in a word ... baa!
In most of Europe, "calories" are listed as "energie" on most food items. Sounds like a lot more positive, yet Europeans aren't nearly as rotund as most Americans. Guess that shows the failure of negative reinforcement, assuming that 'calories' carries with it a negative connotation. Doesn't quite sound as good to say "I'm counting energies" either.

he worked hard for no money
Something that's been rattling around in my mind for a while - most people today deride communism as a derelict means of societal or economical management. Yet few people, I think, realize that the acknowledged founder of the communist ideal, Karl Marx, literally 'wrote the book' on capitalism, Das Kapital (still studied today for its insights), before rejecting your reality and substituting his own. So it wasn't like there was this crackpot with a half-assed system for wealth distribution - he (and Engels) knew what they were talking about inside and out (arguably as well or better than many of today's capitalist economists).

What is amusing is that the very income disparity we're seeing today become ever broader was exactly the mechanism by which Marx predicted capitalism would basically self-destruct. I guess it remains to be seen how much further we can push the system. I wonder if the ueber-liberal non-discriminatory hiring practices make it okay for one to hire communists into capitalist workplaces (though I guess that falls under 'political views').

I'm not advocating communism per se (certainly not in its currently practiced form of Communism), only suggesting that people shouldn't be so quick to dismiss its core tenets. Capitalism, as a worldwide phenomenon, is often justified with the analogy that "a rising tide lifts all ships" (implicit support of global warming?), but the problem is that it also floods the low-lying seaside communities. That tide could also swamp your dinghy but leave, say, a multi-million dollar yacht unaffected.