Promises Unkept …

[Lester The Nightfly]

No, I'm the kind of guy who runs his own business and does his own taxes (literally filling out tax forms the old-fashioned way) and gets annoyed at how many man hours I have to spend book-keeping, only to cut a check to the feds every year that will basically vanish into a black hole.

As do millions of other Americans, Cupcake. You're not that special.

I don't think he is coming across as you think he is. My issue is that small business owners (to which I work for one) always want to cruise around in the Range Rover, go on yacht vacations, live the high life, be interviewed in Forbes while the pleebs bust ass for their paycheck. But the minute something doesn't smell right, it's the GODDAMN government as those FUCKIN liberals trying to take their Rover and give it to THOSE people.

Look, I live a good life. Woke up in St. John's Detroit with nothing but the clothes on my back and my ID. After I got out of treatment, I got one ride from Mt. Clemens to Ann Arbor; everything I owned fit in the trunk of a Fusion. No job, no car, no phone, no money, no contacts, nothing.

I am that conservative bootstraps meme in the flesh. I turned all that into a home in Brighton, married, two stepdaughters, two dogs, a 60+ an hour a week job, vacations, top level at work, everything. I can't pound the table every 15 min and get all pissy about every last thing. So after all that, plus being a 38 year old white, straight, American male, living in a red county, working construction, I just can't bring myself to live that kind of attitude. Shit, I'm happy just to BE here.

I don't think it's a question of "waste", I think it's a question of who's doing the wasting and what it's being wasted on. Tax cuts for Wal Mart and Coke and money for Lockheed Martin? Good. $159 a week to a welfare recipient? Bad.

"The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the ax. For the ax had them fooled; he had them convinced he was one of them because his handle was made of wood".

I can't address intent, but you've done a far better job of articulating the issue as you see it. Good post.

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No, I'm the kind of guy who runs his own business and does his own taxes (literally filling out tax forms the old-fashioned way) and gets annoyed at how many man hours I have to spend book-keeping, only to cut a check to the feds every year that will basically vanish into a black hole.

As do millions of other Americans, Cupcake. You're not that special.

I don't think he is coming across as you think he is. My issue is that small business owners (to which I work for one) always want to cruise around in the Range Rover, go on yacht vacations, live the high life, be interviewed in Forbes while the pleebs bust ass for their paycheck. But the minute something doesn't smell right, it's the GODDAMN government as those FUCKIN liberals trying to take their Rover and give it to THOSE people.

Look, I live a good life. Woke up in St. John's Detroit with nothing but the clothes on my back and my ID. After I got out of treatment, I got one ride from Mt. Clemens to Ann Arbor; everything I owned fit in the trunk of a Fusion. No job, no car, no phone, no money, no contacts, nothing.

I am that conservative bootstraps meme in the flesh. I turned all that into a home in Brighton, married, two stepdaughters, two dogs, a 60+ an hour a week job, vacations, top level at work, everything. I can't pound the table every 15 min and get all pissy about every last thing. So after all that, plus being a 38 year old white, straight, American male, living in a red county, working construction, I just can't bring myself to live that kind of attitude. Shit, I'm happy just to BE here.

I don't think it's a question of "waste", I think it's a question of who's doing the wasting and what it's being wasted on. Tax cuts for Wal Mart and Coke and money for Lockheed Martin? Good. $159 a week to a welfare recipient? Bad.

"The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the ax. For the ax had them fooled; he had them convinced he was one of them because his handle was made of wood".

Amen. I think this may be a case of inability to conceptualize large numbers.

[bmw]

My issue is that small business owners (to which I work for one) always want to cruise around in the Range Rover, go on yacht vacations, live the high life, be interviewed in Forbes while the pleebs bust ass for their paycheck. But the minute something doesn't smell right, it's the GODDAMN government as those FUCKIN liberals trying to take their Rover and give it to THOSE people.

