pan6467

I find it deeply saddening that a country ONCE great is in such turmoil and fosters such hatred.

First, let me explain where I came from. I'll make this short and get to the point as fast as I can.

I was born out of wedlock. My mother's father was a lifelong employee of Westinghouse. My mom met my "dad" a year after I was born and married him. He adopted me and gave me his last name (and has always treated me as his own (though at times I'm sure it was hard).

My mom instead of going on welfare worked her ass off as an operator for Ohio Bell. My dad was a part time meter reader for the electric company. When they married they didn't have a pot to piss in. My mom's mom loaned my parents the money for their first apartment and eventually a house ($15,000, in 1970 that was a nice sum).

My dad worked hard, met people who believed in him and gave him a chance and eventually became a surveyor and civil engineer in 1976 (this was before you had to get a bachelor's degree). He worked hard and became one of the top waste management/ excavating engineers in the country, he was a part owner of one of Ohio's and the country's first environment friendly toxic waste construction firms. Eventually buying his own company and devoting full time in golf course excavation.

My mother became an RN while taking care of my sister and I, on student loans at first to get her LPN then worked hard got a good rep and the hospital paid for her RN.

I grew up never wanting but being taught to help others.

Now fast forward to today.

Today the oppurtunities my parents had are NOT there in any form. Companies don't take chances on people, especially those with no college. Had that been the thinking in the early '70's dad would never have gotten his chance to move forward in society.

Find me a hospital today that will pay for an LPN to get her RN degree. It won't happen. In fact most hospitals have cut payroll by hiring Cert. Nurses' Aides for on average $7 an hour and although they cry for nurses refuse to pay those nurses much more than the nurses aides. (Speaking of which where is all the money healthcare is charging going, it's sure as hell not going to the nurses? And the malpractice excuse is bullshit, because insurance companies get rich both ways, not having to pay for the healthcare (reimbursed and then some in lawsuits) AND raising malpractice premiums sky high so that DR. have to charge outrageous prices and unless you are insured you can't really get good healthcare. Anyone still wanna tell me how great our country is?)

Truth be told, we are being fed bullshit about how public schools are rotten and taxes are too high and the rich are the only ones holding up our government.

Facts are these:

1) Schools are hurting because we have outsourced all our decent paying manufacturing jobs either overseas or to "independant" companies that hire temps for $6-7/ hr with no benefits and 10 cent raises after a year. So the tax base from the factories and middle class that we relied on in our great years is eroded and not coming back.

2) Wages for people who have to work through college are decreasing and tuitions are increasing faster than the raises (again maybe 25 cents after a year if you are lucky). More and more people, by the way HAVE to work to pay for college because their parents can't afford it. So we complain more about public education because they don't have the money, and yet we refuse to vote ways to get them more money and states have to cut more because the Feds cut their help. So fewer kids can get into college to get better jobs.

3) during the past 20 years the rich have increased their wealth exponentially while the middle class has shrunk and the rate of poverty and personal debt has increased exponentially. While some may say, "well watch what you spend your money on." that is cold and usually not based on fact but on selfishness and greed.

Facts are, most schools require kids to have computers, with both parents working the need is there to have 2 cars, unless you work different shifts and even then it would be tough (bus services are just as expensive and being cut in almost every major city, walking to work is just as dangerous as crimes such as muggings and robbery increase (although these usually get ignored because they aren't considered "serious crimes"). As gas and food prices go up wages are stagnant at best.

3) The people complaining the rich pay too much are those who again, usually speak thinking they will get richer by saving a little more out of their paycheck when in reality the ones who are getting noticeable savings are people who are in no way shape or form worried about money. (Not to mention have accountants find loopholes for them.)



So, I just don't understand this idea that the top 5% are crying to have lower taxes when in reality they own the wealth.

Trickle down economics does not work it only promotes greed and hatred between classes.

The solution lies in biting the bullet, finding ways to get factories to come back (it's the only way to lower taxes and keep a country growing).

Rebuild a wage system that pays a man a living wage so that both parents don't have to work.

Have a government that supports and gives incentives to companies that give on the job training of marketable skills.

The very things that the GOP preaches but then knocks and spews hate towards because they can rile up people (who don't want to face the fact their children are the ones who will get lower paying jobs with their plans) by telling them they pay too much in taxes.

It's going to take vision, bipartisanship and people not looking at today but to what the future truly holds for this country and their children and grandchildren, not just themselves.

If "trickle down" and tax breaks for the rich work so well, why are wages stagnant and decreasing? Why are "home equity" loans such a big business? Why are used car lots like JB Byrider making more profit than a lot of "new" car lots? Why are companies that sell cheap but disposable goods like Wal-Mart doing so well while companies that sell quality products that last longer than a year going broke? Why is the Fed artificially keeping inflation down by keeping the prime rate low? (Most people don't get prime rate, most are lucky if they can get single digit loans.)

But the biggest question is: why do we allow this bullshit of sending millions of the factory jobs (and now customer service and support), we need to move forward, overseas.... if the rich are using these tax breaks to invest in companies to build these new factories (as the GOP talking heads try to preach) why are we building them overseas for cheaper labor?

Aw well I'm sure there are those who swing right that can explain why for the first time in our country's history the children face a worse future economically than their parents, while almost every other country in the world is showing a better future for theirs. But IMHO (and just MY OPINION) their reasoning is founded on sheer bullshit and greed being fed to them by people who don't give a rat's ass about the poor and middle classes. Hell, the truth is, the less the middle class and poor have the more the rich get.

As an end note: my father who is in the top 1% takes his tax cuts and uses them for vacations in the Carribean and Jamaica..... How the Hell does that help our economy here?)

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"