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Forum Post: Ever heard of "Greece?"

Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 4, 2011, 5 p.m. EST by RedStateConservative (10)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Every wonder why terrorists who blow themselves up seem to all be in the same age bracket as the people in the pictures on this site? People who have no control of their own brains!

If you cannot get a job, go create one.

Crazy people.

26 Comments

26 Comments


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[-] 2 points by musearch (26) from Tualatin, OR 12 years ago

America is largely a service sector driven economy at this point. The true job creators are therefore, unfortunately, consumers. Without money in hand there will be no demand. No demand, no way to make money. That's why there are so few jobs right now. And it's becoming self-sustaining. You'd be crazy to start a business when no one could pay you money, right?

Part of what needs to happen is the existing middle class who have jobs need more real money on hand.

But, even the most basic attempts to accomplish this have been blocked because our government has been hijacked by corporate interests and the wealthy.

That needs to change, or nothing will.

[-] 0 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

There has always been people out there who needed a job, people who did not want to work.

Rewind back at least 60 years. The country had about a 2% tax rate yet highways got built, schools were built, there were city, county, state, and federal employees. What we did not have was a hugh moocher population thinking that other people owe them everything from their Blue Bell ice cream, their housing, ER visits for green marks that appeared on their neck when wearing cheap junk jewelry, to educating them and some in foreign languages. We did not have over half the population being Moochers living off the Producers.

What our problem is we have far, far too many social programs funded by heavy taxes on ALL of the people who pay taxes and too many people living off of them. Programs that never, ever should have gotten started in the first place.

[-] 3 points by liberalbutnotrabid (3) from Culver City, CA 12 years ago

Marginal tax rate in 1951 was… wait for it… 91%. Bottom rate was 20.4

Check your facts please.

[-] 1 points by musearch (26) from Tualatin, OR 12 years ago

The unemployment rate is crazy right now. Surely a sign things are unwell.

That said, I think your impression of moochers vs. producers is incorrect.

Americans, on the whole, have always been and still are hardworking people. What people are recognizing ( and protesting about ) is that hardwork is no longer enough. The middle class is slipping but the rich keep getting richer. It's not about ice cream. For me, it's about education, health care, our falling apart roads, and heck just basic fairness. We barely fund those things at all.

The real moochers on the economy are the people who aren't paying their fair share. That doesn't sound like you, but most certainly are the wall street bankers who pay half your rates, make ten times as much, and work half as hard. They don't produce anything.

[-] 2 points by smfrmrntx (12) 12 years ago

And you'd be how old and have created how many jobs in the last 12 months, Friend?

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

54, and created a business with my brother 26 years ago, that is still employing people. No silver spoon either, mom was a homemaker, dad was a barber with 5 children in a 2 bedroom rented home. Not a single one of us has ever been on any public assistance, including myself. (a child born out of wedlock and never collected child support from her dad because the business was so successful)

We also have had non-stop excellent health insurance.

Oh, and I also have one other business I started 2+ years ago that employs mainly college students and stay-at-home moms.

[-] 1 points by smfrmrntx (12) 12 years ago

Well good for you and thank you for contributing to the success of American small business! Glad you're strongly self-sufficient and I sincerely hope you and yours continue to have so many blessings thanks to your hard work and God's providence...hoping God and you fellow citizens remain willing to help out those not as prepared or plucky as yourself, I remain, sincerely yours, SmfrmrinFrisco

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

Good luck to you too. Take it from someone who had an opportunity to lay low and grab up freebies. No one is ever going to look out for you like you want, but you!

Remember this- for everything you (or someone you know) get for free, someone else not only provided it but did without as much as they could have.

I mean, seriously, take a look at the demands on this site! Who in the world taught people to think like this? What kind of parent wants their child to grow up depending on other people?

[-] 1 points by smfrmrntx (12) 12 years ago

I think a lot of folks sound like they want freebies but when you spend time with them you find out they need a hand up out of the ditch they're in (not necessarily by their own choices or failures) and that's all they really want or need...same thing you'd most likely do for a neighbor or friend if asked....I have been blessed with friends and peers who've worked with me and we've built businesses and community together - I'm not so simple as to think there's ever only one way to succeed...smile You're story is inspiring, RSC, and agin I wish you and yours all the continued best!

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

I wish you were right about them wanting a job but that is not what I see in that list of demands. I just see selfish, lazy, and full of class envy people. Perhaps they might spend a little less time being educated by whoever they are getting it from.

I wish running a business for one month was a requirement to graduate college, or even high school.

Like I say all the time to my husband and friends- when I get to be the boss there are going to be an awful lot of unhappy people out there.

I have been both, a government employee and a business owner. I'll take my lowest profit month over working for the government anytime.

God speed to you and yours!

