If your life is bad, who is most at fault: YOU, a corporation, the government?

[Photonic]

If there is a significant amount of people experiencing the same problem, it's reasonable to assume there is a cause outside the individual.

To that end I highly doubt the individual is at blame here.

A significant number of people suffer from doing crack, meth and heroine.
A signifitcant number of people have too many kids out of wedlock.

Both are problems. Neither are anyone's fault but their own.

Seems to be to be a societal problem that enables them to do that.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Back off Photo! The logic here is too strong.

 

[bucs90]

Holy shit! Can we have another thread where insecure nutters have a chance to pat themselves on the fucking back?!!

You people are gonna strain your imaginary back from pulling up on those imaginary bootsraps all fucking day.

Just the opposite. I'm professing my belief and faith in our fellow citizens. They, and we, can all accomplish so much once we stop blaming others.

I know almost all the OWS crowd can be middle class if they truly made that a goal and swallowed all pride to make it. I believe in people, and think a rich dude, corporation or government can hardly stop it.

 

[bucs90]

If there is a significant amount of people experiencing the same problem, it's reasonable to assume there is a cause outside the individual.

To that end I highly doubt the individual is at blame here.

A significant number of people suffer from doing crack, meth and heroine.
A signifitcant number of people have too many kids out of wedlock.

Both are problems. Neither are anyone's fault but their own.

Seems to be to be a societal problem that enables them to do that.

Most societal problems can be translated to a large number of individuals all making the same stupid choice.

Drugs and teen pregnancy are societal problems, because a lot of individuals make that poor choice.

Now, what morals and parenting have caused that choice to be made more freely? Well, a few. Thats a whole seperate thread though, agree?

 

[Photonic]

A significant number of people suffer from doing crack, meth and heroine.
A signifitcant number of people have too many kids out of wedlock.

Both are problems. Neither are anyone's fault but their own.

Seems to be to be a societal problem that enables them to do that.

Most societal problems can be translated to a large number of individuals all making the same stupid choice.

Drugs and teen pregnancy are societal problems, because a lot of individuals make that poor choice.

Now, what morals and parenting have caused that choice to be made more freely? Well, a few. Thats a whole seperate thread though, agree?

I agree, that is a separate issue. But in issues of fiscal responsibility there is a certain degree of leniency on the individuals situation if it's being attributed to a large group of people.

I think the blame is on all levels, individual, corporate, and government.

 

[bucs90]

Seems to be to be a societal problem that enables them to do that.

Most societal problems can be translated to a large number of individuals all making the same stupid choice.

Drugs and teen pregnancy are societal problems, because a lot of individuals make that poor choice.

Now, what morals and parenting have caused that choice to be made more freely? Well, a few. Thats a whole seperate thread though, agree?

I agree, that is a separate issue. But in issues of fiscal responsibility there is a certain degree of leniency on the individuals situation if it's being attributed to a large group of people.

I think the blame is on all levels, individual, corporate, and government.

Hmm. Possibly. I suppose a corporation could make it harder for employees to get promoted, and government taxes could make it harder for people to prosper.

I just have trouble sympathizing for anyone who appears to have made many voluntary bad choices in life. I'd be willing to be charitable. But the protesting and demanding of society to make up for their bad choices is just sad.

 

[Photonic]

Most societal problems can be translated to a large number of individuals all making the same stupid choice.

Drugs and teen pregnancy are societal problems, because a lot of individuals make that poor choice.

Now, what morals and parenting have caused that choice to be made more freely? Well, a few. Thats a whole seperate thread though, agree?

I agree, that is a separate issue. But in issues of fiscal responsibility there is a certain degree of leniency on the individuals situation if it's being attributed to a large group of people.

I think the blame is on all levels, individual, corporate, and government.

Hmm. Possibly. I suppose a corporation could make it harder for employees to get promoted, and government taxes could make it harder for people to prosper.

I just have trouble sympathizing for anyone who appears to have made many voluntary bad choices in life. I'd be willing to be charitable. But the protesting and demanding of society to make up for their bad choices is just sad.

Part of the problem as I see it is the unwillingness of corporations to hire despite consistently posting higher and higher profits. They are causing the same political instability that they refuse to hire because of. It's a catch-22.

