Don't Blame Biden

I figured you'd just back in sooner or later!

Since you did, it was fairly arrogant of you to jump in uninvited.

 

The forum is open to the public.

 

Being half right and half wrong- is not always detrimental, but frequently is, if you are wrong on certain things. Total accuracy is not realistic, but being accurate on critical things calls for more attention and a higher level of accuracy. I didn't give much thought to the accuracy of referring to the quote source- but I failed to realize you would call it a foul because the source wasn't correct. To me- that's like saying a quote about 2+3 equals 4, but quoted as coming from the wrong book- is to find that 2+2 = 4 must therefore be suspect. Figured you were bit better than that.

Few things are absolutes, and wealth isn't one of them as a measure of anything but money and the way you handle it. However, the large majority of people who are wealthy, are wealthy because in some way, they have greatly surpassed the average person in some skill or talent. So while it's not a flawless independent parameter- it is generally a measure of performance. If it creates chaos- it's because people who think in short-term and convenient ways assume that the wealth of others would be theirs is those wealthy people hadn't somehow stolen it from them, even though they never had it. While that's hogwash, it's also psychologically comforting and avoids having to take a hard look at your own performance- or lack of it. Those who are wealthy- carry most of the load for those who are not. They are the people who make things happen, in part, because they can take a group of people who individually would never be highly productive and turn them into a group that is. This is a special talent- and a rare one, which makes it very, very valuable. Take them out of that group they lead, and it returns to the state it came from. Most people are not willing to do what you must do if you wish to become wealthy. Most who are wealthy have an internal drive that requires they do those things. It's how we are programmed early in life.

It's also true that wealth and riches are not the same thing. Riches are having money- and often, that is nothing more than a transient windfall. Without the ability to manage and make money, you are not wealthy. The transient rich simply burn through their windfall, and return to being average or poor. More than 50% of big lottery winners are bankrupt in about 5 years. This again relates to the concept of giving a man a fish- or teaching him how to fish. You can give him money, but unless you can teach him how to manage and grow that money- he will be poor again very soon. Wealth is sustainable. Riches are usually not. I've tried to teach people how to be successful- both personally and financially for a long time. My experience is that while the information is easy to present and demonstrate, the application of it requires the right mindset in the person you are trying to teach.... and you have no control over that. So despite the "fishing lesson" being widely available, most see it as too much work. They procrastinate, say they will do it someday- but they get old, and run out of time before they are ready to do it.

I'm not "wealthy" by most standards. But I am financially very sound. This was not true all my life; I had to learn- and it can be hard to do because far more people insist that it should be easy than insist you must learn and work. But lets look at how I managed to become "financially sound". First, I came from very hard working family. Not wealthy at all, but they knew how to get to work early and produce highly- they knew how to work, which is not the same as knowing a trade.... and more valuable So, I was programmed with the basics early on. Of course, that isn't enough, but it something you must have if you want to do well. Most of what I know is self taught. Business, investing, money management. Anyone can do it. Anyone can get the books, the directions, the instructions to do it, and much of that is free. Most.... will not. And in so doing, they do set their own value to society- and if you take out more than you put in when you should be capable of putting in, I have a hard time crediting you for being "valuable". The wealthy contribute the bulk of charitable contributions. Support the bulk of environmental groups. Carry the bulk of tax expenses. Carry.... the bulk of society to a better standard of living. So are they more valuable human beings? If those who hate them had to do without them, their attitudes would change quickly. 10% of the taxpayers- pay 70% of the entire tax revenue. Last year, more than half the households in America paid no income tax. Biden has announced a plan to tax those wealthy people who aren't paying their share, so the damage he's done to the national budget won't be as damaging.

You aren't valuable because you exist. It's what you do that makes you valuable- or useless. The insistence of the useless to be seen as valuable and entitled to what others produce, is a very lame argument in my opinion. Opportunity is everywhere- but it doesn't come to your door begging.

So... let's teach people how to fish. I've been working at that for over 40 years. I pretty well know why some want to learn, and others see no need.

 

Another display of arrogance. But its ok, I can tolerate it. Welcome back to the fray!

 

Oh no, stating a fact that has no controversy is now arrogance? Who would have guessed.

