Spokane7
68°
February 10, 2012 in Opinion, Letters
Dream of job creation
The current political fervor over class warfare, vulture capitalism, paying your fair share, 99 percent vs. the 1 percent, capital gains vs. earned income, and Occupy everywhere, all under the mantra of social justice, is as dangerous to our American way of life as the Cold War ever was. Lenin and Mao used this same rhetoric very effectively and succeeded in their desired result, which was to make everybody equally poor!
I would like to challenge every American to take a moment this week and look at your paycheck. Unless you work for the federal, state or local government, the name in the upper left corner represents an individual, a company, a partnership, or a corporation representing a group of shareholders that invested money and took a risk to try and make a profit. And, by doing so, they created the job that you have and are being paid to perform.
If, in the name of social justice, you want to bring them down, then you must consider yourself a socialist. Rather, the real American dream should be to work smart and get your name in the upper left corner. The choice is yours.
Randall W. Babin
Wallace
Trudy Rubin: Egyptians say no to Islamists 
Dazzeetrader11 on February 10 at 1:15 a.m.
Good and sobering letter . New data just out shows that the per cent of the US populastion paying no income tax has risen to 49.6 %, Yep…Obama’s dream is surely working out.
Jeffrey_Grey on February 10 at 4:46 a.m.
If we all get our name in the upper right corner of those paychecks, who will be down on the factory floor making the widgets?
The American dream is founded on the truth that anyone can work hard and become a millionaire. But Mr. Babin, you have clearly bought into the lie that everyone can become one. And that’s simply not possible. There will always have to be someone down there on the factory floor making widgets for minimum wage. And a lot more of them than there are people signing paychecks.
The socialism you so dread arose as a natural response to the wealthy elites’ buying so completely into lie that poverty is a choice that, “Let them eat cake” (‘Let them become wealthy’) was perceived to be a valid response.
To dazed,
Nice squawking point. Mostly irrelevant to the point at hand, but since when has relevance and your posts ever shared much in common? Just for you, then, and somewhat more on point:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/11/poverty-america-likely-worse-report
According to those figures it’s not surprising that half of Americans pay little or no income tax. Half of them are too poor.
Mr. Babin moans that evil forces are trying to “bring down” the noble entrepeneurs upon whom we all depend. Seems to me it’s a question of just who is trying to bring down whom. Seems to me those poverty numbers give the real answer.
Orphan on February 10 at 6:20 a.m.
Jeffery You forgot that the poverty level was raised about that time.
Not all want their name in the upper right hand corner. Not all have the drive and ability.
I have tried to help many folks get there and out of 50 or so only one has made it. Most do not and or will not make it because they will not make the sacrifices to get there.
There will always be dishwashers, CEOs and everybody in between its human nature. Some people will work harder and longer, some are smarter, some people just get lucky, some simply dont care once their basic needs are met.
The more we pull up the bottom the more we push up the top. The more free rides we give the more is expected even demanded. We are approaching the demanding stage now, we may already be there.
I think what Mr. Babin is trying to say is if you take away the achievers reward they will stop achieving. I think he is correct look at the Soviet Union and the other communist country’s they have an upper elite that can not be penetrated by a common man. In America it is still possible, I did it and I know a lot of others that have as well.
Jeffrey_Grey on February 10 at 6:49 a.m.
Orphan,
I don’t dispute the truth of the American Dream. I said as much. It’s indisputably true that with the right mix of luck, determination and hard work, anybody can climb as high as they can reach.
The lie… the pernicious rationalization… is that everyone can. You concede that’s simply not possible. So perhaps you can go from individual to individual and say, ‘You’re poor by choice’ and achieve some accuracy. But you can’t do that on a societial level, and that’s what the class warriors on the wealthy side are trying to do.
You say your own experience showed that only 1 in 50 actually made it. But what does that say about the other 49? Are 49 out of 50 Americans really too lazy and shiftless and unmotivated to make anything of their lives? If that’s the case, why are we even trying? Close the doors, shutter the windows, last one out be sure to turn off the lights because as a nation we’re done. There’s no coming back from that.
But if - like me - you don’t accept that 49 out of 50 of our fellow citizens are that worthless, then you have to find some other reason for their failure to achieve the dream that you and I both agree is possible.
