A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of the redistribution of wealth.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.
Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, “How is your friend Audrey doing?” She replied, “Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.”
Her wise father asked his daughter, “Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.”
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, “That wouldn’t be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!”
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the Republican party.”
Hey Stucky,
I have a suggestion for question of the day.
Who here on TBP works for an entity that is part of globalization or what the book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” talks about? Why do you continue to work for this organization?
If this is considered hijacking a thread, sorry.
When I was younger (pre-25) I too felt I was a “democrat”. It was easy to be idealistic, and think the world’s “evil” was just because there were all these rich people out there who wanted to keep others down with all their dirty money. That the world would be a better place if everyone had all the same “stuff”.
Then I got a real job, and started making decent money. And then the taxes went up, and up. I saw wasteful spending on long wars that solved nothing and just killed people.
I saw people getting free rides for decades on welfare, and disability. Then came “free” obamaphones. then sNAP. Then “free” medical care.
I saw zero incentive for change for anyone getting all this stuff. Just yell enough about how repressed you are, and how unfair it is that you don’t have all the same “stuff” and somewhere a politician will see to it your “entitlement” gets to you.
In the 70’s my mother had a friend who woke up one morning to a husband who just disappeared. No note, nothing. Left her with four young children. Did she go on welfare? Yup. She had no choice. Did she stay on welfare? Nope. She hated it. Her kids hated it. So as soon as she could, she got a decent job with the post office. She got off welfare. Got off food stamps.
Now, mind you, welfare back then was not the welfare we know today. No free cell phones, no flat screen TVs, no gaming systems. Food stamps basically fed you and that was it. It wasn’t glamorous food, it was Cherrios, milk, eggs, bread, cheese, and cheap meat.
Her rent was paid, but she was living in a so-so “triple decker” in a pretty crappy town. Her house was always clean, but it was not a luxury unit.
She sometimes had a car, sometimes didn’t. The church she attended helped out, with various members pitching in to do repairs when they could to keep the car running.
Her kids clothes were neat and clean, but second hand. They always had shoes.
She didn’t go out and have more kids to keep the party train coming. She made her kids go to school.
In my real estate job, I see many people who receive benefits. They have multiple TVs. Cars. Brand-new clothes and phones. One or more members of the family are usually obese. They work side jobs under the table or sell drugs. They have people living with them bringing in money they do not claim. They sell their meds on the side.
One thing they always know is their “rights”. The difficulty of evicting them is astounding. The utter lack of oversight in what goes on in their lives and apartments while they live on tax payer funds is astounding.
Giving people “free” college will not change a damn thing if said people don’t give a crap about college and/or want to actually use an education to better themselves. There is zero incentive to do so. Why work for a living when you can just pump out a kid, or fake a back injury, and presto! Not go to work ever again.
The poorest people here live pretty darn good lives. They lack for pretty much nothing. Yes, there are homeless families out there. There are homeless people everywhere. There will always be poverty, and hunger, and homelessness. Throwing more free stuff at the very people who don’t want it or care about it will not solve any of these problems. What will? I truly do not have the answer to this question, nor do I think anyone does.
But one thing will go a long way to helping: OPPORTUNITY. Opportunity to NOT have the life sucked out of your small business via taxes and regulation. The same small business you create can be the window for someone to start at the business, at the bottom, and work hard, and learn the ropes, and better themselves, and EARN more, and get promoted. And then maybe go out and start their own business.
HANDING someone $15 an hour just because they think they deserve it for making the choice to work at a low-skill job and then having 3 or 4 kids doesn’t improve their life. It won’t improve their kids lives either.
Hypocritical government that on the one had wants everyone to make a “living wage” yet gives incentives to hire foreign STEM workers while the current job-holders train them is a travesty.
Who will go to college for a STEM education, only to compete with lower-paid foreign workers who pay no taxes here?
Instead we have wasteful college degrees in BS like Art History, or Liberal Arts. We have state universities increasing credits required for degrees on a whim, no explanation needed, just keep emptying your wallets and racking up that student loan debt so some idiot can teach you a nonsense course in feeling good or bad about who you are or who you should be.
College is yes, a time to learn and grow as a person, but it’s also a time to learn and prepare to be a productive adult in society, not a whiny baby bully who complains and cries about everything and feels so afraid of everyone you can’t even enter the workforce for fear of micro-agression and no suitable bathroom for you.
Grow up.
@Shop Local:
Because the other organization hat would win instead promises you free college and free healthcare and then blames you for your evil greed when their promises prove impossible to deliver upon.
REAL estate , did you feel better? I know I do.
All you haters #FeelTheBern
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoAmll3ViQA
@ bb: Yes. I do. Of course, this forum sometimes has too many people that may agree with this particular point of view, but hey, if the Dems can do it, so can WE!
Nice rant, realestatepup.
Hey Ho traditional marriage got to go…crazy Christians , what were they thinking.
Chick-fil-A flap rocks another American university
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/02/23/chick-fil-flap-rocks-another-american-university.html
The conflict stems from the Great Chicken Conflict of 2012. I was reporting from the frontline trenches of that battle. Chick-fil-A’s president had the nerve to speak out in support of traditional marriage. That prompted all sorts of protests and outrage from militant LGBT activists and chicken-bigots.
Pro-poultry student Aaron Ohri fired off a letter calling the student government’s decision a “complete and total slap in the face to many of us on this campus who believe that Chick-fil-A is not wrong in what they believe.”
“I understand that a Christian lifestyle in this day and society is completely ‘disrespectful’ but please do not ever again send me an email speaking for the ‘whole student body’ when you do not have a clue what most of us actually think,” he wrote in a letter to the university.
Shop Local
Not a bad idea. But I’m not going to ask people where they work. That’s private info, and none of my business.
Dear Chelsea,
Please show your tits in your next video …. cuz you basically went from “cute” to “un-fuckable” in under a minute. I’m thinking a little tittie-cam can cure that.
Stucky
1-800-UBlowMe
Stucky,
It sure would be interesting to know though.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
Upton Sinclair
Admin,
that’s one of my favorite quotes of all time. It explains very succinctly how it is possible for crazy ass shit to go full Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit.
Who is this chelsea bitch? I want to sign up for facemooch to go call her an animal.
@Flash,
Thank you so much for posting that video. I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. I hear and see people exactly like her all day long out here in the left coast.
BTW, I recently had to make the decision as to whether to set up a manufacturing shop or sub-contract a portion of the assembly that goes into making my products because I can no longer continue to boutique-manufacture. It takes up too much time and quality control becomes an issue. Also, having my own kick-ass machinery would allow me to do component work for other companies.
This was the dillema so we discussed the cons first.
1. Setting up shop would bring in a host of parasitic government thugs all looking to make sure that the air was pure and no one was running around with scissors.
2. Hiring people brought in an additional 100k pages of government regulation and a dozen or more new taxes we’d have to pay.
3. Much of the public here in California seems confused as to which hole to pee in to and keeping track of everyone’s identity issues might require additional staff.
4. Offering manufacturing services to the public means that we could not deny anyone anything. Someone wanting Willy Wanka Butt Plugs as party favors for their gay wedding could sue me ’til forever if I refused.
With that in mind, we currently have bids with three regional facilities that would do this for us. At least we’re keeping it here in the States.
@flash
Her empathy is biologically built to be directed toward her own children during that window of her life. Without those as her first priority… that emotional energy gets directed elsewhere. What a mess.