Why the disdain for “rich” people ?

[biku324]

I notice you aren't addressing any of my points.

Of course not. Arguing about how many devils can dance on the head of a pin seems, well, unprofitable.

 

[Bald1]

Did you have any comments about the content, or are you just going to throw out a cheap Ad Hominem attack and call it good?

Its clear from your comment that you didn't actually watch the video. You should. Its pretty interesting and dives pretty deep into the economic theory of our current situation.

Yes. Socialism is where we are going next, I fear. That seems to be where the younger generations are headed. Frankly although I think the solution is incorrect and misguided, I can hardly blame them for feeling like they were shafted and wishing for an economic system that works better for them.

They are not shafted. They simply don’t wNt to do the hard work. They want everything handed to them including a free college education. Which is a slap in the face to people who joined the military for the tuition benefits

 

[pharmer]

Frankly although I think the solution is incorrect and misguided, I can hardly blame them for feeling like they were shafted and wishing for an economic system that works better for them.

I'm 1953 vintage and I want that too.
A tale of long ago:

I worked for a big pharma company 25 years ago. When we launched Protonix (a PPI inhibitor) the Co issued "1,000 success shares" redeemable for $1,000 if we sold $100 million dollars of it. We sold $600 million that year and those shares were worth $10,000, which were paid as a bonus. I got to keep $6,050 (still have the stub) and my "partner" got almost half. Didn't have to go into a single Doc's office, buy one lunch, drop any samples, etc..... I certainly didn't "approve" but hey, "fair is fair." Then again I didn't want "men with guns" to come to my house, take my stuff and kill me if I resist. Being 100% Italian I am familiar with that "business model." Joe

 

[arjay]

SS can be fixed with legal tax paying immigrants so we have enough people paying in to the system.We just need to get real about who wants to come here and historically it has been people who are poor with no future for them in their home countries .And typically unscrupulous and cynical politicians have played to the fears of the people who have been here for a few generations.It’s an old and endlessly repeating cycle

 

[GypsmJim]

SS can be fixed with legal tax paying immigrants so we have enough people paying in to the system.We just need to get real about who wants to come here and historically it has been people who are poor with no future for them in their home countries .And typically unscrupulous and cynical politicians have played to the fears of the people who have been here for a few generations.It’s an old and endlessly repeating cycle

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[GypsmJim]

By the demographics, the biggest Marxists are Boomers though. They are the only demographic group that does not majority support the current president

I would have to see some data in that regard. Seems like hogwash to me.

Here's some food for thought. How many people here who are millionares were in favor of DOGE, but oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare, oppose raising the minimum age for benefits, or would oppose a system by which you only withdraw to the amount you contributed, adjusted for inflation?

As Americans, we are in favor of providing Welfare and Medicaid to our citizens who are truly in need. It's simply the right thing to do.

But Medicare and Social Security are NOT Entitlements. We paid in to them, so we EARNED it. It was (is) our insurance policy. Many have done the calculations and have found that if we invested on our own, we would be further ahead. But we were not given that option.

DOGE, as an example, found that we were spending millions to offer sex changes for prisoners in jail. OMG. THe politician that put that in the bill should be flogged. At the very least he should be ousted from the government. No American in their right mind would have agreed to that.

Just one small example.

OTHO we have (supposedly) able bodied people that keep putting illegitimate babies into the system. Is that right?

DOGE is the right way to go. If they are wrong in YOPUR case, prove it.

 

[Bald1]

Opportunity can be an elusive creature.

Tale of 2 Sisters:
Grew up in a working class family. Food on the table, but no extras. A good family upbringing. One sister got pregnant right our of High School and lived her entire adult life with 3 illegitimate kids and no husband. Sister #2 borrowed money and went to college, became a teacher and married an Engineer. Lived happily ever after.

BOTH had the SAME opportunity.

One generation later, one set of kids are on welfare and the other set own homes and have professional careers. Guess which set of kids belong to which sister....