 

No you are making it more than it is. The point is that human nature is flawed and that sometimes things that we believe to be true are not so. That's true for me you and everyone else in the human form of life. Therefore we have to be careful. Although it was a trivial mistake, it was a mistake nonetheless, and because it occurred right here in this thread, it was convenient to point it out to illustrate the point. It was nothing more than that, so no need to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

I am not sure that is necessarily true that the large majority of people who are wealthy got their wealth simply because they GREATLY surpassed the average person in some way. Unless you can put forward some objective statistics to support the notion, I don't think that should necessarily be accepted as fact. What is a fact is that some people got their wealth because they were willing to do despicable and dirty things that talented persons of good conscience were not willing to do.

Any rate, I apologize, but your post is rather long. Its interesting, but I don't have a lot of time to devote to it this morning and I would like to give some attention to some other things here before I quit. Thanks for taking the time to make a thoughtful response, and I will try to get around to the rest of your post later.

 

Yet another display of arrogance. The words 'has no controversy' is glaring!

 

So you believe that this forum is not open to the public. I wouldn't have guessed there was any controversy but you never know with some people.

 

Oh, OK. I misunderstood the reference to the controversy. No, it is a fact that this forum is open to the public. However, the arrogance in that case is using that fact as a fig leaf to cover your attempt to put me beneath yourself. Its a subtle nuance that requires some thought.

 

While there is no question that some wealth is obtained unscrupulously, that is virtually always in violation of law- and that which is not is in violation of common sense, and most people recognize cons and leave them alone. But the huge volume business that produces the bulk of wealth are highly visible- and you won't see these people going to jail, because they know how to do business without violating law. Unfortunately, many of the shysters are able to do what they do because "We the people" do not demand better of our politicians. We tolerate what should be seen as unethical practices, the sale of influence and many other manipulative things that bring some people wealth without deserving it. The ugly part is that we rant about the people who are more visible and paying their way, while these shysters are insulated and are not. The answer to that problem is to require honor in politics. Not ask for it, require it as a condition of office. We don't enforce the rules in congress, so why should the people feel it's fair to enforce rules on them?

There's a point that the majority of people can't stay focused on, either pin their personal lives or in politics. That is a matter of objectives- where we want to go, what it takes to get there. I'm saying that the future is determined by what we do today- and if we are always thinking only of today, the future will arrive like a crisis- day after day. IF we were smart, we would insist on leaders that prepared for that longer term instead of responding to every squeaking wheel of the moment. Position our economy to be strong, so that small bumps didn't become major issues. Establish a buffer instead of a huge debt. Position the nation to be ready to take advantage of future opportunity. That, by the way- is one of the reasons wealthy people become wealthy; they prepare for the future- today. When it arrives, they are in the position to gain from it.
And.... we're back to teaching a man to fish... to insure their future, instead of waiting for something to come along and save the day, every day.

Trump was doing that. Biden destroyed the groundwork Trump established, and we are back to instant crisis one after another. I DO blame Biden for that; and because of this miserable imitation of leadership, we are heading for a huge crisis that will be beyond what most living people in this country have ever seen. If we had some great management, we could mitigate it substantially- but we have the opposite, which will make it even worse.

If no one learns to fish- soon there will be no fish to give away. Only stupid people fail to understand that.

 

Subtle enough that you had to invent it.

 

No, I did not invent your malice, and let's spell it out so that it can be clearly understood.

What is a fact is that when last discussing the actual substance of the thread, you could only reply that "We disagree on every point." But when I was engaged in a back and forth with another poster and the focus became a personal attack on me, your interest in discussion was rekindled.

The thing is this, it is difficult to try to understand what is in another person's mind. But if we analyze behavior carefully, we can get an idea. Your interest in discussion when there was a personal attack on me indicates that there is some degree of malice in your mind towards me. And it is a fact that just as there is heat when there is fire, where there is malice there is anger. It is also a fact anger is the result of having some sort of desire in the mind being frustrated. Whether it be a desire for some material object, some sort of material arrangement, some sort of material prestige, or some sort of material psychological gratification, when such desires are frustrated there will be anger. That anger is born of the arrogance that I am entitled to have what I desire and how dare someone, or something interfere with my entitlement.

So no buddy, I did not invent your arrogance and malice. That is something that you created.

 

When all else fails, you can always fall back on insult.

 

I disagree in the strongest terms that wealth obtained unscrupulously is virtually always in violation of the law. For example, it is not against the law to go behind the back of someone else and betray their trust, i.e. backstabbing, but it's not uncommon that people do it to get ahead. Also, its not against the law for someone to voluntarily have sex with someone else with the motivation of getting some sort of economic advantage, but its not uncommon for people to engage in such behavior. There are all sorts of things like that that while being unscrupulous, are not against the law.