So what’s the other alternative if it’s not a case of, ‘you’re only poor because you choose to be poor’?
SMARTGUY on February 10 at 1:46 p.m.
Do you really think raising the highest tax rate back to what it was a decade ago, is all it would take to keep greedy people from wanting even more then they have now? Grow up.
Orphan on February 10 at 4:04 p.m.
Jeffery
I never said the 49 out of 50 were worthless or lazy, I said they did not want to make the sacrifices it takes to get there, big difference. Normally you don’t twist my words so I will assume we misunderstood each other.
Some would rather put in a 40 hour week pay their bills, feed their family and partake of leisure activities. Nothing wrong with that at all but it is a choice. You can’t have it both ways in most cases.
Most everyone I know that made it including myself put in a lot of hours and risked everything over and over again. Just because someone is unwilling to do so does not make them lazy or stupid or a bad person. What I am saying is if you don’t put in the effort don’t expect the reward. Don’t say to your self look at Orphan he gets to travel all the time, drives a nice car and is wealthy lets tax him some more because he has some money.
You don’t have to be all that smart to get rich in this country you do need to want it more than you want other things. That is the option most will not take.
Arch_Druid on February 10 at 5:53 p.m.
@Orphan, maybe you need to take a good look at the good old boy network. Some people never have to sacrifice anything where it is possible to catch the attention of the right person who then gives a hand up, all the way to the top.
That doesn’t make everyone else on the factory floor, worthless.
To address Mr. Babin’s letter, I had a rather interesting session with a social worker in training. We were both at the VA hospital in Spokane, facing behavioral health appointments. She wanted some ideas on dealing with environmental toxins as a real health hazard in the Spokane area.
I have heard plenty of “socialism” labels when it comes to regulation of various business interests. However, I’d like to hear what Mr. Babin has to say when he develops a food-borne illness based on what a polluting industry out in the Polouse area (Washington, Idaho) ended up dumping on vital crops.
If it doesn’t affect you personally, you can stand on the sidelines and throw out what ever political spew you wish. On the other hand, if it hurts you where you live, what are the prospects of turning to gvt to help? Very high indeed.
Jeffrey_Grey on February 11 at 12:48 a.m.
Orphan,
I didn’t twist your words or misunderstand them.
I interpreted them within the context of what’s going on in the world today.
There have been times in this nation when things were as you say - when people could be content to, “… put in a 40 hour week pay their bills, feed their family and partake of leisure activities.” They were content because it was a good life. They were part of a thriving middle class. They recognized that the risk-takers and the business-makers deserved what they had because they’d taken the risk to build the business.
And the business-makers, in turn, recognized that without the workers, there was no business. As a result, they gave back. They actually took the risks and created the jobs. That was the contract. I keep repeating the quotation from Henry Ford; “There is but one rule for the entrepreneur and that is; make the best product possible, charging the lowest price possible and paying the best wage possible.” I know some folks have tried to pooh-pooh that or rationalize it away because it clashes so with their agenda and their dogma. But Ford knew what he was talking about. It wasn’t altruism. It wasn’t the precursor to expectation of a free lunch. It was just good business. A well-off middle class could buy more of his cars.
And they wouldn’t be jealous of his success or demand a change because they were content with what they had, and with good reason.
But look at this nation today.
Nearly half of all the wealth in this nation is concentrated in one percent of the population. That, right there, is going to inevitably generate discontent and a demand for change even if the other 99% were doing all right.
But they’re not.
We’re to the point where nearly half the population is living either near or below the poverty level. Some of them are living well below it.
How can you expect them to be content with that? They’re not working 40 hours to feed their families. They’re working 80 just to make ends meet… if they can. And even working two minimum wage jobs, many of them can’t. You can’t say to them, ‘Be happy with what you have or work harder to get more.’ That’s just telling them to ‘eat cake.’
Yes… Sure… There are deadbeats and free-lunchers out there. I’m not so lost in my own agenda and my own dogma that I can’t recognize that. There are folks who could do a lot more for themselves. So some percentage of that ‘49 who don’t rise higher’ don’t do so by their own choice.
But I submit to you that the percentage isn’t anywhere near high enough justify dismissing the problems of this nation as the product of a character flaw in the poor.
That is, unless you want to insist it is the explanation.
In which case, we’re back to my original reply to you, aren’t we?