School me on Hilary Clinton (Page 3)

I think  you are being kind of hard on her, from what I can tell she is completely honest, her family just defines words a lot differently than you or I do, or Webster for that matter.

I think  you are being kind of hard on her, from what I can tell she is completely honest, her family just defines words a lot differently than you or I do, or Webster for that matter.

And why is that, could it have anything to do with the difficulty to start a new company that can compete. Do government over regulation have anything to do with it. 

Big companies can absorb the high cost of litigation, regulation and small start ups which could bring competition to the market place don't have the same scale. 

I know we've had this discussion before, but to be blunt;  If somebody has an attitude like this they will absolutely never be financially successful in life.  I mean, why even try, right?

The American dream is absolutely real for anyone who is willing to believe in it and put forth the effort.  My wife and I just met a guy the other day who is a multi-millionaire who was a single proprietor who mowed lawns the last 30 years.  He makes over $200k/year working by himself with zero employees mowing freaking lawns.  The simple fact is, people don't try to be successful because the game is "rigged against them" and the wealthy are keeping them poor yada yada yada.  The reason most people are poor is because they buy into the lie that everyone (including our government) spews down their throat.  "You can't succeed".

I've been working with a guy in church who is a black dude who grew up in a really tough neighborhood that worked his tail off to be successful.  His un-dealt with past caught up to him and he ended up going to jail with a felony assault charge.  Black (check), inner city (check), felony (check) absolutely no chance at success right.  pff, whatever.  He worked his butt off delivering sandwiches and working fast food jobs but continued to apply for 5-10 jobs per day for over 3 months and finally got a job with open ended commissions.  His drive has brought him right back up to a strong six figure salary.  He didn't buy the lie, he just went out and did it.

The other huge problem is our culture is on the spending side of the equation.  The "I deserve this now" attitude has resulted in the vast majority of people sending their entire paycheck to banks and credit cards.  When everyone in America is so far in debt that they're paying 30% of their income to stupid tax (aka interest), car leases, you name it they will never get ahead no matter how much they make.  So, even if "the man" doubles their salary they'll just go in debt twice as far and twice as fast.

People like to blame "the man" or "the system" but it's so much more than that.  The vast majority of the problem for anyone struggling financially is the guy/gal staring at them in the mirror.

ok, i'll get off my soap box.  

Originally posted by mdg2003

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by jmk-brooklyn And to add: When people are employed in jobs where there is job security and the potential for growth, when they feel able to provide for their families, and feel secure in their retirement, there is far less need for social programs. When people feel that they are stuck in an economy that only favors the very rich, and that their efforts only benefit the executives of their company, and that they could be downsized or outsourced at any moment, it's harder to convince people to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and work harder. I saw a funny thing on Facebook the other day: "An employee is walking into his office from the parking lot when his CEO pulls in driving a spectacular Italian sportscar. 'Wow, Mr. Smith," says the employee, "that sure is a beautiful car!" "Thanks, Jimmy," says the CEO." And you know, if you work hard and pay your dues, and acheive all of your department's goals, I can get an even better one next year!"

I know we've had this discussion before, but to be blunt;  If somebody has an attitude like this they will absolutely never be financially successful in life.  I mean, why even try, right?

The American dream is absolutely real for anyone who is willing to believe in it and put forth the effort.  My wife and I just met a guy the other day who is a multi-millionaire who was a single proprietor who mowed lawns the last 30 years.  He makes over $200k/year working by himself with zero employees mowing freaking lawns.  The simple fact is, people don't try to be successful because the game is "rigged against them" and the wealthy are keeping them poor yada yada yada.  The reason most people are poor is because they buy into the lie that everyone (including our government) spews down their throat.  "You can't succeed".

I've been working with a guy in church who is a black dude who grew up in a really tough neighborhood that worked his tail off to be successful.  His un-dealt with past caught up to him and he ended up going to jail with a felony assault charge.  Black (check), inner city (check), felony (check) absolutely no chance at success right.  pff, whatever.  He worked his butt off delivering sandwiches and working fast food jobs but continued to apply for 5-10 jobs per day for over 3 months and finally got a job with open ended commissions.  His drive has brought him right back up to a strong six figure salary.  He didn't buy the lie, he just went out and did it.

The other huge problem is our culture is on the spending side of the equation.  The "I deserve this now" attitude has resulted in the vast majority of people sending their entire paycheck to banks and credit cards.  When everyone in America is so far in debt that they're paying 30% of their income to stupid tax (aka interest), car leases, you name it they will never get ahead no matter how much they make.  So, even if "the man" doubles their salary they'll just go in debt twice as far and twice as fast.

People like to blame "the man" or "the system" but it's so much more than that.  The vast majority of the problem for anyone struggling financially is the guy/gal staring at them in the mirror.

ok, i'll get off my soap box.  