Couple of points:

1. What Donald Trump did was to exacerbate existing fault lines in this nation. As such, what he did overall was to accelerate the process of the self destruction of this nation that was already taking place.

2. If politicians on the right were really interested in teaching a man to fish, then they would champion free college. But they don't have much interest in that. What they are really motivated by is the desire for their selfish aggrandizement.

 

Yep, that's exactly what you did.

 

OK, we'll settle on everybody being arrogant.

 

Well- as soon as the left makes it a criminal offense to lie to people, we can clean up the things that we can't touch now... Oh- wait- that would not bide well for the left, whose SOP is based on snowing the public. IE;- lies.

Exactly HOW did Donald Trump "exacerbate fault lines"? If you intent to be honest, you have to look at both sides0 and you wind up with vastly more "exacerbation" done by the left than Trump.
Of course, you won't do that, or perhaps you will look but pretend you Schultz from the old "Hogan's Heroes" show, and see nothing... Today's left and dems are without question the least functional people in terms of politics and social qualities of any in my lifetime. It's beyond comprehension that so many could be so far off the track, and even worse- haven't a clue they are. Thee is one clue that should be obvious- when everything you do turns to crap, you should suspect you are doing it wrong. That has yet to occur to the Biden people, obviously- or those that can't see the ongoing 3-stooges acts.

Free college? I hate to question a person's judgement, but everybody that has ever amounted to anything knows that what is free has almost no value when we speak about people's capacities. IF you don't work for it, struggle for it- you don't value it, won't use it, and when it comes to education that means you learn nothing- at least, nothing you will really put to use. Nobody can teach a person that doesn't want tot learn or know. Teaching is a two sided relationship Teachers are there to teach- students are there to learn. Students that are there because they have no choice or are avoiding entering the real working world- don't.

All you have to do is look at our required 12th grade education now- totally free- and look at the rate of failures we turn out, look at our position compared to that of other student performance around the world.Our average reading level of young adults is 7th grade. In student skills, we are about 25th or so on the international list, with students in places like Cuba out-performing ours.
Take reading- the skill that allows you to communicate and learn more than any other. Here's the top 10 nations literacy rates. Look for us on it.

Top 10 Most Literate Countries in the World:

1. Uzbekistan - 2018 - 99.99%
2. Ukraine - 2012 - 99.97%
3. San Marino - 2018 - 99.92%
4. Latvia - 2018 - 99.89%
5. Estonia - 2011 - 99.89%
6. Czech Republic - 2016 - 99.83%
7. Lithuania - 2011 - 99.82%
8. Tajikstan - 2014 - 99.80%
9. Azerbaijan - 2017 - 99.79%
10. Kazakhstan - 2018 - 99.78%

Then- take a look at our private schools, and the quality of students they produce- is downright amazing. And... that education is expensive- and they will not waste time on the people trying to coast through llfe. . NOTHING substitutes for motivation. In education, sports, business- it is the hungry and driven who become the real beneficiaries of their efforts, not the plodders who really just want out the door.

People are trying to educate you- everyday, right now, and can tell you how to succeed and prosper. You didn't know that. Too bad.

 

We are going to settle for the truth, and what you said is simply false. There have indeed been people in the past, and people at the present you have conquered this fault. They may be hard to find, but they are indeed there.

 

They may lie, but Republicans lie as well. And one of the biggest lies that has ever been told is that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. That did not come from the Democratic party.

One way is by putting forward the lie that there are a group of people that are against him that stole the election from him.

That is not an honest assessment at all. Yeah Democrats try to exploit fault lines along race and class in the this country. However, you don't see Democratic presidential candidates that have lost going around spreading the the garbage that the election was stolen from them. Only a dunce like Trump would do that.

This is demonstrably false. My education through the 12th grade was free and it prepared me to be quite successful in college in that I graduated with honors.

 

~ Both parties are failures, that is why we need outsiders to take over . This is the reason Capitola Hill is frightened by people like Donald Trump, Ralph Nader, Howard D. Schultz, Ben Carson , Andrew Yang etc. They cannot be "owned " . They make their own money. They owe nothing to anyone.
Like him or hate him, Trump is one of the few American presidents to actually do as he promised. His administration was transparent, exposed government corruption, stood up to Communist China and North Korea, strengthened the military, gave more grants to minority education, lowered taxes for the lowest earning workforce, secured the southern border / enforced immigration law, and made America energy independent. He worked without pay, was endlessly investigated without just cause , sacrificed his own family, and left office with 1/3 less wealth than when he was elected .
If you were alive and conscious living in the USA before, during and after the Trump administration and do not see the obvious contrast you are not paying attention — or do not care.

