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Nope. You can say that until you are blue in the face and it won't be true. Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, some marry into it, some get lucky. But its okay the day is coming sooner than later I hope where the working class takes back what's rightfully ours.
Odd I am working class. Grew up as poor you can get in this country. Joined the military about 11 seconds after graduating from High School. No sugar daddies. No in club, no helping hand, ever.
What I could do I did. When I finally got hired by a descent company, I applied myself. Many worked in that factory. 3200 people. Very few retired at 55. I did. Well 55 and 11 days.
Some can't win no matter what spoon they are born with. Most are simply unwilling to really apply themselves, to sacrifice, to take it to another level.
I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked me "Why do you drive an old truck, you make 85 grand a year, why don't you treat yourself?" Uhm because it still ran great. I didn't compete with anyone for biggest TV, most toys or most debt. LOL I heard people say, "the more you make the more you spend." NO not me. The more I made, the more I saved. I had my eye on the ball and kept it there. That is what most wealthy people do.
I know a guy, he has to be worth 50 million dollars. Lives in a normal house, drives a 2002 Honda Accord. That guy will pick up every penny he sees on a side walk. Who is the bad guy in that story? Because I don't see one.
How did he get rich? He started a rust proofing business in the late 70's. He expanded into other services. No silver spoon. His story is the same as many others.
My secret to success is watching what the successful people do and follow their lead. What I also know, is people who stand around waiting for life to be fair, never, ever rise above anything but average. Average is the best they will ever achieve. Most won't make it that far.
EVERYONE should pay an amount of FEDERAL INCOME TAXES. 45% pay ZERO federal income taxes. Maybe if we ALL had skin in the game, we would care more about where the money went. Why should 45% get to spend MY tax money? If you don't pay federal income taxes, you shouldn't vote. Isn't it obvious that all the people who pay no taxes are going to keep voting to tax OTHER PEOPLE MORE with little to no regard as to how that money is spent?
1. congress makes laws that effect everyone whether they pay taxes or don't.
2. if your idea became law and there still was progressive income tax those who were on the bottom would still force the top to pay higher income taxes.
Were you appointed the dictator or the slave master? Who the hell are you to say what I can or cannot do?
I re-read my post, and nowhere did I tell anyone what the can nor cannot do. I typed what I thought we "should" do, and even noted that there is no place for legislating it.
If you were responding to me, you were off base. If you are asking rhetorically, then I agree with your sentiment, and I think my posts shows it. I'm not telling anyone what they can or cannot do.
It would cause everyone to have an interest in limiting government to core functions, and it eliminates takers wanting makers to always pay more to subsidize them.
There goes the Democratic party. No playing identity politics if everyone actually contributes something.
as to this one point, it is disappointing to see Corporate Income Tax dropped without requiring anything from them. Any "hope" or expectation that wages would increase was instead replaced with stock buybacks among the publicly-traded companies.
For about the millionth time... Corporations don't pay taxes. Their customers/clients do. Taxes are included in the pricing formula same as any other overhead costs. And if that doesn't convince you: No sales = no profits = nothing to tax. Sales = profits = taxes paid from sales revenue.
EVERYONE should pay an amount of FEDERAL INCOME TAXES. 45% pay ZERO federal income taxes. Maybe if we ALL had skin in the game, we would care more about where the money went. Why should 45% get to spend MY tax money? If you don't pay federal income taxes, you shouldn't vote. Isn't it obvious that all the people who pay no taxes are going to keep voting to tax OTHER PEOPLE MORE with little to no regard as to how that money is spent?
100% agree. The fact that nearly half the country does not pay federal income tax really hurts. If we are going to have more social programs, those folks will have to start paying their share.
I has been said elsewhere in this thread, but I also agree that wages are lower than they should be. In no way have they kept up with inflation, especially housing costs which consume the largest chunk of most budgets. I am not advocating for a $15 minimum wages, as I also don't believe that every job is worthy of a "living" wage. Some jobs are for high schooler and those early in college, or the retired person who just wants to make an extra buck. As a whole, however, wages are lower than they should be, and companies should take a long view of their relationship with employees. It's how they treat them in other ways, so time to do the same with their wages.
It is still possible to discharge student loans with bankruptcy, but it is extremely hard to do. You have to be able to convince a judge that it would be an undue hardship to pay them back. I am going to be attempting to do that when I file for my bankruptcy. I can't afford an attorney and legal aid here won't usually take bankruptcy cases, so I have to figure out how to file everything myself. I've been reading books about it and working on learning all the procedures, because if I mess up it can be thrown out of court.