Not to mention their unwillingness to hire people who have been unemployed even if it was for economic reasons and not unwillingness to work. They make it more difficult for people to get back to work. Welfare does not help either because it keeps them at home instead of out searching.

 

[BDBoop]

I'm in the "99%" I suppose. Earn about 60K a year. Very modest. Own a home and a car. Have no debt except 30K more on my home. I graduated high school and college. Avoided having kids out of wedlock. Never committed any felonies. Worked a lot of crappy, low pay jobs after college and kept working and applying, and eventually got better jobs. I workout and stay fit. I'm not in the richest 1%. Yet....I'm happy. I'm fed. I'm healthy. I have no gripes. No ill will towards any rich person or corporation.

So I must ask....if you are in the 99% AND you are pissed about it, who is more at fault for your circumstance?

- Yourself?
- A corporation?
- The government?
- A rich guy?

I think some of you folks need to join "Occupy Myself" and realize your unhappiness is almost 99% your own fault. Stop blaming others. Work low level stuff until you earn your way up like the rest of us did.

Because I bet if you graduate, don't make kids out of wedlock, stay out of debt and out of jail, stay employed no matter how much you think you are "too good" for a job, and keep yourself fit........I bet if you do all that you'll be happily among the 99%. Like me.

I didn't go to college, and my 'out of wedlock' is 30 now. Your point would be better served if you were hanging by a thread and were still happy.

Like me.

 

[bucs90]

I agree, that is a separate issue. But in issues of fiscal responsibility there is a certain degree of leniency on the individuals situation if it's being attributed to a large group of people.

I think the blame is on all levels, individual, corporate, and government.

Hmm. Possibly. I suppose a corporation could make it harder for employees to get promoted, and government taxes could make it harder for people to prosper.

I just have trouble sympathizing for anyone who appears to have made many voluntary bad choices in life. I'd be willing to be charitable. But the protesting and demanding of society to make up for their bad choices is just sad.

Part of the problem as I see it is the unwillingness of corporations to hire despite consistently posting higher and higher profits. They are causing the same political instability that they refuse to hire because of. It's a catch-22.

Not to mention their unwillingness to hire people who have been unemployed even if it was for economic reasons and not unwillingness to work. They make it more difficult for people to get back to work. Welfare does not help either because it keeps them at home instead of out searching.

Yeah I can see that. I think political instability scares them too, and they are holding on to large cash reserves for a slush fund to handle future instability. It's a shame, because they could be hiring, but can you blame them for saving an insurance cushion for company survival?

You're right. Catch-22. We must first get political stability somehow. Then the companies can settle in and calm down a bit. Maybe then it'll balance out.

 

[Londoner]

I'm part of the 99% as well. I work hard, make a good living, and have a decent savings for retirement.

Unlike the original poster, though

I stand with Adam Smith who, famously, in his Wealth of Nations, conditioned the success of capitalism on the tight control of speculators with borrowed money; he called them “prodigals and projectors” and warned that they would deflect capital away from the job growth economy. Adam Smith is rolling over in his grave because of Wall Street, which destroyed the job prospects of a generation of Americans through the greatest, most criminally leveraged derivative-ponzi-scheme in world history. (Does the OP know how much say Bear, Lehman, AIG and Goldman burned in the derivatives market? This has nothing to do with moronic welfare queen home owners and everything to do with a financial sector which methodically and systematically placed bets that it could not cover)

If Smith were alive today he would vomit at the growth of financial services from 4% to 40% of the economy. He would vomit on a financial system which directs investments away from the manufacture of goods into a speculative casino which merely pushes up stock values so a small group of investors can parachute to safety before the bubble crashes and destroys the economy.

When the activity of the investment class becomes so radically de-coupled from job growth - because a small group of special interests has captured our political system - people have a right to be mad.

 

[Londoner]

Massive, historic, unprecedented financial losses and corruptly misdirected investments are supposed to remove inept entrepreneurs from industry. However, when those inept entrepreneurs own government (because of a trillion dollar lobbying industry aimed at both parties) they should be subject to the full force of public revolt. The only reason they are not subject to the full force of public revolt is because they have invested an equivalent amount into the information sources of the original poster.

