got to listen to a talk by Ventakesh (the drug dealer sociologist). He was a stuck up dick.

@Frank - well he only teaches once a year. We just had our final so he's not technically teaching a class for another year.

@ava: cool. I am looking through the course schedule for chicago now, its pretty ridiculous. Have you ever had a class with becker, heckman or cochrane?

TC:

If you're so smart why have you only won 4 out of 35 games?

Nope but next week I start Game Theory with Myerson http://economics.uchicago.edu/facstaff/myerson.shtml

KA:

Is that all the royalties from your symphony's performances, or what?

Oh shiz ava did you see Romney's speech

@Thucy yeah he's surprisingly not as full of shit as I thought he might be.

I'm sorry you don't understand, but given our past interactions, I suspect you don't actually care and are just looking to waste my time. This conversation is considered resolved.

@ava

i'm pretty sure the speech was crafted exactly so that smart'uns like yourself would walk away saying that lol.

i definitely dont think he's full of shit either. i just think he'd make a poor prez

And what do you mean by "you can only get rich by taking risks lol"

what if I inherit?
what if i'm Prince Harry lol

what if.

@TC

Your OP is flawed for 2 reasons:

1) You don't define "rich"
2) You presume that becoming "rich" is the end-goal for everyone.

abge, I think your second point really hit the nail on the head. I find that the more intelligent people in my life, self included, are satisfied with "enough" instead of "riches."

Why is anyone even bothering to reply to this thread?

I keep looking for those professors on the list of richest people but can't find any.
It's because academics traded off security for risk at the when they made their career choice in their 20's.
The bitterness academics harbor towards their choice shows up in the pieces that decry the money made by athletes, actors, and businessmen.
Academics just can't get over the fact that athletes, actors, and businessmen can lose everything in a second. They can gain everything as well. Just look at Don Larsen. A good but not great pitcher who gained lifelong notoriety for his perfect game.
Or Bobby Thompson, or etc. etc.

That's what separates the rich from the bitter, the rich are willing to risk everything while the bitter disdain risk and can't face the limits of this disdain realistically.

So the next time one of you kids is sitting in a lecture just realize that your tenured professor didn't have the guts to go for it.

Abgemacht, If you don't know rich no one could define it for you.
I didn't presume everything.
I simply stated that if you are smart you'd be rich.
Heck you aren't even smart enough to figure that out.
Go write some code. You'll feel better about yourself.