STIMULUS PLANS AND THE RISING UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

Was discussing the “Stimulus plans failures and the rising unemployment rate" with a liberal group yesterday.  One of them made an interesting analogy from his liberal point of view:

“It's not that it "was Bush's fault, and then the Congresses fault"....to fix the kind of mess Obama inherited from his predecessor, he needs to spend money and years....it isn't something that you can fix in a year or two, and even worse, without spending anything....it's like you hire a guy to put tile on your floor, you give him a 50% deposit check, he rips out your old tile and then decides to leave without installing the new tiles he didn't even buy....the guy you're going to hire after him is going to need new tile and thin set to fix your floor, and it's going to take some time....I hope I expressed the principle clearly enough, with my example/analogy.... :-)

And here is my response:

Let's go with your spot on analogy. If you are dumb enough to hire a sketchy contractor with very few references (ie...the type who would take your money and not do the job), give him a 50% deposit, let him go to work and not oversee what he is doing, you deserve the less than positive result because you are a dumbass!

But, let's apply your analogy to America today, the American people hired that sketchy contractor with no references, then we gave him a Trillion Dollars because unemployment would rise above 8% and we would all suffer tremendously if not for his "Stimulus plan".  We did and gave him full spending authority.  The Senate went and compounded the problem by giving the President unrestrained spending ability.  First, holding off passing the 2009 budget until well after Obama entered office so the budget could be tailored to him.  They then became completely derelict in their duty by not passing another budget for more than 1100 days.  Instead they passed continuing spending resolutions favoring the administrations enormous spending habits. Deficits soared!  Yet, here we are, more than 3 years later, much deeper in debt, the unemployment rate remains above the point he stated it would never reach and it is ticking higher, not lower.

So, yes my myopic friend, your analogy is very appropriate. We, the American people, do need to fire this inept contractor and replace him with one who has both the experience and references. Would prefer it were not Romney, but he does have the experience and references and is far and away a better choice than the inept contractor currently holding the office.

Based on your own analogy, voting for Obama again would just prove how much of a dumbass you really are, IMO.

A DIFFERENT SET OF RULES

Got into a discussion yesterday with some who claimed that the "privileged class live by a different set of rules than the ones we are forced to adhere to." When I asked what the different rules were being forced on us, I was told I was one of the privileged and out of touch.

I think you all might find my reply interesting:

My issue is with this notion, which the President is exploiting that if you work hard and become very successful thorough your sacrifice and efforts you should be denigrated rather than celebrated for your achievement. That just isn't the American way.  We should all be celebrating success. Pushing and prodding each other to be the best we can be and to gain as much success as we are able to achieve. This idea that we don't build the companies we sacrifice and work

 15 hour days to grow is just a load of crap as far as I'm concerned. I build companies from scratch. I put my personal capital at risk. I sign on the dotted line for the loans and place my personal assets up as collateral. I am the one who meets with the investment groups and gives up pieces of my success in order that the business can grow and hire more people. When the vendors don't pay on time, I write the checks to my staff from my personal accounts. I work alongside the staff doing the same job, but I don't leave at the end of the day.  I am the one who doesn't get paid when the money doesn't come in on time.  I always have to pay my taxes up front whether I make a profit or not and I am the one who has to negotiate the labyrinth of regulatory minions and pay the cost of conforming to regulations even the bureaucrats don't understand just so I can keep the doors open.  It is my responsibility to pay the cost of insuring the business against even the slightest regulatory infraction just so we can continue to operate. Yet, I'm always the last in line to receive any compensation.

So when I hear this foolish rhetoric that I don't pay my fair share, that I didn't build my company, that it wasn't through my efforts that the staff was hired and are gainfully employed I say BULLSHIT to you Mr. President and to anyone else who thinks I am wrong. It was my idea, it is through my creativity that the company began, I did build it, I do operate it and I do deserve all the success and profit which comes as a result of my doing so. 

And the different rules? Let's think of the different set of rules that the successful people live by: up at 5:30 a.m., put in a 15 hour day without complaint, on call all the time because the product never sleeps, wealth is opportunity so don't consume it, don't spend it on the frivolous, the business requires reinvestment. They delay gratification, saving and scrimping so they can hire one more worker because that's how the business will grow, that's how a new branch can get opened in a new city. NO TV, NO online games, never a drink during a weekday, seldom on a weekend (on call) - set aside eating at a sit-down restaurant today, regardless of working 20 hours straight after a 3 a.m., discussion about a distribution problem: one of the new hires has a little son who got injured during a little league game - discuss this because it takes priority and that's how you can make the new hire take a second look at you and feel like they can trust the vision of this company.  Yeah, some rich people live by a different set of rules and they never pay "their fair share".

And guess what, if there weren't a lot of people like me all across the country willing to do the same thing, America wouldn't exist. We are what America is all about,  we are proud of our accomplishments and we won't apologize for our success regardless of what you laggards may think.

Any comments?