You Didn't Build That

dheiman,You're right about that particular line. But that line is not in synch with most of the rest of what he said. I think what he was trying to convey was "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that all by yourself. Somebody else helped that happen. " The "you didn't build that" part is referencing the words immediately prior to your excerpt. "Somebody invested in roads and bridges...you didn't build that"

I realize that's not what he said but that is the overall tone of the speech. And he is correct. A business owner benefits a great deal from infrastructure that is built with all of our dollars. Most business owners benefit a great deal more than the average joe public worker because they leverage more of the infrastructure.

Individuals certainly deserve credit(and profit) for effort, initiative and risk taking, but to pretend that they achieved all that they have without government services, infrastructure etc is every bit as ridiculous.
 
What he said was very offensive. He's had about 100 hours to make a clarification and he's chosen not to do so. So, I have to assume he meant what he said notwithstanding Stampede's interpretational gymnastics.
 
PH,

"The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together." -Obama

To me, that says exactly the opposite of what your paraphrase suggest. "President Obama states that you don't succeed because you're smart or work hard"-PH

It is not an either/or. It is both. support/infrastructure provided by the American system and personal initiative.

"His whole argument falls on the idea that the people who succeed did it unfairly - because they were born rich, or happened to have rich friends, or were in the right place at the right time."

I disagree. I think he is saying that Americans invested in America. Each business owner represents a small bet that all Americans made on individuals via infrastructure. If you're lucky/smart/focused enough to be one of those bets that paid off and now you've succeeded. Good for you. Take your profit, but also remember that investment we made in you (your public education, the road we built to your business, the legal system that we maintain, the trade agreements we enforce for you, the military that we supply so that we have security and oil), we expect that you will cut is in for a portion of the profits(via taxes).

The question is...what is the optimum portion of the profits?

"do you agree with him that people who are successful,... are doing this out of a sense of greed and malice toward other people?" I think most are just trying to improve their own lot but I also think there are a fair number that are out to get theirs, the rest of you be damned.

so if 'greed' means that I'm pursuing my self-interest even if it does damage to others, yes I think their are a lot of greedy folks making decisions. Is it actual malice, in that they set out to harm others,probably not.
 
"Socialism is an economic system characterised by social ownership, control of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy,[1] and a political philosophy advocating such a system." - Wikipedia

He's a socialist! You didn't build it. We built it. That statement makes perfect sense for him. He's giving you a scary preview of the President that you're going see if you give him a second term.
 
I'm still scared of what the last one did. I'm still struggling from what the last one did. People are still scared of what the last one did. People are still struggling from what the last one did.

It is much easier to complain rather than give credit where credit is due. Jesus Christ when he won the Nobel, instead of patriotically congratulating him, because you know Americans LOVE to do that, you had people screaming to high heaven.

Listen, if you feel only a certain way then BO is never going to do anything right or wrong by you. Until you learn how to look at things from a different point of view, then that's what your reaction to OB will always be.
 
Obama was talking about himself. He knows he got rich from Dreams of my Father, and he knows Bill Ayers wrote it for him.
 
Hey,big - great job of deflection. But you are supposed to actually say "It's all Bush's fault."

Dalhorn - you beat me to it. I was wondering when he was going to give back the Nobel prize, too. Although the committee pretty much made it worthless by giving it to him for doing......nothing.

Prod - excellent post!
 
@Bat, More than one is to blame for this mess. It wasn't all Bush's fault, if anything, it is Cheney where most of the blame should be placed on. Bush was just a puppet for Cheney to use as his scapegoat.

TARP, orchestrated by Henry Paulson puppeted Bush ("save me rich friends Georgie"), has CRIPPLED...get this... most SMALL BUSINESSES who are in the same industry as I and others out there. It was rushed and signed into law a whole month before BO took office, that is what started this whole clusterfuck, oh, and add that meaningless war we are in too, meaningless if your name is not Dick Cheney or if you own Halliburton. Why are we so concern with trying to rebuild the infrastructure everywhere else except here?

Let me put it this way. You go and buy a used car, works fine for a month, then the thing goes to ****, is that your fault for what you did or failed to do? Or is that the previous owner's fault for what he did or failed to do? BO was handed a lemon by Bush and Cheney, he's just trying his best to make lemonade out of it, but we don't want lemonade, we want our Coke, Dr. Pepper, we want to drill here and drill now with complete disregard to what impact we have on the environment in the name of making more more more money. The smartest thing Bush did right after 9/11 was told Americans, the best way for us to fight terrorism is to go out and buy buy buy, but these purchases wasn't all done with people's own capital, the majority was done so with debt, consumer debt. Then when the **** hits the ceiling, Bush was puppeted by his friends to bail their *** out so that they could still collect their bonuses.

The ******* hypocrisy in this country is laughable. Ironically Shiner, you mentioned it above, there's a reason why most of the entrepreneurs in this country are immigrants, like myself, because we don't feel entitled like most Americans do, whether you support the Democratic party or Republican.
 
I love your quote by TJ btw Bat. That is exactly what is wrong with this country, hypocrisy, where is this "trickle down" effect that we were supposed to see when all these deals were given to the corporations? I've not seen a penny of it, if you have let me know what it is that you're doing because I wanna collect my "fair" share.
 
