G.I.Jim wrote:
I also disagree with your reasoning of giving to people less fortunate than myself. I do donate money each year to help a couple of causes, and I'm the type who will always pull over and fix a tire for someone, etc... Not saying I'm better than anyone...I just try to help when I can.
With that said, according to your reasoning...we should have no scoreboards in sports so that everyone's a winner. We should have no wealthy, because they should give it away to others who in a lot of cases are lazy. Say what you want, but there are lazy-ass people in this world that want everything handed to them. I respect your ideas, but I seriously disagree.
Lazy ass people? Who are you to count and name every person in this land who is lazy? Are there lazy fucks? Absolutely. Are there people who have just had poor luck and a terrible life. Absolutely (2).
And speaking of "giving." You don't want Uncle Sam to give out, then I say we do it across the board then. No money for freeways(interstates to you east of California, no money for road and bridge work, no money for street lights, police, fire, airports, flight controllers, anything. No money period. Next time you folks want to fly to Vegas to see a band, drive, because there isn't a single airline alive that can operate without Govt assistance. Next time you go to the store and buy a steak and it has something wrong with it and makes you sick, deal with it, as money has been withdrawn for meat inspectors. Next time a Katrina, Rita and Jean decide to to do a square dance on your part of the nation, don't look to the US Govt for help...nope, you are on your own there. You Cons and your line of reasoning are simply not realistic. Taxes are a necessary evil.
The great thing about this country, is that if people have a dream, are self driven, and hard working...they CAN make something of themselves. When I see people getting on busses...I don't feel bad for them (unless they have physical or mental disabilities), I just think of them as not having as much success at life as others. Not everyone is smart enough to be a CEO or own a business. Not everyone is talented enough to paint a million dollar painting, and not everyone is skilled enough (or determined enough) to go through medical shool or law school for 8 years.
My point was nobody likes to ride a fucking bus. They do so because for a multitude of reasons, they cannot afford a vehicle, but they find a way to get themselves to work anyway. Oh and by the way, that smelly Mexican who cleaned your shitter at work, or that ugly black fucker who mowed the lawn at the fucking hospital all rode a bus paid for by taxes. I would call that taxes well spent. people given some help to make it in life.
According to your train of thought...we should expect those people who DO invest 8 years of their lives along with a lot of sacrifices and hardships themselves, to give that wealth away once they reach succesfull income levels. We'd give that money to people who dropped out of school, got pregnant (or got someone else pregnant), didn't get educated, and show up late for work, etc... There are some unfortunate situations in life, but that's just it...it's life, and life isn't always fun or fair.
Never have I advocated redistribution of wealth,a phrase you Cons love to use. I simply said that one cannot expect to keep 90% of your income, and if you look at your paycheck Jim, and others too, ask yourself, did the gov't help me in any way to get this check? My guess would be yes. The roads you drive on, the bridges you cross, the trains and buses you rode to get to work were all paid for by taxes. Hell Jim, your job is paid for by taxation, 100% I might add. Let's also discuss how all these folks you speak of who went to college for 4, 6, 8 or 12 years paid for their education. The overwhelming majority applied to the US Gov't for aid to attend college. Something to think about.
I wish I was born to millionaire parents and that I got everything I always wanted...I didn't! I've worked my ass off from the age of 14 at everything from pizza delivery to dishwashing, to working on a farm, to roofing, to air condition repair, to installing security systems/cameras, to 18 years of military where a lot of times I worked 70-80 hours a week. I'm not complaining, but I don't expect handouts...I earn my paycheck. That's all I ask of everyone else out there...nothing's free.
I would say everyone here respects that as well as done the same thing. We all have computers so we all either work or fuck our rich husbands really well
. I do not advocate direct payments to those who want to sit on their asses and watch TV, but we as a society do not have the ability to monitor each and every persons situation. We cannot legislate morality as much as the God squad wants to. Do I want Jerome in Chicago to buy crack with his welfare check? Of course not. Do I wish Anna Belle of Farmington, KY would get her ass out and work at Ma's diner? Sure. Do I wish Serge in Frisco would pull the cock out of his mouth and ass just long enough to go scale barnacles off the tethered vessels in San Francisco Bay instead of rely on our assistance? Of course, but the truth is, we cannot be certain that he, she and Serge aren't suffering from injury, or maybe are depressed or in Serge's situation, completely fucked in the head. So we pay out in order to cleanse our conscience. that's my thinking anyway.
As far as those CEO's go...I think if they drive their companies into the ground...they should have to forfeit any bonuses and give it back to the companies they ruined. That's not wealth redistribution...that's just NOT getting paid extra for something YOU fucked up! JMHO
So George W Bush who ran his oil companies into the core of the Earth and the Texas Rangers into baseball's abyss, should have to give back his millions?
I'm so hooked to CNN Live right now!
