D'Oh-bama!: If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.

By that reasoning, Major, the kid who taught me to play marbles in the first grade is owed a share of the businesses from which I sold and have retired. Unlike most, I took no business courses -- I learned things like factoring receivables the hard way -- by almost going broke. The whole "you made it because of government" shtick really sounds communistic.

 

And that ridiculous reasoning and twisting of words is why you and people like you can't be taken seriously. Even when Obama says something that is harmless and generally accepted as true you get whipped into a faux rage and scream "COMMUNISMZ!".

 

None of the bolded sections, much less the rest of the transcript, says that business owners didn't do the hard work to build their businesses. Obama merely pointed out the truth that they didn't do so alone, there were MANY benefits that building the business in the society provided by the US government. Taxes are the price we pay to live in that society.

 

Can you point me to where Obama said other people are owed a share of your businesses?

Only if you can't read.

 

Nobody has said "you made it because of the government" but you and other conservative blowhards. Obama's statement wasn't even remotely like that.

 

What side of this debate were you presenting again?

 

Harmless? Obama stated that no one succeeds without government. I wonder how early man discovered how to use fire without government?

 

What a lot of you arguing this point seem to not understand the nature of the commons. This goes beyond public grazing land but the idea that in our country we have shared resources and infrastructure that make it possible for us to have the economy that we have now. The internet right now is the most important commons in that none of us own it but we all use it and contribute to it in various ways. If you run a business that uses the internet then your ISP has made it possible for you to create and run your business, your ISP in turn is made possible by the government and universities that initially built the internet protocals to make the Internet possible.

Obama is absolutely right. You didn't get there on your own. None of us did. That doesn't mean we discount your individual work to build your business but to do it you were dependent upon the actions of many others. None of that means that there shouldn't be a profit motive only that in our society as it is there are roles for both individual and collective action.

 

feigned outrage is all that i have left

 

I doubt that just raising taxes on capital gains would lead to teachers being better paid. While I said that I don't think returning to Clinton level taxes would cripple the economy I don't think it would automatically improve things. There are many things that need to reformed and if we are to do away with Bush tax cuts I would like to see some plan for how that revenue would be used. I will agree with my conservative friends on this that just giving more revenue to the government might not lead to better results.

 

He didn't mention government only, ignoramus. For those of us who are not challenged in the ways of reading comprehension, we understood this to mean that it is a combination of your initiative and others' help that often allows individuals to achieve success. My business was successful because of all the hard work I put into it, but also because I had several mentors that provided me with invaluable information- also, a contact that led me to a successful publishing opportunity that I would most likely have not found out about on my own, my parents helping with college costs, etc.

What you say- your political rhetoric- and what is reality are two different things. What Obama said makes complete sense- you're the one who misinterpreted it- and yet you would never have the stones to admit you're wrong because, really, what all this is about is a game to you. I am quite confident that you really don't care whether Obama or Romney is President in terms of the impact they will have- you're like a lot of people that simply want to be proven right if Romney wins just to say that your prediction was right and that you "won." When you look into the reality and see how Romney is not going to be that dramatic of a difference from Obama, yet you conjecture that it will be the end of the world if Obama is re-elected, we know what is correct and what is illusion.

You're the illusion, my friend. You're a Styx flashback.

 

AMEN brother

I shudder to think how president Urkel wants to spend his extra money gained from raising taxes. He's probably already creamed his pants just thinking about it.

 

Why not? Didn't Billy R. help me understand the principles of winning and losing? In other words, I owe him the same as owing the government for the roads that got me to work (let's forget the taxes I paid for them)? Don't I owe my clients because, after all, they paid me money for my services? His logic is so childlike he scares me that he is President. That is why he is so lost when he doesn't have a transcript from which to read.

 

Ooooh...a texxx post I actually agree with (kind of).

Where the money goes is by far the most important thing. Mass-produced anti-biotics, the Internet, GPS...all were federally funded research programs that all spawned multi-billion dollar private industries.

Like texxx, I'm not convinced the government does enough homework when they try to figure out where the money goes.

 

So... am I to take away from this that can NOT point to where Obama said other people are owed a share of your businesses?

If Obama has been such a disaster... why the need to completely fabricate reasons to criticize him? Does your integrity mean that little to you?

 

Either you're not smart enough to understand what he said, or you think using ridiculous exaggerations is going to prove some point you made up. Either way I feel sorry for you.

 

Basso, please do teach me about SWOT graphs and Porter's Five Forces, and the psychological factors behind consumer behavior.

I need to know how the "real economy" works.

Come on, Basso, spit some knowledge. I need to see the same critical thinking that asks why the Federal Reserve cannot print money ad nauseam.

 

The only rational conclusion here is that you're stupid. Amongst other things, you lack basic reading comprehension skills and reasoning abilities. There's no further point to trying to have a conversation with you.

 

So what happens when businesses fail or the lawsuits start coming in? I guess I'm not fully responsible as a business owner by this reasoning. This speech by Obama has the possibility for many interpretations.