Forsyth county ranked second most conservative county in US (Gainesville: middle-class, leases)

[noah]

Good discussion. I disagree though. Many of us make much more money and achieve more then our parents did. In fact I believe many growing up in poor families are driven much more because they want a better life. The examples given are all high profile names but there are many living among us that went from nothing to millionaires. You wouldn't know it by what they wear, drive or the house they live in though.

Some may not believe it but there are many multi-millionaires who earned their wealth never earning more then $80,000/yr. It is very possible to do. The mentality of wanting everything now and the need to have everything as nice as your parents when your in your 20's even though it took your parents 30 years to get to that point gets in the way of building wealth and security for many people. As the saying goes the rich get richer because they keep doing rich people things and the poor get poorer because they keep doing poor people things (payday loans, lottery tickets etc).

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

Yes, but he had a company. That's just my point, bankrupt or not, he had a foundation to build from. I agree with you about Dolly Parton, but again with Jobs, Wozniak and I'm pretty sure Mary Kay Ash had access to money from a divorce or an inheritance. (Just as I suspected, Mary Kay and HER HUSBAND started their company, not self-made, she accessed her husband's wealth.) Other than Parton all these people were firmly middle class to begin with. Show me one, who was not in the entertainment industry like Reagan and Parton, who came literally from rags to riches. Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were both born more than a hundred years ago. Ronald Reagan nearly that long ago. Mary Kay Ash is no spring chicken, either. A hundred years ago it was common, today, not so much. Just as the article in Business Week says, it's darned near impossible today and it has nothing to do with how hard one works or how hard one saves. If you're born behind the eight ball there's a very strong likelihood barring a miracle that you're going to remain there.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

A hundred years ago Just as the article in Business Week says, it's darned near impossible today and it has nothing to do with how hard one works or how hard one saves. If you're born behind the eight ball there's a very strong likelihood barring a miracle that you're going to remain there.

Right you are on this score, Roslyn. The crushing tax structure and suffocating regulatory environment make American entrepreneurship next to impossible in the modern age.
Another example from before:

Bernie Marcus

Bernie Marcus was quoted recently that if he had to attempt a startup such as Home Depot in 2009 instead of 1979, it would be impossible given the current regulatory environment.

[US-Traveller]

I don't agree either. I would imagine the most conservative counties are those that are most Republican, and those are like Utah County, Utah, and other counties in states like Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, etc. I doubt that Forsyth County is even a longtime Republican stronghold like counties like Orange County, CA; DuPage County, IL; Waukesha County, WI; or Hamilton County, IL.

[Tdiddy0027]

and let's also not forget about the "invisible knapsack"- the idea that many people in this country are automatically born with a set of advantages that others don't have. People who are born white, male, christian and heterosexual have statistically better chances of succeeding in the business world than many minorities, women and gay people. I realize that we have made progress in this field but this is still a reality in America, and it's naive to say that everyone here starts off on equal footing and succeeds based solely on hard work. That's the area of the conservative/libertarian philosophy that I just can't agree with.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Odd. Our government's been run by Republicans for 22 of those 30 years. I thought they were against regulation. Most peculiar.

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Right you are on this score, Roslyn. The crushing tax structure and suffocating regulatory environment make American entrepreneurship next to impossible in the modern age.
Another example from before:

Bernie Marcus

Bernie Marcus was quoted recently that if he had to attempt a startup such as Home Depot in 2009 instead of 1979, it would be impossible given the current regulatory environment.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

Odd. Our government's been run by Republicans for 22 of those 30 years. I thought they were against regulation. Most peculiar.

Only in theory. Republicans have only a marginally better track record in that arena than do Democrats. Neither party has the will to return the country to its constitutional foundations.

[jlcalle]

I wouldn't trust a word from either home depot founders. Bernie and Blank have appearently gotten so rich, they don't know what the real world is like. Those two had been in the buisness as Senior people I recall, so it's not like they went into a basement to try something no one else ever has. Look at how they live- they are surely old money. And that seem to be what the South attracts. But the the South is always behind other areas of the US, is disrespected and almost always on the wrong side of history.

It probably is true like the Traveller said, Forsythe County GA has not always been 'conservative', and of course not Republican (that whole civil war thing). Conservative is just that's whats fashionable for the un-educated political class currently.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Only in theory. Republicans have only a marginally better track record in that arena than do Democrats. Neither party has the will to return the country to its constitutional foundations.

Well given that our Constitution considered me 3/4ths of a person I'm not particularly enthusiastic about that notion, but hey, that's just me. The "good old days" were definitely better for some than others, then again, what's new.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

Well given that our Constitution considered me 3/4ths of a person I'm not particularly enthusiastic about that notion, but hey, that's just me. The "good old days" were definitely better for some than others, then again, what's new.

Well, I can't argue that point, Roslyn, but its' basic principles stand the test of time IMO.
With regard to that point, you're giving it too much credit. It was actually 3/5ths.

[tigers84]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

Even so-called "self-made men" like Bill Gates and Ted Turner were able to access their parent's wealth in order to build their empires. Turner inherited his father's company. Gates borrowed money from his parents to start Microsoft. Frankly, other than Oprah, I can't think of any present day wealthy person that didn't start out with a leg-up from their parents.

Are you so familiar with every single wealthy person in the US, and their background, that you can confidently make this assertion? Really. Where do you get your oh so comprehensive data? Have you done research to back it up, or just your "sense"?

Do you consider Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Denzel Washington or Shaquille O'Neal "wealthy"?

How about Warren Buffet? Or Sergey Brin* and Larry Page? David Geffen, Lisa Renshaw, and so on and on...

One can be quite wealthy without having billions, dont you think? It is the rare, rare person who will ever be a billionaire. And of course, no matter what COLOR you are, its hard to become a billionaire, right?

My lord, how about the millions of other americans who have built up wealth through starting small businesses? They might not ever make the pages of Fortune's richest but many are very well off.


*Try reading the about his life in Russia before coming to the US.