Personal financial responsibility? It's a huge problem in our country. People don't have a clue where to start or how to do it. We are made to believe that we need that new car. If we can't afford the danged thing no problem, lease it! The finance guy at the dealership will be glad to let you know that can "afford" more car with a lease anyway! Credit card? Shop around and get a card at 14% and you'll save XX dollars a year with a 10K balance over a card at an18% interest rate. Don't let those credit card companies take advantage of you now. Get a thirty year mortgage with variable rates or balloon payments to "afford" that bigger house. A co-worker asked me the other day how I managed to do the things and live like I do on the same salary ( he actually makes about 18-20K more by working all the overtime he can get). I initially wanted to tell him that my wife and I made some sound investments when we got married. But the bigger picture IMO was the difference in the make-up of our monthly expenditures. I asked him how much he paid in interest each month on all his cars, cards and other toys. He couldn't tell me because it never occurred to him to find out. He just sees the monthly payment, not the make-up of that payment ( that's a BIG deal BTW and a critical problem with the US today). So he shoots back and asks me the same question. Zero was my answer. He immediately got all flustered and called BS on my statement. We use one credit card and pay it off every month. I got an Edge 1000 for free this year thanks to those reward points they give me even if I don't pay them any interest! But you have a nice car he points out. I pointed out the fact that I drove the previous car for 10 years, during which time frame he probably bought and traded in at least 12-14 vehicles. I told him to do the math on how much more he was spending for full coverage insurance while I am paying for just liability, theft and UM. He then got pizzed and didn't want to talk to me any further. It probably would have killed him had I told him my house was paid for thanks to a 15 yr. fixed. So I know you can still make it in the country and that the system isn't rigged. But there is a lot of truth in the joke that JMK posted. I work in the airline industry. I'm hourly and just fine with the position I hold and the wage I earn. Unfortunately the airline industry was the model for the "layoff/job cut" business plan I mentioned in my previous post. Rather than fix the underlying problems with the business model, when an airline gets in trouble they ask for concessions, have lay offs and then the replace the CEO. Usually the CEO is replaced with a CEO from another airline that sacked him when they got in trouble. I jokingly call it the "inbreeding management" business model. The airline will immediately recover and HUGE bonuses are paid to the board and management people that are VP level and above. The cycle repeats itself and the underlying problem never gets fixed. Same goes for most large businesses today, except they also have the option to outsource or send piecework overseas. Getting rid of your American workforce and sending it overseas is killing this country. Quality and service suffers as a result. Ever try to get a billing issue corrected with an overseas call center? Language is a barrier to say the least. To sum things up, I do believe you can make it in this country today. You will have to work hard, watch your finances, invest until it hurts and not buy every new "shiny" that hits the market. But the way upper level management and board guys are rewarded for NOT fixing the real problem needs to be reigned in. I did say reined in and not stopped because I believe that these people are exceptional and do deserve to be compensated well. The average CEO or top tier management person probably works 70plus hours a week. They went to college and business school which is a lot of time and money invested. These guys are incredibly smart and put in a crapton of hours on the job. So pay them huge bonuses when they hit their numbers with the business model they put in place. When the business makes money on their plan, with the employees they hired and at the wages they agreed to pay, it's bonus time. If they have to lay off people every six months to make the earnings per share work, I don't think they need a bonus. ETA - Oddly enough, the fiscal conservative side of me doesn't believe it is the govts job to step in and regulate these guys! Not sure how to fix it as they certainly show no signs of regulating themselves.

Awesome post and congratulations on being debt free.  My wife and I are working very hard to get there, but we still have a couple years left.  My come to Jesus moment was when our son asked us a couple years ago about how much our house payment was.  I told him and he did the math in his head and said that it was awesome that our house is almost paid for because we've lived there for almost 13 years.  I then ran the numbers and realized that after 13 years and over $250k in payments we have paid off a grand total of $20k on our $350k house.  We still owed $330k after paying almost a quarter of a million dollars in payments.  OMFG!!!   We refinanced our house twice and "pulled money out" to pay off credit cards and cars because that was the "smart thing to do"...  We were so stupid.

No it doesn't give me cause for concern.  it does make me jealous.  But that is on me to change (make more money).

I see 3 types of wealth.

1.  Those who earned it:  Good for them.  They deserve everything the make.

2.  Those who inherit it:   Good for them.  Lucky they may be, but their ancestors earned it and wanted it to go to them.

3.  Those who stole it from others:  They should have it taken from them and returned to the rightful owner.

Pretty simple. If you earn it you get it.  If someone gives it to you, it's yours.  If you steal it, you pay the price.

I always get a kick out of people who think it's wrong to take somebodies money from them with a gun, but it's totally right to take it with a government.  Um, you're taking their money from them against their will in both situations.

I think reversing citizens united, and limiting our campaign season to 2 months, like England, would go a long way to helping our current political circus.

jmk-brooklyn said, "If anything, your example of the Tea Party is representative of the opposite.  Here you had a grass-roots political movement that was dedicated to smaller government and fiscal conservatism above all else-- something that lots of people on both sides of the aisle could identify with, including even, famously, the de facto leaders of an Occupy Wall Street group. Unfortunatley, it wasn't long befor the right-wing conservative establishment overrran the party with their hard-line social conservative platform, with well-funded crackpots like Michelle Bachmann becoming the face of the party .  If there's a separation between the TP and the GOP as a whole anymore, it's invisible to most people." 

I didn't want to continue the quote thing, but this is right on the money.  The problem with almost everything today, from the Tea Party to #BlackLivesMatter, is that the only people being heard are those on both ends of the extreme.  They don't speak for 80% of us, but I'll be damned if that 10% on either extreme aren't running the narrative.  We will all lose if that's all we get. 

Just give me somebody running down the middle, and I'm good.  I'm pretty sick of hearing the nuts on both ends just because it plays well on the 24 hour news.

I completely agree with you jmk (wait, did I just type that)