Right now I owe over $175k in student loans. I have three college degrees and still can't even get a minimum wage job. They always have an excuse why they won't employ me. I graduated with honors. I made Dean's list many semesters. I made President's list one semester, which required a 4.0 for the semester. I graduated with a high GPA. I'm still not ever good enough for anyone. I stay sick much of the time. I have no social life. No friends. I don't even have personal references to put on an application. My applications go straight to the trash. I think with my boxes of medical records showing all my health problems I should be able to show someone that it would be pretty much impossible for me to ever pay back the loans. It's all up to the judge though whether the judge agrees it would be an undue hardship or not.
Mostly concerned with the other debts which are definitely dischargable. It'd be nice though to be debt free for the first time in my adult life.
Too many are told that they can't be discharged though when it's not true. It's close to impossible, but some succeed. You have to file a separate motion with the bankruptcy courts to have it be considered though. I'm still trying to learn how to do all of that.
I ended up in so much student loan debt out of mandate and necessity. No one would hire me. I ended up on welfare. Welfare reform required me to either have a job or go to college. No one would hire me. Only way to survive and take care of my daughter was to go to college. I was out of state student. The only way to pay for the tuition was with student loans. I was only eligible for a pell grant because I was out of state student and the rest of the grants were for in-state students. The only way to become an in-state student was to stay out of college for a year and work a job. Again, the employers kept refusing to employ me, so I kept having to go back to college. I could not become in-state student with their guidelines. The amounts kept going up and up. The interest keeps adding up now. I originally borrowed about $120k and the rest is interest. Nothing I could ever do about it.
Eventually, I ran out of eligibility for any student financial aid because I had been in college so long. I kept having to withdraw because of illness and appealing to get back into the college some semesters. I struggled to keep up with the classes because I stayed sick so much. One of my professors that was still there years later told me he had been surprised that I finished. I never wanted to take out the loans in the first place. I hadn't even wanted to go back to school at the time. I didn't really have a choice. I was a single mother and had to do all I could to take care of my girl.
There were a lot of single mothers who were encouraged to take out loans and go to college due to the welfare reform requirements. None of them in the program with me at the time, even the ones who did well in college, made it out of poverty, except for one who got lucky and was knocked up by a man while still in the program who married her. She basically married her way out of poverty. One thing that hurt them is the lack of references. The employers who paid more hired people who had middle class type of references. Single mothers don't usually get to intermingle with those types. Those types tend to look their noses down on them or ignore them. Lower class references tend to land lower class jobs.
Holy crap! You claim to have earned good grades and three degrees, implying you're at least somewhat smart. How on earth did you ever think taking on that much student loan debt was a good idea?
Don't most people on the right rail against millionaires when they don't like what they say. But now, it's "do what they do"?
The title of this subject is correct, we ALL need to have skin in the game. To me, that means a lot, here is a small sampling:
-Everyone who earns, pays their fair share
-Everyone who works, gets paid their fare share
--Execs and owners should enjoy their rewards, but not at 100x and more the working class, of whom they depend.
-Workfare: If you are able to work, then we'll find something for you to do.
-Accept, some people will game the system. it happens on both ends of the spectrum. Don't let perfect be the enemy of better.
Right now, we could use universal healthcare. It works better for the rest of the world than our system does for us.
Pay a living wage. I don't think this should have to be legislated, but I don't see many of the uber-wealthy voluteering to do it. They only will when they are forced to, either by law, or by uprising.
To the above point, there are many companies who pay a living wage, and who thrive. I don't think it is a matter of "i worked hard so you can have a free ride". I think it's a matter of "we all worked hard. I took the risk, I made the tough decisions, I get to make more, HOWEVER I recognize that without you, or someone like you, I can't get rich, so I'll pay you enough to be content. If you want more than "content", you'll need to earn it." <--Right now that is not happening, and it is causing problems. The system, as it is today, is not sustainable. It is broken. I don't know the answer, but it is not pure socialism, and it's not pure capitalism. Seems like most of America can't compromise on this fact, or really on anything these days.
Depending on what color your tie is, it's either all Trump's fault or all Obama's fault. (and "what about the emails..."?)
Yours is a sober & analytical approach to complicated & challenging problems i.e. you've presented real world strategies v. simplistic fantasy-based ideological ones.
How's this take on the real world problem of offshoring jobs v. paying a living wage:
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s plans to colonize space are even crazier than we thought
as to this one point, it is disappointing to see Corporate Income Tax dropped without requiring anything from them. Any "hope" or expectation that wages would increase was instead replaced with stock buybacks among the publicly-traded companies.
I got a nice salary aamd bonus increase when the tax cut occurred. So did my wife. Actually, the last 3 years have been the best for us financially ever. Of course we work hard for what we have.
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Corporations don't pay taxes. Their customers/clients do. Taxes are included in the pricing formula same as any other overhead costs. And if that doesn't convince you: No sales = no profits = nothing to tax. Sales = profits = taxes paid from sales revenue.
You claim to have earned good grades and three degrees, implying you're at least somewhat smart. How on earth did you ever think taking on that much student loan debt was a good idea? 
