Yep, when the top 10 percent in the U.S. own almost 75% of the wealth, capitalism could use some adjustments to working like it did in the Reagan era. That is what Sanders was trying to achieve, not Communism or Socialism as you commonly know it despite what some of the wacko media would have you believe. When hard working Americans are being ripped off by Wall Street through illegal/immoral manuevers and schemes (not hard work), we need to wake up and fix it (and thank you (not) Bill Clinton who removed Glass-Steagall Act that got the ball rolling for the banking industy to land us in the collapse of 2008!). But with Trump or Hillary, fixing any of this is not at all likely (have you ever really read Trump's tax scheme - what an unworkable joke and Hillary is bought and paid for by the banks). Sanders was the only hope IMO. So if you want to continue to be fleeced/suckered, go for one of these current two choices. It is a trajedy that so many people have no clue what is really taking place under the guise of (unbridled) capitalism anymore. People can still keep going to Payday Loans and taking out mortage loans that they can't afford on 30 year terms due to easy credit scams and then do refinances every two years to "get cash out" and see where we end up, too. We can't fix our problems if we really don't identify the real causes of them and then remove a Congress that will do nothing more than serve only the top financial interests who finance the their political campaigns.
I like you saforwardlook, so please take this as a respectful counterpoint, not an argument.
I have a problem with any point that starts out with "X has Y" percentage of wealth. Frankly I don't care... The super-weathly and the super-poor have existed for 1000 years. Fiefs and surfdom, slaves and slave owners, land barons and sharecroppers, etc. Depending on who is drawing the graph any one of us could be classified as rich or poor. Hell, we all obviously have some discretionary income to be chatting about 50 year old cars vs. sweeping the dirt floor of our scrap-lumber hut.
What I
do control is the choices I made. I've worked some kind of job since the tail end of age 13 as a busboy. Then entry-level factory labor swinging minivan side apature panels into a press at Warren Stamping. Paid for my own college, got a better job with the same employer. I socked away that cash and put down 1/3 of the money on my first house (required since I didn't have a credit card until I was 30). You know why I finally got a credit card? Because I got tired of going inside gas stations and waiting line behind poor people buying a gallon of milk for $5.99, a carton of smokes and $20 in lottery tickets. Now I'm one of those SOBs the credit card company hates because they have to give me a % back without my ever paying a dime in interest. Never owned a new car until 2011, then 2012, then only because they were 0% interest and sold before the big depreciation hit. I'll get another "new" Challenger when they bottom out in depreciation.
My peers bought $200,000 houses in the far-flung suburbs. I paid $84k and had a smaller payment than their cable bill (another luxury I've never had). That allowed me to sock away more cash and I bought a second house, which I flipped. Flipped another and bought a small office/commercial building in cash to rent out. Put some of that monthly income into another investment house and
lost my *** when real estate crashed. Recovered and bought a condo (which I rent out) in AZ. Still have the other rentals. Now the neighborhood around my commercial building is going to s#it, so last night I had to put
my safety on the line to kick two bums out of the doorway for a no-show potential buyer today. The point is, I've worked my *** off... Roofing a house in AZ in August, pouring cement, building decks, changing water heaters on a Sunday when everybody else is having fun... For years now. There is a segment of the population who would say "You have 3 houses, a commercial office, a couple years salary in the bank, a 401K, an IRA, non-valuable classic cars (lol), etc... You are a rich sob and you owe me." Where were they when I was sweating or evicting bums to make a sale? Oh, and the whole while (23 years) I've been starting work at Chrysler at either 10pm or 6am.
How much money is controlled by Bill Gates, Bill Buffet or Bill Cosby has nothing to do with that. Any one of my paycheck-to-paycheck buddies could have done what I did... Grasshopper and Ant. My tenants are nice people. They usually have newer cars than I do, better cell phones, and bigger flatscreens hooked up to $149 monthly cable packages. Go redistribute the wealth of every millionaire and within 5 years, the same people will be millionaires.
When Trump talks about the way we get screwed on trade deals, he's 100% correct. That's why "his" party hates him... They worry he'll mess up their sweet deals. The other one talks about only deporting the "violent" illegal aliens... When did the law have room for such interpretation? Unless you consider yourself a king (or queen) you're supposed to
change laws, not put your spin on their enforcement. As for Mr. Free College, why don't we hear about tuition caps? Salary caps for administration? And you realize when college is free, it's just another level of High School. Where is my reimbursement check? I would have much rather purchased a 1995 Mopar Perfomance Catalog 6-pack kit than boring-*** college credits.
Anyway... I don't want this to appear as a rant. Like I said, I respect you, admire your cars and have that common bond we pentastar people must keep. I just want to put the idea out there that "whomever is rich" can be determined by the
perosn mob protesting in the street and eventually pointing a gun... Ask anyone who lived under Communism. It all started with good intentions. Capitalism ain't perfect, but it has one perfect idea... I exist for myself, not to be another's servant.