First RT, now you with the stereotypes. So to the extent your comments appear to be directed towards me personally, I'll respond: I'm a one-man operation. I have no employees. That means I do everything. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Cleaning? Me. Bookkeeping? Me. Customer service? Me. The actual work? All me. I have regular hours posted at my shop that I own. So when I'm sick, my business doesn't open that day. If I want a vacation, my business is closed for a week. I haven't been on a vacation lasting longer than one day since 2005. I don't even make the median income in this state (though I'm getting closer each year). Moreover, even in my poorest times, times where I qualified for all kinds of government assistance, I never asked for or took a penny in handouts. Because as an ethical matter, I didn't feel right taking money that wasn't mine when it wasn't literally a life-or-death matter. Sure, I take all the deductions I'm entitled to on my taxes, but I've never once sought government assistance for anything.

So spare me with the all-small-business-owners-are-living-the-high-life line of BS because in most cases, it simply isn't true. Owning a small business takes an incredible amount of work and maybe, JUST MAYBE, if you work hard enough, you might make it into the upper tiers of the middle class some day before you retire.

So all that said, I believe I've EARNED the right to piss and moan about the taxes I pay and what those taxes are used for. There are plenty of people who legitimately need assistance. I don't deny that. But I can also tell you from first-hand experience previously working for a meat market/party store for 11 years that there are a lot of people living on government assistance who in my opinion are abusing the system. It is those people who I get a bit upset about. Do the rich abuse the system? Sure. But on a macro level, it is the rich who pay the taxes in this country.

[Mega Hertz]

My issue is that small business owners (to which I work for one) always want to cruise around in the Range Rover, go on yacht vacations, live the high life, be interviewed in Forbes while the pleebs bust ass for their paycheck. But the minute something doesn't smell right, it's the GODDAMN government as those FUCKIN liberals trying to take their Rover and give it to THOSE people.

First RT, now you with the stereotypes. So to the extent your comments appear to be directed towards me personally, I'll respond: I'm a one-man operation. I have no employees. That means I do everything. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Cleaning? Me. Bookkeeping? Me. Customer service? Me. The actual work? All me. I have regular hours posted at my shop that I own. So when I'm sick, my business doesn't open that day. If I want a vacation, my business is closed for a week. I haven't been on a vacation lasting longer than one day since 2005. I don't even make the median income in this state (though I'm getting closer each year). Moreover, even in my poorest times, times where I qualified for all kinds of government assistance, I never asked for or took a penny in handouts. Because as an ethical matter, I didn't feel right taking money that wasn't mine when it wasn't literally a life-or-death matter. Sure, I take all the deductions I'm entitled to on my taxes, but I've never once sought government assistance for anything.

So spare me with the all-small-business-owners-are-living-the-high-life line of BS because in most cases, it simply isn't true. Owning a small business takes an incredible amount of work and maybe, JUST MAYBE, if you work hard enough, you might make it into the upper tiers of the middle class some day before you retire.

So all that said, I believe I've EARNED the right to piss and moan about the taxes I pay and what those taxes are used for. There are plenty of people who legitimately need assistance. I don't deny that. But I can also tell you from first-hand experience previously working for a meat market/party store for 11 years that there are a lot of people living on government assistance who in my opinion are abusing the system. It is those people who I get a bit upset about. Do the rich abuse the system? Sure. But on a macro level, it is the rich who pay the taxes in this country.

I noticed you took that part of my post personally. I'm sorry for that. In no place did I mention bmw specifically anywhere. Your jimmies being rustled is noted.

What's also noted is you eliminated the part of my post that mentioned I made poor choices in life but made something of myself. Remember, as I stated earlier, money gets taken out of my pay as well.

I speak on it because I live it. See, the owner of my company loves pulling up in her Porsche. Loves her two week trips to the Bahamas. The lunches and dinners at the upscale Birmingham restaurants. Yet last week, an employee got rheemed because he didn't clock out to take a dump. He went to the office and slammed down the 28 cents on her desk.

Your post also proves another truth we face today. My viewpoint is that it's not working for the majority of Americans. Your viewpoint is that it's not working for bmw. And I get it. That's why there is still so much support for a candidate like Trump. He understands hard times. He has had to choose between food and rent. And if we could just get all those theiving, stealing, conniving Democrats out of office, gosh darn it, things would get better for you. And I will be the first person to stand up and say that Joe Biden is NOT the answer.