~ Have you heard of Hillary Clinton? She wrote a book about the 2016 election being "stolen" from her. Al Gore challenged his loss to George Bush. Perhaps everyone is a dunce .. ?

~ This is likely what tainted your viewpoints on politics, people and government. College education in the USA is more of an indoctrination.

 

Of course they all lie- because when lying is tolerated, it become the defacto rule of te game. Try winning at poker when cheating is acceptable.

And the biggest lie wasn't that the election was stolen from Trump. It's the lie that says that is the big lie.

If you thought for a moment what it would mean if that election were stolen, you would realize that the tolerance of such an act is the destruction of the free nation- and that everybody loses.
You should also recognize that character defines actions. Those who would steal once will steal twice, they see it as a useful tool . The dossier was concocted and paid for by the democratic candidate and the DNC. We have proof of that- and knowing that, one would have to be truly naive to think for a moment that the democrats would revert to honor. Then you ask how any presidential election can be won from a basemen. Won by a candidate that can't draw more than a couple hundred to see him against a candidate that easily draws 10,000. Or in Maricopa county Arizona, where a Trump car parade was 100 miles long- just before thy supposedly voted democrat for the first time in 70 years. Then look at what that win has brought down on us, and ask yourself who in hell would have voted for such people.

Most of the time you have the wrong answers because you have failed to ask the right questions, and failed to think for yourself.

 

I dusted off a brief review of the history of civil unrest events counts by president I created from wiki's details a couple of years ago. Wiki has an up-to-date and fully detailed history of unrest, here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_civil_unrest_in_the_United_States

Carter - 9

Reagan - 4

GHW Bush - 6

Clinton - 8

GW Bush - 9

Obama - 30

From this overview, it appears that the unrest began under Obama. To blame it on the guy who dragged the country out of Carter's stagflation is an insult to those of us who had to pay 14% interest on the mortgages we took out on our first homes.

If you take the time to peruse the details of unrest under Obama, you will find much of it was racial in nature. Some was justified outrage, but alot was feigned outrage blown out of proportion, something you might expect when you give a career Community Agitator a national stage like POTUS.

The violence perpetrated by the militant arm of the Democratic Party responsible for more recent unrest is a carryover from the Obama years exacerbated by efforts to defund the police and defang prosecution for violent crimes.

The damage caused by the Obama regime has had long lasting effects on the country. If you recall, the gain-of-function project to develop COVID was launched in 2014 with funding laundered through Eco Health Alliance to Wuhan. As evidenced by the October 2014 article in Nature claiming the US ended gain-of-function research, the project was meant to be hidden from Americans and Congress.

BTW. The Gini Coefficient that measures inequality has varied from .35 to .42 in the last 50 or so years. That hardly indicates a major shift you attribute to policy changes. Globalization enabled by the www and e-commerce in the period since Reagan must own a great deal of the Gini shift. Perhaps we should blame Al Gore, who claimed to have invented the internet, for the inequality that you believe has caused unrest.

 

Your point about mental health is very well taken, and even could apply to a good degree to the rest of the medical field. However, just because someone is poor, or is black, is no excuse for not being able to either figure out what political actions would be helpful to them, or at least to understand the benefit of such remedial action, when they hear a realistic plan presented to them. Please do not tell me you are unaware of the many suggestions that have been proposed by various organizations, and people-- a few, even, whom have been politicians-- to address problems of income inequality, and other issues directly tied to systemic racism.

 

The only thing he could do given --- the Posse Comitatus Act --- give Pelosi and Bowser 4 days notice that he will provide 20,000 national guard to provide security --- they both declined to make the request. Pelosi refused to release footage of people inside the Capitol opening the doors. It was a story of 2 protests. A violent protest that started before Trump's rally ended, and a peaceful march of attendees after the rally. Wray lied under oath about the presence of Antifa or BLM at the Capitol. We know John Sullivan was there ,,, and was even there when the unarmed female veteran was murdered.

It is highly likely that the same FBI that tried to frame Trump and members of his campaign and administration in 2016-2017 were heavily involved in violence that took place on one side the capitol on January 6.

 

Don't blame them. It's not their fault. They're only to blame for where they think they are getting news. These geniuses still think CNN's framing of arson as mostly peaceful was news.



Read this and laugh at them.