In the case of the money-hungry DeVos family, you find what they care about by what they invest in. Or invested in.
PR watch reviewed the list a year ago.
She had big investments in student debt collection. That’s a money maker.
Why does a billionaire need more? That’s above my pay grade. What do you think?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m surprised she needs the student debt repaid. Unrepaid debt could be a loss write-off for her other scams.
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Studies show that wealthy people are often isolated from others and they become unhappy and miserly. Acquiring great wealth also changes the way they perceive the world and think.
For instance:
“Perhaps the adage “money can’t buy happiness” has more truth than we think.
That’s because there are many studies that point to the conclusion that wealth and happiness are not positively correlated, according to the Harvard Business Review. One reason, for instance, is that wealth appears to make people less generous. In a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, participants playing a game of Monopoly grew progressively meaner as their wealth grew, by talking down to their poorer competitors and assuming more dominant positions. …
“Wealthier people are more isolated, too–which has a negative effect on happiness. Wealth engenders isolation because acquiring more money predisposes people toward keeping their distance—or more simply, they might not need their peers in the same way. Additionally, as people climb into higher tax brackets, they value independence more and social connections less.”
http://time.com/money/4363201/wealth-rich-happiness-people/
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“Why does a billionaire need more?”…when people are starving, sleep on the streets and die from lack of decent water to drink or decent access to healthcare. I’ve wondered the same thing.
People are sometimes selfish to the degree that they block off the suffering of others and the pursuit of ‘ever more’ becomes a game. They play it for years and years and never accumulate enough. There is something inside that is missing. A whole complete person doesn’t need more material goods, doesn’t need to travel more and doesn’t need to look down upon those suffering and not ever see them.
People who need more are never going to be content with what they have. They are misguided and they are full of contempt for those whom they see as lower on the list of humanity. They consider themselves the top and the best and they don’t want their lives to ever change.
How sad that humanity comes down to such low-life getting away with this disgusting behavior. Imagine a wealthy person who could change the world for better. That would be someone to look up to.
Trump is a perfect example of someone who never gets enough praise, enough love nor enough money to satisfy something deep inside that is loathsome to himself. Sad isn’t the word to cover the misery of what is happening inside these people who want respect and admiration.
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Thanks, Diane. These are the posts I wrote around the time of DeVos’ appointment a year ago. It appears she not only invested in K12Inc as well, but also contributed (through her AFC) to the ALEC Education Task Force that drafted legislation to push K12Inc and virtual schools. Here’s the subset of K12Inc posts from the charter harms collection: https://www.scoop.it/t/charter-choice-closer-look?q=k12
And the Devos-related posts:
Will DeVos Disclose ALEC Lobbying Prior to Senate Vote?
DeVos’ ALEC Roots Revealed in Response to Senator Murray’s Question
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I looked at your posts and recommend them to all here. Good work!
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Arghh! Links, not posts,
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“The wealthy want it all”
The wealthy want it all
A third or half won’t do
The wealthy want the Fall
And other seasons too
The wealthy want the land
And want the seven seas
They even do demand
The flowers, birds and bees
The wealthy will not rest
Until the earth is theirs
And manage to bequest
The planet to their heirs
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Any other easy questions?
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“Pale Blue Dot”
A pale blue dot
In blackest void
They want the lot
The greedy boys
And greedy girl
Would like it too
Her greedy world
Is aqua blue
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Hey, a school teacher will be getting $1.50 increase a week from the ‘wonderful Christmas present’ given to us by the GOP and the Orange Hair Monster. We should all bow in loyalty at their generosity.
……………
Paul Ryan Brags About Giving Public School Employee $1.50…Mother Jones
How in the world did Paul Ryan think this was something he should tweet? $1.50 a week will indeed cover the basic $60 membership to Costco, but it wouldn’t cover the gold membership!
The GOP is bragging about giving public school employees $78 a year, meanwhile, according to the Tax Policy Center, the new tax changes will hand the richest 1 percent an extra $51,000 a year. […]https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/02/paul-ryan-brags-about-giving-public-school-employee-1-50/
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Here’s another way to look at that $1.50 increase in pay from a teachers perspective.
Teachers, it turns out, fork over about $500 of their own money each year for school supplies, according to a survey by Scholastic.”
“Lawmakers have decided not to touch a tax deduction for teachers who spend their own money on school supplies — effectively splitting the difference between competing proposals.
Currently, teachers can deduct up to $250 for classroom materials from their taxable income. It applies to both those who take the standard deduction, and to those who itemize. …
Last month, the House passed a bill that would have eliminated the deduction. The Senate bill, meanwhile, would have doubled it to $500.
