My net worth has never really been a source of concern for me. I've been extremely poor and I've been affluent enough to travel the world as I wished. Money comes and goes. I truly don't know if I'll ever be rich as I define rich, but then again I don't really care. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I have the ability to become obscenely wealthy. I own my company in an industry where 7-8 figure incomes are not impossible and solid 6 figures are the norm. I choose to work less than many of my peers because my priorities are different. Because of this they make more money than I do, but that is because of my choice noone else's.

I feel sympathy for people who don't believe they have the ability to do anything they want in life. I am living proof that you can. The only thing in life that I know I can't achieve is a successful political career, but again that is because of some choices I have made. ;)

Rich is a state of mind. When you are there you will know it.

Some very rich people I know have little money.

Really?

They seem like totally different categories to me. For a start I've happily indulged in the one but wouldn't touch the other with a ten foot barge pole.

I have to say as well, TGRR, much as I disagree with LO on pretty much everything regarding money, for a finance guy he isn't grabby. I've never got the impression he's on a mad crusade for riches, in any way whatsoever. He does his job and (from what I can gather) does it very well, ethically, and to the advantage of his customers.

I was not aware that the actual penalties were any different for crack versus powder.
Is that the case?

Out of curiosity from those in the know... whats the difference between freebasing and crack?

The penalties are very different. You can make a strong case that it is racial discrimination in action, if you're the type of person who's looking for a racist behind every woodpile. Of course, an equally strong case can be made that while crack is a derivative of cocaine it is apparently far more addictive, hooks you more quickly and deeply, has insanely wide variations in chemistry, and is more often associated with crimes of theft and assault than ordinary cocaine. I have a little personal experience with the subject. For the record I know more middle class white people who've been addicted to crack than have been addicted to cocaine.

Yea there has been a long hue and cry about the issue in the penalty phase of the court system. Poor black dude in the inner city gets long penalties while the rich white guy with a private lawyer gets 18months. There has been a lot of race baiting over the issue.

There have already been changes in sentencing differences and early releases as a result.
Link

I think it was a long overdue change that was needed.

More whites use crack then blacks but a higher percentage of blacks use crack than whites. Whites dominate in cocaine use.

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/Nhsda/2k3t...6.htm#tab1.38b

In 2002 and 2003 based on their statistics.
They sound pretty legit.

Well, that's just it--I wouldn't touch either of them with a ten foot barge pole. :)

huh? How can more whites use crack, but a higher % of blacks use it? That doesn't make sense to me. Are you just saying that as a whole, the black population uses it more? How can more whites use it than blacks then? I'm confused. (this kind of math was always hard for me)

Never used crack, never wanted to. Did use cocaine quite a bit. That's the reason I got sober back in 1989. I was on my way to an early destruction.

There are more white people then black people.

Lets say we have 100 white people and 10 black people.

If 20 white people use crack and 5 black people use crack, we can say that more white people use crack then black people.

But, we can also so that the percentage of blacks using crack (50%) is higher then the percentage of whites using crack (20%).