[-] 1 points by musearch (26) from Tualatin, OR 12 years ago

of course you've been on public assistance.

were you educated in a public school? ever driven on a road? ever bought a house? ever participated in any business transaction that's been backed by the force of us law? do you plan to take social security benefits when you retire?

if you mean welfare, fine. but tax dollars, the government, and your community have helped you. times are different than they have been.

since you had your first successes we've gutted our gutted our social ( not meaning welfare ) support systems. i, for one, would be frightened out of my mind to be getting out of college ( or highschool ) and seeing the economy like it is.

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

I went to parochial school as did my siblings. I am not intending to split hairs with you, but I do not call driving on a road being on "public assistance." Yes, I am referring to welfare, free health care, social assistance primarily.

As an employer I have not only paid in my "half" of FICA but the other half as well so that would hardly be considered "living off the government."

Last December my daughter graduated from a private college that I paid dearly for her to attend. She applied for her first full time gainful job in Feb. She was called back for 3 interviews and began working for a large advertising firm on March 1st.

She had no problem getting hired at the first and only place she applied. Luck? Not at all. She was raised to be a go-getter, not a protester.

[-] 1 points by musearch (26) from Tualatin, OR 12 years ago

Yes: I am self employed and the double taxation is evil. That doesn't mean all taxation is bad, rather it would simply be nice if they fixed that.

Personally, I'm fine with social assistance programs - most people I know want to work, and those programs help them get on their feet so they can do so. For instance, unemployment insurance, and job retraining.

It's great that you're daughter has had the opportunities she has had. It's a shame that we can't fund education in our country at a proper level so that everyone, regardless of their background, can have the same chance.

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

I wish I could say social programs were not one of my pet peves, but they are. If I could, my first move would be to eliminate any type of public assistance if you do not get a high school diploma. That would just be my beginning.

People need to be responsible for their self like it was before The Great (what a joke that is) Society came along.

It disgusts me to see politicians throwing out what is now the latest buy-your-vote program: taxpayer funded cell phones with free minutes. Stupid as much as it is sickening.

There is no place in this nation that a child cannot get an education for free. No place. Even if you are in the country illegally you can get a free education. So I have no pity and no money for the people who do not take that opportunity and run with it.

My daughter will go far in life because she knows my sacrifices. I do not care if she ever owns her own company, I just want her to be responsible for herself.

[-] 1 points by quantumcipher (12) from San Diego, CA 12 years ago

I can understand your disagreements with our message, but to compare us to "terrorists" is plain silly. You've instantly de-legitimized your own argument.

[-] 0 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

Sorry, I did not intend to compare you to "terrorrists." My illustration was to point out that terrorists seem to be young enough that they have not developed enough mental maturity to control their own brain.

What I see here are pictures of younger people doing nothing but walloying after each other, none seem to have control of their own brain so they follow-the-leader.

The list of "demands" I have read underscore my opinion. Absolutely zero economic education. Where would they be if their grandparents had been as empty headed as they? I do not recall seeing pictures of people, even in the Great Drepression years of people out demanding such nonsense. These people are not demanding jobs. Where do they get the idea that people owe them anything? Did they not learn, even with a public school education, that no one "owes" you anything?

[-] 1 points by musearch (26) from Tualatin, OR 12 years ago

Cool! You sound like a reasonable guy. Which "demands" did you read? http://occupywallst.org/forum/first-official-release-from-occupy-wall-street/

Remember, the New Deal ( yikes, and a war ) helped get America out of the Depression. It was spending on infrastructure, jobs programs, and ( what was at the time ) one of the best education systems in the world.

We need that sort of commitment again. Instead we keep slicing and dicing those things that made our country great into shreds.

I'm an American, and I willingly pay my taxes to make sure America stays great. Now I want Wall Street and corporations to do the same thing. To me, that only seems fair.

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

I read that list in full. Disgusting.

Who in the world sends their child to school to learn to think like that?

I am an active investor in Wall Street. If I do not like what a company is doing I write to the CEO and Chairman in a manners appropriate style, and send it certified mail. I do not run down in front of the place to make an idiot of myself.

Corporations are not in business to be employers, they are in business to make a profit for the stockholder. They happen to usually employ people to do so. Corporations do not get to cast a vote but yet get taxed.

I am a taxpaying American who uses every inch I can to pay less taxes lawfully. Why shouldn't a corporation get to do the same?

Frankly, I am more sick and tired of being taxed to pay union affiliated retirement programs for government employees and especially for politicians than I am concerned about corporations. I am sick of hearing about "their fair share" which if you check the IRS/CBO records the "rich" pay more than I ever will in one year. Why should someone who earns more than I do pay a higher rate? Even at the same rate that I pay at, they are paying plenty more. I want to see politicans pay "their fair share" when it comes to all the services taxpayers provide to and for them. But when we have a tax cheat running our treasury and a president and his advisors who have less business knowledge than my 17-year-old son it is no surprise to me that a bunch of liberal Democrat modern day hippies would be out demanding more from corporations instead of less from the government.

