i'm completely offended that you would call them "underachieving citizens". that's complete bullshit. you obviously undervalue the work that these people do. not everyone has the smarts or the opportunity to go to college. like i said, i don't care that i'm working an extra 18.5 minutes. fuck it. that's nothing.
Fuck me... Only in America would you hear someone cryin about not been able to pay for their 3 cars and nice big house on $300k.. Do you realize how pathetic and selfish this sounds ? Your parents who as you said have come from poverty and done well for themselves need to wake up and appreciate what they have.. When you finish school get out from under mom's apron and go travelling and see a bit of the world.. It might open your eyes a little.. Or get one of your parents 3 cars and drive down to the local ghetto and see how those less "lucky" than your family live..
I bet you're right that the Canadian government-run health care "works fine" but I bet my standards would be a lot higher than yours. Even here in the US our health care system is so broken that doctors don't really care about their patients anymore. For the most part, their patients aren't even the ones paying them, so what incentive (besides the goodness in their heart) do they have to truly care for them? They have incentive to do more tests, prescribe medicines and do other things that make them money. They have no monetary incentive to tell the patient how they can get healthy (usually a lifestyle change). I bet if people started paying their doctor up front and in person, they'd care a lot more about them. Money talks.
i'm not crying and i have family in the ghetto, my fathers sister was born addicted to heroin, my father didn't have any opportunities other than he got a job as an electrician, a grunt making $10 an hour along side his father when he was 16. Was working since he was 12, delivering papers, had me at age 19, parents kicked him out at 18 for more room in the house for adopted children. My mother came from a broken home where her mother cleaned the tenants apartments for cheaper stay while working during the day. we didn't have any handouts, not from family, not from government. and yes, they bought me a car, about to get a new one this weekend. that's capitalism, they are actually buying me a nicer car then they bought for themselves, an infiniti g35 coupe. where else in the world would this have happened, my mother almost makes double than my father. you're right, i'm mad, not crying, because i love capitalism and America. I hate to see the road its taking and the buffoons leading the way. they aren't paying for my schooling though, sadly, i grew up pretty poor myself, maybe not the ghetto, but you try living on an electricians salary with two dependents and a mother in college, maybe that'll be adequate enough to hold my own opinion without being a naive, spoiled, brat? It's not lucky, it's hard fucking work. I want to be able to go to college and know there will be a job out there that'll compensate me for the investment in my education, and dedication. maybe you should quit crying and pick up a second job along with some personal responsibility, then you can stop begging for handouts.
are you implying that it's alright for people to live just above poverty while you live luxuriously? or are you implying socialist states are happy and wouldn't want or need any more money then they already have? and i'm high, i meant 180, not like anyone can seriously argue how it's just to discriminate and take more money from a certain group of people to benefit majority.
Think what he's saying is there ARE successful soclalist governments just as there are failed ones, an idea that seems to be bypassing you. Just because you have been told/believe socialism is a bad thing and that it doesn't work doesn't make it true. What makes a country great? Is it the elite, the top 2% of high earners or is it the working class who generate the profits and the majority of tax revenue? Are the working class penalised (discriminated against) for being working class. Because of lower wages they can afford less healthcare for the family and education options for their kids but share an equal tax burden with the rich, is this just or fair?
what makes a country great is having freedom, not freedom to depend on the state/citizens income. no, the working class isn't discriminated against, open your own business if you don't want to work for the man. huge corporations make up a small percent of businesses/employment compared to sole proprietorship or partnership. sharing the same taxation is actually just and fair, i don't know where you went to grade school or even high school for that matter, but an proportional income tax would be the definition of just and fair.
123ROOR, do you honestly have that dim a view of the citizens of the US? that if we passed a larger social welfare net or put more regulations on Wall St, that everyone in the counrty (or at least a majority, or even a significant minority) would just become lazy useless slobs and never work again a day in their lives? I don't. I think that we would still work hard, and those who were disadvantaged would use the opportunity to work their way up. Look at all the Scandinavian countries dude. Pretty socialist, pretty individually free, and pretty damn wealthy as well.
no, i think the middle class will die out as a sector of the community and business world. i think more regulations will cause less stimulus to the economy and the average blue collar salaries will sink even lower with less employment. i think more people will live/depend off government, giving politicians dependable votes because they've domesticated society, they depend on the welfare and handouts and don't have the motivation to get involved in the job market. i'd rather have capitalism where i have a free market to purchase and sell goods as i see fit, i want the freedom to run my own life and not have a gun to my head and a jail cage waiting for me if i don't handover large portions of my income, it's thuggery dressed up in its sundays best.
so, by saying the middle class will die out, (since you said that you didn't believe that we'd all just become lazy) you think that we will die out because either 1. We'll all become "upper class" or 2. We'll all become "lower class". Now, 1 seems like a good option to me. I do not see how 2 would come about if you don't believe that we'd all just become lazy and depend on the system for everything. And you have the freedom to buy and sell goods as you see fit, in many respects more so than here in the US, in Scandinavian countries.
i think your all wrong on what he thinks... i think what he means is not everybody that is in support of a government that gives handouts, is looking for a handout... i for one, believe in compassion.. there is a poem that i saw hanging up in one of my college classrooms, it went something like this... "First they came for the socialists, and i did not speak out because i was not a socialist then they came for the trade unionists, and i did not speak out because i was not a trade unionist then they came for the jews, and i did not speak out because i was not a jew then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me...." Martin Niemoller i have no idea what kind of situation the majority of america is in but i can guarantee that the majority of the poverty occupants, are in there not because of anything but dumbluck whether its the economy or disease, but when the top 5% own 95% of the wealth in a country something needs to fucking change.. i know one thing if i was below the poverty line because of something i couldn't control i would HOPE that someone better off then me has the compassion to do something for another human...
Imagine life in America if the government had supreme control over corporate issues as well as social issues. If it controlled How much your family could eat.
apparently people would rather be told how much everyone can eat, how much hospital time everyone is limited too, all because they'd rather not pay out of their pockets. nice avatar, big L is an example of capitalism, came from poverty and went straight to the highest tax bracket after an album and a half, then his death shortly after, rip. Sticky Fingerz, that's why socialism fails, people act in there best self-interest, when that is removed, it's the least amount of work for the least amount of pay, talk about no self interest.
I can't believe the amount of political ignorance here. So I say "more regulation" or "longer unemployment benefits" and the logical end to this equation is a government where they tell me how much I can eat. Really? That is logical to you? You all seem to be missing that socialism =/= dictatorship. Pretty basic there guys. Debate on the merits of the system, don't just strawman it.
i would rather have more choices, i would like to provide a service or product and get paid based upon it's value to you as a consumer. not what the government tells me it's worth, i don't want more regulation or government expansion. that's a money pit, a major decrease in technological advancements, science, arts, we wouldn't be able to live as nice of a lifestyle as most of as already live, and i'm not trying to take leaps backwards.