2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Race

[Demosthenes11]

I make about 45k a year (including benefits), but also own .75% stake in the company I work for and it's starting to take off. I work about 50-60 hours a week, but completely on my schedule and convenience, from home. I can vacation when I want for how long I want (as long as I do some work). Next year I expect I'll be making around 70k for doing the same job I am now (no extra responsibilities) and that will probably cap to around 150k per year if the company really does well. Again, in addition to my stock which will likely be worth around 10m when it peaks. I completely lucked and fell into this job 4 months after I dropped out of college. I have no degree or marketable skill other than "I work hard at jobs, can talk to people, and am not completely retarded"

There are millions of people just like me. And there are millions of people that work way harder than me, are more educated than me that will not ever surpass my current wage / wealth.

[Ksandra]

I make about 45k a year (including benefits), but also own .75% stake in the company I work for and it's starting to take off. I work about 50-60 hours a week, but completely on my schedule and convenience, from home. I can vacation when I want for how long I want (as long as I do some work). Next year I expect I'll be making around 70k for doing the same job I am now (no extra responsibilities) and that will probably cap to around 150k per year if the company really does well. Again, in addition to my stock which will likely be worth around 10m when it peaks. I completely lucked and fell into this job 4 months after I dropped out of college. I have no degree or marketable skill other than "I work hard at jobs, can talk to people, and am not completely retarded"

There are millions of people just like me. And there are millions of people that work way harder than me, are more educated than me that will not ever surpass my current wage / wealth.

Stop taking solanis seriously, he's still a college kid btw.

@ ontopic, curious as to how anyone (gwy) can actually want obamacare repealed. let's keep being behind the rest of the world, right?

[solanis]

that's because there are sacrifices to make. you're just lucky you never had to make any, it sounds like. I gave up high school and college to start a business, and my ideal career is to be a jeweler since I'm an artfag. I sacrificed that to work 90+ hour weeks in investment banking, making a ton of money but not having enough time to sleep let alone have a life. some of my university mates majored in useless shit understanding they were sacrificing financial stability to follow their passions, and I chose financial stability over a life working with metal. my friends who are upset that they don't make as much money as I do in their careers in academia and social work, well, I don't really care to hear about it. if you grow up understanding you can do whatever you want, pick a fiscally responsible major/career, and behave intelligently with money while working hard, there's no reason to be poor in this country. this is simple fact. you certainly don't have to take it to my extreme. this is why I don't feel bad for anyone other than the people who never knew what life could be, and why I have so little patience for increased social welfare programs that benefit anyone other than those people. this is why I like romney, since he seems to have a really solid understanding of this stuff.

[Demosthenes11]

that's because there are sacrifices to make. you're just lucky you never had to make any, it sounds like. I gave up high school and college to start a business, and my ideal career is to be a jeweler since I'm an artfag. I sacrificed that to work 90+ hour weeks in investment banking, making a ton of money but not having enough time to sleep let alone have a life. some of my university mates majored in useless shit understanding they were sacrificing financial stability to follow their passions, and I chose financial stability over a life working with metal. my friends who are upset that they don't make as much money as I do in their careers in academia and social work, well, I don't really care to hear about it. if you grow up understanding you can do whatever you want, pick a fiscally responsible major/career, and behave intelligently with money while working hard, there's no reason to be poor in this country. this is simple fact. you certainly don't have to take it to my extreme. this is why I don't feel bad for anyone other than the people who never knew what life could be, and why I have so little patience for increased social welfare programs that benefit anyone other than those people. this is why I like romney, since he seems to have a really solid understanding of this stuff.

yet there are tens of millions of people with qualifications and degrees of things that are not art / sociology that are out of work. Plenty of people that sacrificed a lot to go to college to be an architect, or an engineer, or a teacher. What about these people - they aren't sacrificing enough? Stop mentioning idiots - there are plenty of nonidiots that are struggling and don't have jobs that the idiots dont even matter

[solanis]

this is a really tough time, so those people are suffering in accordance with our current place in the economic cycle. economies are cyclic, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. can't even blame obama for this shit, or bush or clinton either since it's not their faults. our current recession is just nastier than the one that comes every 10-15 years. I'm talking about a more permanent phenomena than the state of people in a temporary recession. anyway I have a plane to catch, wish me luck in this fucking flash blizzard

[Demosthenes11]

this is a really tough time, so those people are suffering in accordance with our current place in the economic cycle. economies are cyclic, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. our current recession is just nastier than the one that comes every 10-15 years. I'm talking about a more permanent phenomena than the state of people in a temporary recession. anyway I have a plane to catch, wish me luck in this fucking flash blizzard

you don't, by any chance, think climate change is a scam do you?

