CriticalBill wrote: In America, our system makes it possible to start from nothing and build great wealth..
Not so much as most believe, not anymore.
I can't remember where I put it, it's stored on my other computer I think, but in the past 12 months a report came out on this very issue and it isn't pretty. One thing I remember from it was that the odds of someone with "nothing" becoming wealthy in America were less than they were in someplace like Taiwan.
Complicated reasons, but mostly having to do with how expensive it is to start any kind of a business in the U.S. and how the laws favored big corporations over "microbusiness" so that it was very difficult to rise from meager beginnings in this country.
And some of this is regulations and certifications that businesses create to keep new competition out of their markets. While it sounds like a good idea to require every mortician to be licensed and certified, it will keep some low priced competition out of the market and raise prices to the general public.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Kate wrote: We already tried a monkey and that's what got us into this mess.
It's a sad day when citizens refer to President Obama as a monkey.
Indeed, it is a sad day when that happens. Too bad that's not the President I was referring to.
She must of been talking about Carter, but he was just a chimp. It is easy to confuse the two.
I'm sure you meant "must HAVE been talking...." Easy mistake.
Just like voting for Obama was.
That's a matter of opinion, unlike rules of grammar, which are quite easy to verify.
So you are saying it was hard voting for Obama?
Interesting spin you have there. I was only saying that your statement was a matter of your personal opinion, while rules of grammar are really quite easy to understand, research, and implement.
CriticalBill wrote: In America, our system makes it possible to start from nothing and build great wealth..
Not so much as most believe, not anymore.
I can't remember where I put it, it's stored on my other computer I think, but in the past 12 months a report came out on this very issue and it isn't pretty. One thing I remember from it was that the odds of someone with "nothing" becoming wealthy in America were less than they were in someplace like Taiwan.
Complicated reasons, but mostly having to do with how expensive it is to start any kind of a business in the U.S. and how the laws favored big corporations over "microbusiness" so that it was very difficult to rise from meager beginnings in this country.
I don't know where you grew up or what type of people you were raised around- but my life experience must have been quite different than yours.
Complicated reasons? I know those complicated reasons you are talking about.
My life is completely surrounded by people who started with nothing and worked their way into the American dream. I can't begin to tell you - story after story of folks I know personally - from my father who grew up in the Watts area of L.A., my uncles who came here from Europe, My mother who came here when she was 15. My grandparents who were teenagers during the great depression. Many many friends of the family who started out with little to nothing - and built the lives they wanted.
They all did it by busting their ass- getting up every day and working hard to reach their goals. You have no idea how many I know- no idea.
I didn't have 2 nickles to rub together as a teenager- everything I do have now is the result of hard work- and at the same time paying taxes. Yes- we all now have added burdens because government has grown to obnoxious levels- because people keep voting for more laws, more regulations, more taxes, more entitlements.
1/3+ of my career goes to support government, 33%+ of my working life - so I can keep 20 years worth, and that's where we are today, and that's if a person can stay employed constantly for 30 years. Yes I think it's too much - we should be able to keep more of our earnings. And we always have the threat of inflation to wipe out a lifes work, because we have allowed our government to mismanage our public assets.
I'll keep trying to change where we have gone bad- to get us back on track so the America I know comes back- a place where hard work gets you ahead, and to hell with the lazy. America belongs to the hard working people, not the welfare bums!
Kate wrote: We already tried a monkey and that's what got us into this mess.
It's a sad day when citizens refer to President Obama as a monkey.
Indeed, it is a sad day when that happens. Too bad that's not the President I was referring to.
She must of been talking about Carter, but he was just a chimp. It is easy to confuse the two.
I'm sure you meant "must HAVE been talking...." Easy mistake.
Just like voting for Obama was.
That's a matter of opinion, unlike rules of grammar, which are quite easy to verify.
So you are saying it was hard voting for Obama?
Interesting spin you have there. I was only saying that your statement was a matter of your personal opinion, while rules of grammar are really quite easy to understand, research, and implement.
I appreciate you pointing out my grammar mistake. While it makes for an interesting diversion from the topic at hand, it adds little to this discussion. So was it easy or hard voting for the Obaminator?
conifermtman wrote: [I appreciate you pointing out my grammar mistake. While it makes for an interesting diversion from the topic at hand, it adds little to this discussion. So was it easy or hard voting for the Obaminator?
Personally I do not find grammar diversions even a little bit interesting. A straw man at best.
"AUTHOR: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
QUOTATION: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
ATTRIBUTION: Essays. First Series. Self-Reliance. "
conifermtman wrote: [I appreciate you pointing out my grammar mistake. While it makes for an interesting diversion from the topic at hand, it adds little to this discussion. So was it easy or hard voting for the Obaminator?
Personally I do not find grammar diversions even a little bit interesting. A straw man at best.
"AUTHOR: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
QUOTATION: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
ATTRIBUTION: Essays. First Series. Self-Reliance. "
conifermtman wrote: [I appreciate you pointing out my grammar mistake. While it makes for an interesting diversion from the topic at hand, it adds little to this discussion. So was it easy or hard voting for the Obaminator?
Personally I do not find grammar diversions even a little bit interesting. A straw man at best.
"AUTHOR: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
QUOTATION: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
ATTRIBUTION: Essays. First Series. Self-Reliance. "
CriticalBill wrote: In America, our system makes it possible to start from nothing and build great wealth..
Not so much as most believe, not anymore.
I can't remember where I put it, it's stored on my other computer I think, but in the past 12 months a report came out on this very issue and it isn't pretty. One thing I remember from it was that the odds of someone with "nothing" becoming wealthy in America were less than they were in someplace like Taiwan.
Complicated reasons, but mostly having to do with how expensive it is to start any kind of a business in the U.S. and how the laws favored big corporations over "microbusiness" so that it was very difficult to rise from meager beginnings in this country.
You can thank all the government over-regulation of business for a great deal of the complexity and expense. For traditional brick and mortar business the cost is very high with rent, taxes and paying employees. However, that is not the future for the next generation of successful entrepreneurs.
Disruptive forces like cloud computing are great for internet start-ups, you can be your own start-up for less than a $100 a month. Of course you need talent to do so, but someone that has the skills can be their own start-up. The point is that the barrier to entry is low. I have faith that many will succeed because many do. I read about it every day on [url=http://www.techcrunch.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.techcrunch.com[/url].
Government regulations do indeed pose a daunting barrier to small business start ups. Lobbyists for big business just LOVE 'em.
I do agree with you that there is a fairly low cost barrier to internet start ups, but the talent and knowledge barrier is considerably higher.
And as I type this, big business is figuring out more and more ways to keep even internet start ups too expensive for the little guy.
Big business is ALL ABOUT preventing competition from even getting started. I wish more Republicans got that.
