Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Social Security and the individual's responsibility

new man · 03-06-2009, 08:52 AM

Wow Cynthetiq,

When I was your age, I used to know as much about the world and how it operated as you do. Everything was so clear cut. If I did my part, then good things would happen. Everything always works like it's supposed to. Life works out for the best. Then I got a little bit older, and I realized that life was harder. I am smart. I do usually work hard. I have a great wife. But it is a challenge. Not everyone has the advantages that you or I or Willravel do. That is why there is a government mandated safety net.

"If I can see so far, it is only because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."
Isaac Newton.

Here is a piece from Warren Buffett, arguably one of the biggest of the self-made men:

I’ve had it so good in this world, you know. The odds were fifty-to-one against me being born in the United States in 1930. I won the lottery the day I emerged from the womb by being in the United States instead of in some country where my chances would have been way different.

Imagine there are two identical twins in the womb, both equally bright and energetic. And the genie says to them, ‘One of you is going to be born in the United States, and one of you is going to be born in Bangladesh. And if you wind up in Bangladesh, you will pay no taxes. What percentage of your income would you bid to be the one that is born in the United Sates?’ It says something about the fact that society has something to do with your fate and not just your innate qualities. the people who say, ‘I did it all myself,’ and think of themselves as Horatio Alger - believe me, they’d bid more to be in the United States than in Bangladesh. That’s the Ovarian Lottery.

–Warren Buffett on page 643 of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

So you did not do it alone, Cynthetiq. Get over yourself or you will dislocate your arm patting yourself on the back. You live in a country where there is clean water, fresh air, good roads, ok schools, laws, police, jury by peers, voting, equal rights, etc... Yes, there are problems with every system in the US, but overall it works.

Here is a piece about what the FDA did right, saving many children from crippling birth defects. We were spared this because our govt organization did due diligence.
History of birth defects

In Europe and Canada during the early 1960s, thalidomide was prescribed to treat morning sickness in pregnant women. At that time, it was not approved in the United States because Dr. Frances Kelsey from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated there was insufficient proof of the drug’s safety in humans. Thalidomide was soon banned worldwide when it was discovered that it caused tragic birth defects. According to the March of Dimes (MOD, November 1998), "More than 10,000 children around the world were born with major malformations, many missing arms and legs, because their mothers had taken the drug during early pregnancy. Mothers who had taken the drug when arms and legs were beginning to form had babies with a widely varying but recognizable pattern of limb deformities. The most well-known pattern, absence of most of the arm with the hands extending flipper-like from the shoulders, is called phocomelia. Another frequent arm malformation called radial aplasia was absence of the thumb and the adjoining bone in the lower arm. Similar limb malformations occurred in the lower extremities. The affected babies almost always had both sides affected and often had both the arms and the legs malformed. In addition to the limbs, the drug caused malformations of the eyes and ears, heart, genitals, kidneys, digestive tract (including the lips and mouth), and nervous system. Thalidomide was recognized as a powerful human teratogen (a drug or other agent that causes abnormal development in the embryo or fetus). Taking even a single dose of thalidomide during early pregnancy may cause major birth defects."

03-06-2009, 08:52 AM	#46 (permalink)
new man Banned	Wow Cynthetiq, When I was your age, I used to know as much about the world and how it operated as you do. Everything was so clear cut. If I did my part, then good things would happen. Everything always works like it's supposed to. Life works out for the best. Then I got a little bit older, and I realized that life was harder. I am smart. I do usually work hard. I have a great wife. But it is a challenge. Not everyone has the advantages that you or I or Willravel do. That is why there is a government mandated safety net. "If I can see so far, it is only because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." Isaac Newton. Here is a piece from Warren Buffett, arguably one of the biggest of the self-made men: I’ve had it so good in this world, you know. The odds were fifty-to-one against me being born in the United States in 1930. I won the lottery the day I emerged from the womb by being in the United States instead of in some country where my chances would have been way different. Imagine there are two identical twins in the womb, both equally bright and energetic. And the genie says to them, ‘One of you is going to be born in the United States, and one of you is going to be born in Bangladesh. And if you wind up in Bangladesh, you will pay no taxes. What percentage of your income would you bid to be the one that is born in the United Sates?’ It says something about the fact that society has something to do with your fate and not just your innate qualities. the people who say, ‘I did it all myself,’ and think of themselves as Horatio Alger - believe me, they’d bid more to be in the United States than in Bangladesh. That’s the Ovarian Lottery. –Warren Buffett on page 643 of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life So you did not do it alone, Cynthetiq. Get over yourself or you will dislocate your arm patting yourself on the back. You live in a country where there is clean water, fresh air, good roads, ok schools, laws, police, jury by peers, voting, equal rights, etc... Yes, there are problems with every system in the US, but overall it works. Here is a piece about what the FDA did right, saving many children from crippling birth defects. We were spared this because our govt organization did due diligence. History of birth defects In Europe and Canada during the early 1960s, thalidomide was prescribed to treat morning sickness in pregnant women. At that time, it was not approved in the United States because Dr. Frances Kelsey from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated there was insufficient proof of the drug’s safety in humans. Thalidomide was soon banned worldwide when it was discovered that it caused tragic birth defects. According to the March of Dimes (MOD, November 1998), "More than 10,000 children around the world were born with major malformations, many missing arms and legs, because their mothers had taken the drug during early pregnancy. Mothers who had taken the drug when arms and legs were beginning to form had babies with a widely varying but recognizable pattern of limb deformities. The most well-known pattern, absence of most of the arm with the hands extending flipper-like from the shoulders, is called phocomelia. Another frequent arm malformation called radial aplasia was absence of the thumb and the adjoining bone in the lower arm. Similar limb malformations occurred in the lower extremities. The affected babies almost always had both sides affected and often had both the arms and the legs malformed. In addition to the limbs, the drug caused malformations of the eyes and ears, heart, genitals, kidneys, digestive tract (including the lips and mouth), and nervous system. Thalidomide was recognized as a powerful human teratogen (a drug or other agent that causes abnormal development in the embryo or fetus). Taking even a single dose of thalidomide during early pregnancy may cause major birth defects."