Two Americas

[MtnMax/Magniac]

In early January 2014, Bob Lonsberry, a Rochester talk radio personality on WHAM 1180 AM, said this in response to Obama's "income inequality speech":



Two Americas





The Democrats are right, there are two Americas.





The America that works, and the America that doesn’t.
The America that contributes, and the America that doesn’t.
It’s not the haves and the have nots, it’s the dos and the don’ts.
Some people do their duty as Americans, obey the law, support themselves, contribute to society, and others don’t. That’s the divide in America.





It’s not about income inequality, it’s about civic irresponsibility.
It’s about a political party that preaches hatred, greed and victimization in order to win elective office.

It’s about a political party that loves power more than it loves its country. That’s not invective, that’s truth, and it’s about time someone said it.





The politics of envy was on proud display a couple weeks ago when President Obama pledged the rest of his term to fighting “income inequality.” He noted that some people make more than other people, that some people have higher incomes than others, and he says that’s not just.





That is the rationale of thievery. The other guy has it, you want it, Obama will take it for you. Vote Democrat.
That is the philosophy that produced Detroit. It is the electoral philosophy that is destroying America.





It conceals a fundamental deviation from American values and common sense because it ends up not benefiting the people who support it, but a betrayal.
The Democrats have not empowered their followers, they have enslaved them in a culture of dependence and entitlement, of victimhood and anger instead of ability and hope.





The president’s premise – that you reduce income inequality by debasing the successful – seeks to deny the successful the consequences of their choices and spare the unsuccessful the consequences of their choices.





Because, by and large, income variations in society is a result of different choices leading to different consequences. Those who choose wisely and responsibility have a far greater likelihood of success, while those who choose foolishly and irresponsibly have a far greater likelihood of failure. Success and failure usually manifest themselves in personal and family income.





You choose to drop out of high school or to skip college - and you are apt to have a different outcome than someone who gets a diploma and pushes on with purposeful education.
You have your children out of wedlock and life is apt to take one course; you have them within a marriage and life is apt to take another course.
Most often in life our destination is determined by the course we take.





My doctor, for example, makes far more than I do. There is significant income inequality between us. Our lives have had an inequality of outcome, but, our lives also have had an inequality of effort. While my doctor went to college and then devoted his young adulthood to medical school and residency, I got a job in a restaurant.





He made a choice, I made a choice, and our choices led us to different outcomes. His outcome pays a lot better than mine.





Does that mean he cheated and Barack Obama needs to take away his wealth? No, it means we are both free men in a free society where free choices lead to different outcomes.





It is not inequality Barack Obama intends to take away, it is freedom. The freedom to succeed, and the freedom to fail.
There is no true option for success if there is no true option for failure.





The pursuit of happiness means a whole lot less when you face the punitive hand of government if your pursuit brings you more happiness than the other guy.
Even if the other guy sat on his arse and did nothing. Even if the other guy made a lifetime’s worth of asinine and shortsighted decisions.





Barack Obama and the Democrats preach equality of outcome as a right, while completely ignoring inequality of effort.





The simple Law of the Harvest – as ye sow, so shall ye reap – is sometimes applied as, “The harder you work, the more you get." Obama would turn that upside down. Those who achieve are to be punished as enemies of society and those who fail are to be rewarded as wards of society.





Entitlement will replace effort as the key to upward mobility in American society if Barack Obama gets his way. He seeks a lowest common denominator society in which the government besieges the successful and productive to foster equality through mediocrity.





He and his party speak of two Americas, and their grip on power is based on using the votes of one to sap the productivity of the other. America is not divided by the differences in our outcomes, it is divided by the differences in our efforts. It is a false philosophy to say one man’s success comes about unavoidably as the result of another man’s victimization.





What Obama offered was not a solution, but a separatism. He fomented division and strife, pitted one set of Americans against another for his own political benefit. That’s what socialists offer. Marxist class warfare wrapped up with a bow.





Two Americas, coming closer each day to proving the truth to Lincoln’s maxim that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

 

[Traumahawk]

I think this shirt says it all.

 

[Tex85]

+ ∞ to both posts.

 

[Rollie]

Hoo rah .

 

[Rusty McNeil]

My mother used to say

"We will always have those with wants and needs among us"

"They WANT what you have and think you NEED to give it to them"

 

[MtnMax/Magniac]

Girlfriend stole my coffee cup

 

[SpecOps13]

I Love that Coffee Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!:clapping::rofl_200:

 

[marsmax85]

Kinda diggin the chick holding the coffee cup !!:biglaugh:

 

[Itgoes]

So.....what the facts are is that there is a shrinking middle class, and stagnant wages for the average worker in this country. That has been going on for several decades. And, the incomes of the top 5% have hugely outpaced the other 95%. I think that is what most are talking about when they say there are 2 Americas (stupid phrase). The good manufacturing jobs have where someone could make a decent wage have dwindled drastically, and the ones that remain have people working harder for less pay. Big companies call that an increase in "Productivity" which basically means less people doing the same amount of work.