Class envy has no place in the America my grandfather and father fought for. Sure, there will always be nasty corporations, I just will not invest in them or do business with them.

[-] 1 points by musearch (26) from Tualatin, OR 12 years ago

I never once implied I thought you were an idiot, so please don't imply that I am. We are all rational people, trying to do what we think is best in a complex world.

I probably stole the show some by talking about social programs and taxation, probably because you framed the initial post solely about jobs. Perhaps we can't find common ground there, but I'd like to think if we talked long enough about it we could.

Most of that list talks about corporate malfeasance and the need to restore sane regulation to financial ( and other ) companies. And, that's why it's "occupy wall street", not "occupy congress."

People involved in the housing speculation (BOA, countrywide, etc) need to be held accountable. And we need to make sure it doesn't happen again.

If you need other examples there's Enron. Haliburton. The Koch brothers. Benie Madoff cost the economy more than 50billion dollars, and he's not the only one. There are just too many companies that get away with illegal activities.

Voting with your dollar and sending letters is good, but it's not enough. Good governance is needed.

[-] 1 points by dreadsPoverty (93) from Mankato, MN 12 years ago

Good luck getting the capital from a bank. Or are you already rolling in the money required to start a business today? If so, I doubt you're really needing a job like some people who have starving families.

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

Neither of the 2 businesses I started ever came from any loans. They small with no inventory. By putting almost everything back into the business and living on soup and and bread 26 years ago.

They key to a successful business is to have a good sense of humor and a likeable personality, not loans.

[-] 1 points by Toddtjs (187) 12 years ago

You lived on soup and bread? That's a regular meal for millions of poverty children and their single mothers. I have a small business also. I realize that the people I hire do not have the education to do my job. I also realize that without this type of worker, I would not be able to to expand my business. If everybody wanted monetary success who would I hire?

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

Yes, Campbells Tomato soup was my favorite, with black pepper.

But I have to be honest with you, I do not see many "poverty" people shopping with that diet. Everytime I am at the market I look at who is in front of me. Usually it is a Mexican, obese, with at least 2 obese kids. I have to say that a diet of soup would do them some good so I know they are not eating that. In the cart just 2 nights ago was a gallon of Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream, pigskin chips, a bag of M&M candy, flour tortillas, a 24 egg container, and a loaf of premade buttered garlic bread and a box of Fruit Loops. Then, just as I suspected, she whipped out her welfare credit card (yes, it was, I know what it looks like). At Easter I saw stickers on giant Easter baskets full of Chinese made Snow White junk, M&Ms, candy necklace that advertised you could buy that basket with your welfare card.

I do not know about you, but this is the kind of stuff I am sick of paying for. I would claim that the shopper at the market was an illegal but that would just be an assumption.

If everyone paid for what they consumed, then our taxes would be so low that you and I could hire twice as many employees. For some people monetary success means they are employed and live on what they earn. For me, it means I employ them.

[-] 1 points by Toddtjs (187) 12 years ago

The groceries that you describe contain maximum amounts of sodium and sugar. All "cheep" food contain these as their main ingredients. Sugar and salt are addictive components. Not like nicotine and alcohol but still mildly addictive. That's why they buy this shit because they can't afford a healthy diet. If you want to be mad at something then get mad at the cheep fast food industry for getting poor people hooked on maximum amounts of addictive additives like these. Too many fast food joints in poor neighborhoods - because they know it works! The more these folks eat, the more they want to eat- get it? This leads to diabetes, heart and kidney problems and costs you the tax payer more for health insurance. No one wants to educate these people because there is no money to make- the profits are in health and food industries. They work together and have a great scam going on.

[-] 1 points by dreadsPoverty (93) from Mankato, MN 12 years ago

26 years ago was a different set of rules. And what type of business do you run?

[-] 1 points by RedStateConservative (10) 12 years ago

Yes, but not rules. A different mindset of thinking. People actually believed in working for what they wanted, not just demanding other people pay for it.

Instead of a list selfish "demands" seen here on this site, they ought to be producing a list of things that the government needs to do away with, especially freebie programs for everyone except the elderly, veterans, and people disabled true disablilties they were either born with or were inflicted by that they had no control over and cannot be corrected via medications. Yes, that includes the obese, the alcoholics, the drug addicts. Those people should be paying the government for every single dime spent on them.

26 years ago my brother and I started an auto repair facility by buying one lift at a time. Now there are 8 with a staff of 18.

The most current one is a business that does business only with other businesses. It envolves mainly hand-written mail correspondence.