@ Uninformed

The administration before the current tried that and damn near put us in a depression. I was waiting because I feel entitle like most Americans for the "Trickle Down" effect to affect me... still waiting....
 
Please explain what policies the Dem controlled Congress and Republican president implemented from 2007-09 that makes you think they provided an environment that helped companies grow.
 
Now I understand that Bush is to blame because Obama is telling small business owners that they did not build their business.

Annaconda, that is effing amazing. Thank you so much!
 
You are truly uninformed if you gotta ask Uninformed. No need for me to show you, here's one started by another here. ENJOY!!!!!

I love how you twist and turn words Shiner, thanks for the laughs
yippee.gif
. Are you a business owner? Are you successful because you did it ALL on your own? Or was daddy there to help you? Or was it mommy? Or was it the inheritance? Tell me, did you come out of the womb with everything you needed in your hands to be successful? The next time I see you stranded on the road, I shouldn't stop to offer aid because that would be Socialist of me to do so, because you got it all handled ALL on your own, let those AAA guys sit and relax and add up the money you're giving them okie dokie?
 
No, try again. Please explain what policies the Dem controlled congress and Repub president implemented from 2007-09 that led you to conclude they provided an environment for all small and large businesses to grow.
 
Look up TARP uninformed.
wink.gif
I can only show you how to fish, can't catch the fish for you. But that's not the American way....

We're not here to talk about what policies implemented by the Dems, enacted by a Baboon to make small businesses here grow, because the Baboon wasn't about that...
 
No the fiancee should still be there, as she works from home...small business owners we are...

The next time you see a 2006 BMW 325 with a bike rack, texas longhorn plate cover, a texas flag decal to the left of the plate, a longhorn decal to the right in need of help, stop and help me, or don't if you fear that such act of kindness would turn you into a Socialist!

You still have not answered my question btw Shiner. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it was all of the above mentioned items.

edited because I forgot to tell you it is a Sedan and Silver Shiner. Thanks for the help in advance yeah?
 
Again, please explain what policies the Dem controlled congress and Repub president implemented from 2007-09 that led you to conclude they provided an environment for all small and large businesses to grow.

TARP was implemented to address the subprime mortgage crisis. It was a reactive policy to a crisis. It was not a policy that proactively provided a positive business environment. It was a policy to prevent a disaster.

But, I take this to mean that you consider TARP a disaster in and of itself. You stated that it, not the subprime crisis, crippled small business. What policy in your mind would have been appropriate and what do you think it would have meant for the economy? And who was at fault for TARP, the Dem congress or the Pub president? Could Obama have done anything about the TARP "problem" when he was elected? What did he do and what should he have done?
 
Same selective, out of context, attack similar to when he made a comment about 'the economy doing fine" or something similar to that. It is clear that he is simple saying that you never doing anything 100% on your own and you needed help somewhere on your way. And very often that helps comes in the form of gov't assistance in some way or the other. He uses the internet as an example of this.

The right is either going to attack Obama for using a teleprompter or when he doesn't they are going to single out a phrase and take it out of context. pathetic.

If you really buy this then you either do not have reading comprehension or you are completely 100% biased against this guy. Looking at the posters who are backslapping each other, as always, on this thread I would say it is the latter.

Nothing to see here, move on.
 
Great post pharm.

As stated before, I'm neither a Dem or Rep. I'm a Capitalist, one that sees two sides to every story, one with a heart though, something most people in this world lacks. When I give to charities, I give because I care, not because I want a tax write off.

Shiner is just likely one of those that is always going "if I do this for you, what do I get in return" type guys
 
Pharm, anyone can misspeak. It happens to the best of them. When they do, it is best to apologize and do so quickly.

As to Anaconda's tangent into Tarp, I think this sums things up quite well.

Barney Frank
 
Ah yes...Shiner, good old Barney, that out of touch old fart. All the private sectors fault yea? Tell me Barney, when I originate a loan for someone, why does there need to be a disclosure for if the loan is considered a high risk based loan based on the APR? OH, I'll tell ya, because most of the private sector guys that I know, who I ALL knew voted for the Baboon, knew they could get away with it before the disclosure was put in place.

Henry Paulson STEP RIGHT UP!!!!!! Thanks for those last minute revisions to cripple us!
 
You are writing cryptically, big. It is almost as if you are yelling as you type. Take a deep breath, calm down and answer the questions I asked. You keep calling me names and at this point I am just trying to figure out where you are coming from.

Again, please explain what policies the Dem controlled congress and Repub president implemented from 2007-09 that led you to conclude they provided an environment for all small and large businesses to grow.

TARP was implemented to address the subprime mortgage crisis. It was a reactive policy to a crisis. It was not a policy that proactively provided a positive business environment. It was a policy to prevent a disaster.

But, I take this to mean that you consider TARP a disaster in and of itself. You stated that it, not the subprime crisis, crippled small business. What policy to address the subprime crisis in your mind would have been appropriate and what do you think it would have meant for the economy? And who was at fault for TARP, the Dem congress or the Pub president? Could Obama have done anything about the TARP "problem" when he was elected? What did he do and what should he have done?
 
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