Case Study #2:
Girl lives her formative years in a welfare house with mother's revolving boyfriends. Her opportunities are pathetic. But she watched TV and sees how some other people live. So, she studies hard and gets straight A's. Free college scholarship. More straight A's. Free Masters Degree. In her second University she meets a doctor and lived happily ever after.

Sometimes opportunities must be sought after. They all don't grow on trees.

Of course. Sometimes you have to make your opportunities. That is lost on todays generation. Life has been to easy. Everything at your fingertips with the click of a button.

 

[john17427]

Like someone mentioned in a previous post, I'm comfortable. I didn't start there. I started earning money at age 10. In a family with one income and five kids, this was mostly to supplement my diet. I went to college paid for with savings my parents enforced on me throughout my childhood along with working every kind of job imaginable from loading 18 wheelers to refinery jobs to janitor for a local school, and many other jobs that frequently involved a shovel. After college, I worked days, nights, weekends, and holidays for decades which allowed me to "climb the ladder" as some might call it. The time I wasn't working I spent with family. I have family members in recent times that make cracks about my wife and I having "money", and I have friends who have a hundred times more than we have. Making money jokes bothers me not in the least, though I've never done that to friends with more, nor ever asked those with more for anything. I know there are a few folks out there that have had it handed to them, but what does that have to do with me. You get out of life what you work for. If you want more or you want what Elon Musk has, or what anybody else has for that matter, work harder, work smarter, make sacrifices. I imagine there are a lot of folks out there that had a similar life and career to mine. It's what I, we, were taught back then. Work for it.

 

[silicosys4]

Of course. Sometimes you have to make your opportunities. That is lost on todays generation.

im not young, and the last ten years have been nothing like the previous 20 years before it. A lot has changed. By and large, we do not live in a meritocracy any more.

Life has been to easy. Everything at your fingertips with the click of a button.

Easy living does not mean being unable to afford a house or rent, but having the Amazon app or unlimited porn on your phone.

 

[Rustyt1953]

When I started in the music industry it soon put me on the path to rub elbows with the wealthy. The vast majority were pleasant personalities that looked after their businesses and took care of their employees, suppliers and subcontractors.

The ones that were arrogant and put on airs didn't earn their wealth. They inherited it.

 

[Bald1]

im not young, and the last ten years have been nothing like the previous 20 years before it. A lot has changed. By and large, we do not live in a meritocracy any more.


Easy living does not mean being unable to afford a house or rent, but having the Amazon app or unlimited porn on your phone.

Claiming we don’t live in a meritocracy would suggest a victim mentality. If you’ve been overlooked in the last 10 years then perhaps you should figure out why……. I believe we do and always have lived in a hussleocracy. Yes I’m making up words. But it’s fitting.

 

[silicosys4]

As Americans, we are in favor of providing Welfare and Medicaid to our citizens who are truly in need. It's simply the right thing to do.
I think most people are. I don't count millionaires as citizens who are truly in need of tax dollars from people who can't afford rent.

But Medicare and Social Security are NOT Entitlements. We paid in to them, so we EARNED it.

Yes, you earned what you put in and the interest derived. You refuse to acknowledge that many retirees live long enough to far exceed their contributions. Did you earn the right to forcibly extract more than you earned from working people so you can sustain a retirement?

It was (is) our insurance policy. Many have done the calculations and have found that if we invested on our own, we would be further ahead. But we were not given that option.

Why is social security and medicare reform considered "toxic" and "poison", career suicide for a politician to discuss?
previous generations most certainly did have that option.They just never voted for it because it worked for them. It doesnt work any more.
You are going to hear a lot more about reform in the future.

DOGE, as an example, found that we were spending millions to offer sex changes for prisoners in jail. OMG. THe politician that put that in the bill should be flogged. At the very least he should be ousted from the government. No American in their right mind would have agreed to that.

Just one small example.

OTHO we have (supposedly) able bodied people that keep putting illegitimate babies into the system. Is that right?

