JK Rowlings hedge

[Steve Bullman]

She "earned" it because we live in a society that has a rule of law and respects copyright laws. IMO someone that becomes a billionaire for writing some books is getting too much money.. Should she not be paying a bit more tax so she doesn't have so much money to fritter away? Perhaps give a bit more back to the society that made her so rich?

 

Is she not giving back to society by paying the demolition company who took down the house, the garden landscapers, the treehouse builders, the tree surgeons and the tm company, the list goes on

[GardenKit]

So someone has a million or two in the bank, does not spend any, has no flash cars etc. Nobody knows, so nobody is jealous. This person does the local economy no good at all

 

Another, like JK has a million or two and spends it. Everyone can see this and some are insanely jealous. But this person creates employment and distributes cash earned from all over the world into her local economy. She gets my vote.

[matelot]

If it is that easy then you can do it as well Matelot, can't be that hard to write a brilliant book. Just need a bit of paper and a pen.....

 

Why don't we look at other hard jobs? Bin man, Royal Marine, social worker, fireman, sewage worker. Is it typical for any of those professionals to make a billion over a Lifetime?

[scraggs]

She "earned" it because we live in a society that has a rule of law and respects copyright laws. IMO someone that becomes a billionaire for writing some books is getting too much money.. Should she not be paying a bit more tax so she doesn't have so much money to fritter away? Perhaps give a bit more back to the society that made her so rich?

 

I take my hat off to her, she wrote something that was hugely liked and she still makes a fortune from it.

On the subject of giving it away

 

Edit: personally I thought the whole harry potter thing was crap

Edited July 23, 2015 by scraggs

[Joe Newton]

Oh dear!

 

 

An entrepreneur who believes in capitalism!? I've seen it all now!

[Wood wasp]

Yeah, she wrote those books while on benefits. She then collects massive royalties for film rights etc.

 

 

 

How can she "earn every bit of it" when she is now only effectively going to her bank every month with a royalty cheque for a couple of million? Is that hard work demanding millions?

 

 

She's not demanding millions, people have a choice whether they engage or not. The tax paid personally by her on an ongoing basis will absolutely dwarf any benefits she ever claimed.

 

Easy - JK is unashamed Labour Party supporter, with both articles urging people to vote for the spendthrifts and direct financial support. Outwith politics I believe she makes substantial donations to charities, from memory this includes a lot of support for one which deals with issues that affected her mother, Possibly Alzheimer support.

 

Incidentally... Look at the work she's created for builders with her house demolition/renovations, gardeners, joiners building her tree houses, people taking four days to trim her hedges, the list goes on and on... This is something that the small minds always miss.

 

This country could do with an awful lot more JK Rowlings

[GardenKit]

Why don't we look at other hard jobs? Bin man, Royal Marine, social worker, fireman, sewage worker. Is it typical for any of those professionals to make a billion over a Lifetime?

Have you read one of her books, or watched the film? Did you enjoy it?

 

If your bin man can write something as good I will pay to see it, but i won't pay to watch him empty bins.

[matelot]

Is she not giving back to society by paying the demolition company who took down the house, the garden landscapers, the treehouse builders, the tree surgeons and the tm company, the list goes on

 

She is, but do you really think there aren't better ways to spend the money to benefit society? If I gave you a million quid and told you 'spend this money to help society' would you really buy a house to knock down?

[eggsarascal]

So someone has a million or two in the bank, does not spend any, has no flash cars etc. Nobody knows, so nobody is jealous. This person does the local economy no good at all

 

Another, like JK has a million or two and spends it. Everyone can see this and some are insanely jealous. But this person creates employment and distributes cash earned from all over the world into her local economy. She gets my vote.

 

It's the we're all jealous bit that I dont get. Why would it bother me what the bloke up the roads got?

 

In our house we eat when we're hungry and drink when we're dry, why does everyone think we're bothered about what other people have got?

[Joe Newton]

Why don't we look at other hard jobs? Bin man, Royal Marine, social worker, fireman, sewage worker. Is it typical for any of those professionals to make a billion over a Lifetime?

 

 

Sure, but for every writer who has success like here there are thousands that don't make a living.

 

You want a modest wage for hard work, fine, be a bin man, marine, tree cutter or whatever. She wrote (I imagine) not because it was a sure fire way of becoming rich, but because it is her passion. You can't begrudge the fact that she has done extraordinarily well from it!