[ronin sparthos]

This is a thread about presidential candidates and no one has brought up corporate interests hijacking the government created by the people, for the people?

[solanis]

no it's real and verified by science, anyone who poo poos global warming is kidding themselves

I'm socially liberal and economically conservative, you should know this by now nigga

[Demosthenes11]

no it's real and verified by science, anyone who poo poos global warming is kidding themselves

I'm socially liberal and economically conservative, you should know this by now nigga

sorry, the arguments just looked so similar lol

[Demosthenes11]

RON PAUL

nope

[ronin sparthos]

nope

Honestly that takes more precedence over debates on how to make it in America because naturally these individuals affect how exactly you make it. When you have bills like SOPA in the pipes you really have to wonder how far the power of lobbying and corporate ownership of candidates/elected officials can go.

[Weeks]

no it's real and verified by science, anyone who poo poos global warming is kidding themselves

I'm socially liberal and economically conservative, you should know this by now nigga

Because global warming is a social issue...

Mitt Romney tells me a rich investment banker can't possibly be this stupid, so I think I'm going with Ksandra on this.

[Ksandra]

Mitt Romney tells me a rich investment banker can't possibly be this stupid, so I think I'm going with Ksandra on this.

He would have been better off pretending to be some kind of professor (inb4 he does). Trust me on this one, his IP links to his college and has been in the normal college student school year time frame ever since he joined the forums.

simply, take his shit with a grain of salt. I'll believe otherwise when I see the receipts.

[archibaldcrane]

the hullabaloo about income equality IS about envy. well, one part envy and two parts entitlement.

As I've always said, my issue with "inequality" really has little to do with how rich the rich are. It overwhelmingly has to do with how little progress the bottom 90% makes
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s-bottom90.jpg
I could give a fuck how high the orange line goes - I care that the blue line hasn't gone anywhere in more than my lifetime.

[ronin sparthos]

The whole 90% isn't working hard enough.

[RKenshin]

the hullabaloo about income equality IS about envy. well, one part envy and two parts entitlement.

If you prop up the income equality argument as "I want more money", "I want a six figure income with my Sociology degree, guaranteed", "I want to not have to work hard to make lots of money", "I want my college education paid for", etc... then yeah, sounds like envy to me too.

But come on now, being practical here... no one that attempting to provide logical reasons as to why this is an important issue is making those arguments.

The real points you should be attempting to squash are:

1. The reasoning behind why a regressive/flat tax system would be better for America as a whole than a (even if only mildly) progressive one.

2. Many (albeit, less common) tax loopholes/deductions that strongly benefit wealthier people/corporations are out there, why are these more valuable than reducing taxes for the poorer people/corporations? And why aren't these part of the immediate budget cuts? Our tax system is incredibly unfriendly towards small businesses, especially.

3. Tax cuts for the rich; do you honestly believe that this is a major 'job creator?' Historical/global evidence to this?

4. Government funding that provides hundreds of thousands middle class jobs; why is this the first up on the chopping block, but not the government funding we pay to multi-billion dollar profit industries?

5. 76% of all the campaign money come from 1% of the campaign donations. How can this truly be a Democracy when the few can influence political campaigns by that much of a margin?

I could go on.

All of the above are major historical, current, or potential future roles the government has played or allowed to continue in the growing (we can all at least agree there's no doubt that it is growing substantially, right?) income inequality.

Issues of growing income inequality are far more than 'he has more money than me!', but about many of the issues above and how this continual trend can and will affect America in the long term.

I'd love to see such a well-formulated, unquestionable and confident argument against all of those points that so completely dismisses them that it is without a doubt correct that income equality arguments are bogus and nothing but envy.

But, until then, stop acting like you can dismiss the whole subject by tearing down a strawman against the extreme cases of some of the OWS spoiled brat protestors.



tl;dr: You're tearing down strawman arguments of the extremes in an attempt to dismiss the issue of income equality, while ignoring what it really comes down to for anyone with more logic than a pineapple.

[Pirian]

Because global warming is a social issue...

Mitt Romney tells me a rich investment banker can't possibly be this stupid, so I think I'm going with Ksandra on this.

What the hell, Weeks still posts on this forum?

[archibaldcrane]

I'm sure this'll get him crucified on BG:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lanny-...b_1202883.html

Romney makes dogs scared.

[Ksandra]

So Romney is basically the Brittney Spears of Republicans, eh?

[ronin sparthos]

I'm sure this'll get him crucified on BG:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lanny-...b_1202883.html

Romney makes dogs scared.

You'd think a guy with as much money as Mitt Romney could find a better way to transport his family dog?

It just comes off as an incredibly stupid thing to do when you've got enough funds to live comfortably many times over.