DOGE is the right way to go. If they are wrong in YOPUR case, prove it.

The system is broken on many levels. We have become a welfare state and that needs to end for everyone that doesn't legitimately need it, seniors included

 

[Jäger1]

I work 40-50 hours a week and take all the OT I can get.
Do you?

Exactly the wrong question to ask this Boomer, son.

Outside of the military where a 40-50 hour week can be the norm, I was regularly working 80+ hours a week as a regular work week, not just when overtime was available. Doing so alongside others doing the same, both before and after retirement. 40-50 hours a week would be disappointing when you picked the work for both the pay rate and the maximum amount of work available.

You aren't nearly as much in touch with the everyday working man, Boomers or not, as you like to believe you are. The people I worked those jobs with would consider somebody working 40-50 hours a week a lightweight.

 

[dsf]

It should remembered that Social Security is a tax. Legally no different than state or federal income tax. Or sales tax. And real estate tax. It's not a promise to get back any amount of money one has "put in". Congress can make any changes to the social security tax it prefers - raise the age, reduce the dollar benefit, increase the employee or employer participation rate, exclude those making over a certain amount (with no return of any tax previously paid) or end it all together for everyone tomorrow.

People pay taxes for the police. To build bridges and roads. To provide electricity. For national defense and public education. Public health services. Public schools. These tax dollars come from people of all income levels, including the rich, paying taxes.

We do not require people who are well off to forfeit police protection. Or prohibit them from using public transportation. We don't deny the umbrella of national defense by zip code. The state doesn't deny a public education to a child based on family income level.

There is no comparative income litmus test or exclusion trigger. When one pays taxes to the general benefit of society they receive the general benefits which flow from living in that society.

 

[Jäger1]

You refuse to acknowledge that many retirees live long enough to far exceed their contributions. Did you earn the right to forcibly extract more than you earned from working people so you can sustain a retirement?

You refuse to acknowledge that people have been living long enough to exceed their contributions for a long, long time - the first recipients of Social Security got a thousand times more in benefits than they paid in. That went on for a long time before the crossover to where we are today. Perhaps you too will live long enough to also wrongfully receive more than you contributed.

But where did you earn the right to claim those receiving Social Security payouts now based on what they paid in over their entire lives are "forcibly extracting" money from you? Are the Boomers showing up at your workplace armed, by force of arms demanding you pull out your wallet and give them a percentage of the pay stub you just received from your employer?

Where did you earn the right to claim you speak either for working people today, or to decide how much people are entitled to in order to "sustain their retirement"? You not only don't know them, you also don't know their circumstances or whatever else is going on in their lives.

Where did you earn the right to demand retired people liquidate their wealth accumulated over their life's work in order to "redistribute the wealth" to other people who did absolutely nothing but share the air with those retirees to have any claim on the wealth they accumulated over their lifetimes?

 

[Jäger1]

this era of a huge wealth disparity is increasing resentment along with all of the publicity about it

Remember back in the good old days when we looked at the rich, before they became today's The Evil Rich Who Don't Pay Their Fair Share Of Taxes, and they were a symbol of what we could achieve if we wanted that and were willing to work hard enough and smart enough to end up the same?

Before we changed and decided that, instead, they were to be resented, vilified, and hated?

Good times, huh?

 

[Jäger1]

I notice you aren't addressing any of my points.

And I notice that's the best response you've got to multiple people posting here.

While doing exactly that yourself numerous times!

 

[Jäger1]

why am I having large amounts of money withdrawn from my paycheck under threat of force to pay income and health care for people, some of whom are in this very thread, who have the financial assets to pay for themselves?

You now have a perfect record of not responding to my points, but instead responding with additions to your list of complaints of what makes you a victim.

While at the same time your alternative response to myself and others is that we didn't respond to your points...

 

[Autonomous]

I work 40-50 hours a week and take all the OT I can get.
Do you?

That's cute. Try working on call 24/7 for a few decades like I did.

 

[chief38]

This is one post I'll refrain from commenting on.