I am sorry your station in life is so terrible. I certainly do wish you the best and hope things start looking up for you. Perhaps you do need a vacation, you seem awfully wound up.

[bmw]

I'm not complaining about my position in life. I'm much happier being independent than I ever was working for somebody else. You're the one who brought up stereotypes in regards to poor people getting handouts, and then proceeded to give your own stereotypes about small business owners (in response to Lester's post, referring to a "he" which I assumed was me as his post was quoting me). I'm simply suggesting to you that most small business owners aren't driving expensive cars or spending weeks at a time on yachts, and that as such, we have the right to gripe about where are tax dollars are going, in the same way you have a right to gripe about the rich taking advantage of tax loopholes and living by a pool sipping margaritas.

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I'm not complaining about my position in life. I'm much happier being independent than I ever was working for somebody else. You're the one who brought up stereotypes in regards to poor people getting handouts, and then proceeded to give your own stereotypes about small business owners (in response to Lester's post, referring to a "he" which I assumed was me as his post was quoting me). I'm simply suggesting to you that most small business owners aren't driving expensive cars or spending weeks at a time on yachts, and that as such, we have the right to gripe about where are tax dollars are going, in the same way you have a right to gripe about the rich taking advantage of tax loopholes and living by a pool sipping margaritas.

The guy in my example is an investor not a small business owner.

[FakeAndyStuart]

Actually I read the whole article but it seems you stopped after "food for everyone" . If in fact there was "no time for anyone to eat anything, much less place an order" per the article you posted but apparently didn't read in its entirety , then it seems logically there was no tab to walk out on.
To use another of your childish examples, I walked in to the bar and shouted "drinks for everyone" but last call was 20 minutes ago, nobody got a drink and everyone shuffled out the door in to the night. Did I walk out on a tab?

Again, kudos to you for demonstrating your reading skills. However, you are I are arguing over semantics. Perhaps you are correct about the process at the Cuban restaurant that evening. I read it differently. Did the entire crowd in the place leave after 10 minutes, or did the Trump posse leave? From what I can tell, there was a big crowd there before during and after the candidate's short visit. Did "Food for everyone" mean everyone in the place, or just the group of sycophants, Secret Service agents and others that walked in (and then out) with the former guy? Not sure, and perhaps this is a bad example of how this person doesn't pay his bills. Since there are SO many others.

Thanks for engaging this troll. Have a nice day.

[FakeAndyStuart]

Andy must be like a typical liberal, if someone else is paying for it, you order differently than if you were paying for it yourself.

This is the trouble with government handouts too, reckless consumption/spending.

Hi. "Typical liberal" here. If someone else is paying, I tend to order less or, in some cases, nothing at all. I feel embarrassed/ashamed/awkward when someone else pays for me. I wouldn't ask someone to purchase for me what I wouldn't purchase for myself. My wife would be more than happy to vouch for that.

You sound like a conservative to me. Rest well

Ah, Mr/Ms/Mrs/He/She/They/Them/You/We/Us audiophile, I do enjoy your quaint use of "liberal" as a slur and "conservative" as a descriptive adjective. But what is a "liberal"? Who defined "conservative"? And who are you to take one post and decide which side of the argument someone is on? Why do you want to fight?

Americans have different views of how to govern, run and fix America. We always will. Not to again quote a long referenced metaphor, Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan had tremendous differences, yet they figured out how to come up with solutions they could both live with. Now, we live in a House Freedom Caucus/Progressive Caucus world where one can't win until the other loses. That's why I'm kinda impressed with JD Vance today. (But that is for another thread).

[TC Talks]

Andy must be like a typical liberal, if someone else is paying for it, you order differently than if you were paying for it yourself.

This is the trouble with government handouts too, reckless consumption/spending.

Cite your source, or get back to begging for dollars from your Kristians...

[Honeyman]

Yet you all vote for people who use the power of the government to redistribute wealth, taking it from those who earned it and giving it to those who don't.

.....says the man who has been bitching about stereotypes the entire thread.