Most manufacturing jobs are being moved to other countries to save labor costs. I've seen it every year for the past 2 decades in my business. They will take entire facilities and move them to Mexico, South America, India, China to increase their bottom line. Who benefits from that? Only the Shareholders of the company. So if it is a public company and you are lucky enough to hold stock, you will see the shares price increase. I've personally seen thousands of jobs lost just in the NJNY area due to companies relocating their manufacturing facilities. In fact there was just another announcement 2 weeks ago where a local Pharma company and good customer of ours is closing and laying off over 400 employees. They made plenty of money last year, in fact almost all big companies are now flush with cash due to consolidating, and becoming more "productive". The fact is they are never happy to make plenty, or as much as last year, they are driven to increase profits EVERY year to satisfy Wall Street.






There are more people receiving government assistance then ever that is true......but it is a small (albeit disgusting) percentage of people that are true "takers". There are actually many full time workers who still qualify for government assistance because they fall below the poverty line. I think the statistic is that about 80% of Walmart employees ar eligible for some government assistance. The effort to increase the minimum wage is being endorsed by many conservatives now because it will actually drastically reduce the number of people eligible for food stamps and other benefits by providing a living wage and bring them up above the poverty line.

And one final big issue is the skyrocketing cost of a college education. How many people can afford to spend the 25, 30 or $40,000 PER YEAR to go to a good school that will allow them to get the best jobs out there. It's out of reach for most people.

This country faces some major challenges ahead of it. There are people gaming the system no doubt, there always is. But this is too often the used as the reason for many other much larger problems. IMO.

 

[Traumahawk]

And one final big issue is the skyrocketing cost of a college education. How many people can afford to spend the 25, 30 or $40,000 PER YEAR to go to a good school that will allow them to get the best jobs out there. It's out of reach for most people.

This I think (IMHO) is one of the great fallacy's of this nation...you HAVE to go to college to get a great (high paying) job.

As a standard rule, your monthly repayment will be about 1% of your total student loan. If you borrow 30,000....your repayment will be roughly 300 bucks a month. (The is a general rule). So for the people that borrow 50000...or even 100000 in student loan debt. Will the job that you get allow you to pay 500 to 1000 dollars a month. That money will go to nothing tangible...it wont go to a car payment...it wont go to a house note.

People would be much better off going to their local votec---getting a certification in something, and then deciding that if they want to go to college, pay for it out of their own pocket. The people that I work with....didnt go to college either.

All total for my paramedic certification was about 4000 dollars, now I am a Paramedic on an oil platform in the GOM. I afford a house on my own, car, bike....and toys. Ive gotten a good return on my investment.

 

[Itgoes]

This I think (IMHO) is one of the great fallacy's of this nation...you HAVE to go to college to get a great (high paying) job.

As a standard rule, your monthly repayment will be about 1% of your total student loan. If you borrow 30,000....your repayment will be roughly 300 bucks a month. (The is a general rule). So for the people that borrow 50000...or even 100000 in student loan debt. Will the job that you get allow you to pay 500 to 1000 dollars a month. That money will go to nothing tangible...it wont go to a car payment...it wont go to a house note.

People would be much better off going to their local votec---getting a certification in something, and then deciding that if they want to go to college, pay for it out of their own pocket. The people that I work with....didnt go to college either.

All total for my paramedic certification was about 4000 dollars, now I am a Paramedic on an oil platform in the GOM. I afford a house on my own, car, bike....and toys. Ive gotten a good return on my investment.

I agree......now-a-days that is a good strategy. Then work as hard as you can to be the best at what you do, and you will be able to earn the highest wage for you vocation and not fear having to compete for a job.

 

[Tex85]

I hate when you see idiots bitching about school debt. Should you decide to go to college there are economical ways to do it. For one, a state university (in your home state) as it will be cheaper than the alternatives (after a 4 year degree is just a piece of paper that helps open doors,any accredited university will do). Work while going to school, nothing says you have to be only a full time student and frivolously spend money in the off hours (most students do since loans/credit = free money in their mind). Apply yourself prior to college and you can usually get at least a partial ride of not full. Apply yourself while at school and receive academic achievement scholarships or funding to a masters or doctoral program if that is your track.

If you have debt after school it is a personal choice and it is on you to pay it back, no one else should be bailing your ass out after your bad decisions, especially tax dollars.

I have two undergraduate degrees that I picked up simultaneously all under scholarships while working full time. My wife did the same for her undergrad and masters, now she is months away for completing her doctoral degree. Throughout the whole process neither one of us ever took a student loan, or car loan (our thought is if we can't afford it on cash we don't belong driving it, we like to live in our means). The only debt we have is "good" debt in the form of a mortgage that we pay on time and even though the market went to **** we know its our loan to payoff regardless of the house lost value.

Well enough ranting on my part. People who make bad decisions and want me to help fix it for them get under my skin.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Kronx]

Not much in life is ever black and white or as simple as "two Americas". No doubt wherever there is government money, there will be someone trying to exploit it. But it happens just as much by those billion dollar military contractors as it does at the Social Security office or at the Food Stamp line.