Teachers surveyed by education publishing company Scholastic in 2016 personally spent an average of $530 in the past year. Teachers who worked at high-poverty schools spent an average of $672.
This deduction is not deducted from total taxes owed. It is deduced from taxable income.
“The Joint Committee on Taxation in Congress reported last week that under the GOP legislation, the average tax rate for individuals—not specifically teachers—making between $50,000 and $75,000 annually would on average fall from 14.8 percent to 13.6 percent in 2019. That means a $660 tax cut on average for that teacher, from $8,154 to $7,494. However, by 2027, the average tax rate would rise under the tax proposal to 14 percent for individuals in that income bracket. That would leave the average teacher with a $275 tax cut in 2027, compared to 2017.”
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/11/07/how-would-typical-teachers-fare-under-the.html
And then factor in the cost of living. How much will the supplies teachers buy for their classrooms increase on average?
How the Cost of Living Affects Your Income
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/082114/how-cost-living-affects-your-income.asp
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Why does a rich person “need” more money? Because, as J. Paul Betty (I think it was him) once said, in response to the question, “How much money is enough?”, he replied, “Just a little more!”
Now, that may be an apocryphal tale, but the fact remains, that greed is an addiction, far worse than meth or heroin, because it causes the afflicted greedster to destroy everything in their path for ever more cash.
Greed is a sickness, and those so afflicted should be treated for their mental illness, just like other addicts. Maybe devos should go “cold turkey” and just be stripped of all her cash. I would dearly love to see the result of that.
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drspektor: “Maybe devos should go “cold turkey” and just be stripped of all her cash. I would dearly love to see the result of that.”
I’d like to see her live on the average salary of a teacher and enjoy the full benefits of $1.50 a week of the ‘wonderful Christmas present’ the GOP tax reform just gave. At least it would give her a dose of reality. She is in desperate need of that.
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Getty
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Stupid auto-correct!!
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I thought you were making a play on DeVos, calling her J Paul Betsey.
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Betsy, Getty. At least Getty didn’t try to destroy public education.
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Roy
I have noticed recently that autocorrect seems to have developed a sense of satire.
Maybe AI is here after all.
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The day that autocorrect substitutes “public”for “pubic” is the day I accept it as valuable.
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HOLY COW.
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What puzzles me about the uber-rich is that with their resources, they could do so much good – they could buy and forgive medical debt, or student debt, or any other kind, as John Oliver famously did last year. Davis claims to be christian – well, i have a newsflash for her and others like her – you are NOT christian in your actions, or words, or deeds. You are the opposite, you are the Pharisees, claiming righteousness while displaying cruelty and evil.
Hypocrites, all. It is little wonder that so many reject religion, when the leaders of the churches preach that greed, avarice, and materialism are what god rewards.
Talk about twisted and bass-ackwards.
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“Devos”, not Davis. Really funny that my auto-correct replaces “Devos” with “Devils”.
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One year ago this month, Betsy DeVos became our Secretary of Education.
And it’s been AWFUL.
She wants to SLASH public school budgets
She BLOCKED a law designed to protect vulnerable students
And she’s using her position to make herself richer!!
We can’t let her last another year. We need to send her a message she’ll NEVER forget.
Sign your name to DEMAND Betsy DeVos resign.
It’s clear Betsy DeVos is UNFIT to be Secretary of Education.
She doesn’t even have any experience in education! She was just handed this job for writing checks for Republicans like Paul Ryan.
We must do everything in our power to stop her.
Please sign your name now to demand Betsy DeVos RESIGN:
https://secure.thehousemajoritypac.com/Betsy-DeVos-Resign
Thanks for taking action.
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The reason billinonares need more money is that the cost of politicians keeps going up, the amount needed to be re-elected just keeps getting bigger and bigger. This is doubtless one of the unspoken reasons for the tax cuts for the 1%: they do not like paying more for the same thing so as usual, they find a way to make others pay for it. The politicians on the right who are on the receiving end of their largesse are only too happy to facilitate this, serving a large diverse group on constituents (unless you’ve been well gerrymandered) is just so annoying and time consuming.
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“The reason billionaires need more money is that the cost of politicians keeps going up, the amount needed to be re-elected just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
I read that and burst out laughing.
Instead of the cost of living going up, for extremist Alt-Right conservative billionaires like the Koch brothers and their wealthy, greedy, power-hungry allies, the cost of buying elections keeps going up.
What do we call this – instead of the cost of living going up, this is, the cost of subversion going up?
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