God help us.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

I'm part of the 99% as well. I work hard, make a good living, and have a decent savings for retirement.

Unlike the original poster, though

I stand with Adam Smith who, famously, in his Wealth of Nations, conditioned the success of capitalism on the tight control of speculators with borrowed money; he called them “prodigals and projectors” and warned that they would deflect capital away from the job growth economy. Adam Smith is rolling over in his grave because of Wall Street, which destroyed the job prospects of a generation of Americans through the greatest, most criminally leveraged derivative-ponzi-scheme in world history. (Does the OP know how much say Bear, Lehman, AIG and Goldman burned in the derivatives market? This has nothing to do with moronic welfare queen home owners and everything to do with a financial sector which methodically and systematically placed bets that it could not cover)

If Smith were alive today he would vomit at the growth of financial services from 4% to 40% of the economy. He would vomit on a financial system which directs investments away from the manufacture of goods into a speculative casino which merely pushes up stock values so a small group of investors can parachute to safety before the bubble crashes and destroys the economy.

When the activity of the investment class becomes so radically de-coupled from job growth - because a small group of special interests has captured our political system - people have a right to be mad.

Except for AIG, I'd bet your examples made money on derivatives.
The crash wasn't caused by derivatives, it was caused by defaulting mortages.
And worsened by attacks on the banks after.

 

[ClosedCaption]

If there is a significant amount of people experiencing the same problem, it's reasonable to assume there is a cause outside the individual.

To that end I highly doubt the individual is at blame here.

I can't see how anyone could think otherwise, well said.

 

[uscitizen]

Here is a thought for y'all. WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT.
All this bad going on is OUR FAULT!

 

[Photonic]

Here is a thought for y'all. WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT.
All this bad going on is OUR FAULT!

If the average citizen had any real control over government policy, I would completely agree with you.

This isn't a true democracy though, it is a representative democracy. We simply elect people who make the decisions and hope they were not liars during their campaign.

Unfortunately...most of the time they ARE.

 

[earlycuyler]

I'm in the "99%" I suppose. Earn about 60K a year. Very modest. Own a home and a car. Have no debt except 30K more on my home. I graduated high school and college. Avoided having kids out of wedlock. Never committed any felonies. Worked a lot of crappy, low pay jobs after college and kept working and applying, and eventually got better jobs. I workout and stay fit. I'm not in the richest 1%. Yet....I'm happy. I'm fed. I'm healthy. I have no gripes. No ill will towards any rich person or corporation.

So I must ask....if you are in the 99% AND you are pissed about it, who is more at fault for your circumstance?

- Yourself?
- A corporation?
- The government?
- A rich guy?

I think some of you folks need to join "Occupy Myself" and realize your unhappiness is almost 99% your own fault. Stop blaming others. Work low level stuff until you earn your way up like the rest of us did.

Because I bet if you graduate, don't make kids out of wedlock, stay out of debt and out of jail, stay employed no matter how much you think you are "too good" for a job, and keep yourself fit........I bet if you do all that you'll be happily among the 99%. Like me.

For me its underwear gnomes. I swear, I buy a dozen par of socks in three days they have ALL disappeared.

 

[uscitizen]

Here is a thought for y'all. WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT.
All this bad going on is OUR FAULT!

If the average citizen had any real control over government policy, I would completely agree with you.

This isn't a true democracy though, it is a representative democracy. We simply elect people who make the decisions and hope they were not liars during their campaign.

Unfortunately...most of the time they ARE.

You are doing the cop out.

We blindly support partisan politcs being led to believe that anyone in our party is better than the other party.
We are being used by the machine to their best interests not ours.

 

[Photonic]

Here is a thought for y'all. WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT.
All this bad going on is OUR FAULT!

If the average citizen had any real control over government policy, I would completely agree with you.

This isn't a true democracy though, it is a representative democracy. We simply elect people who make the decisions and hope they were not liars during their campaign.

Unfortunately...most of the time they ARE.

You are doing the cop out.

We blindly support partisan politcs being led to believe that anyone in our party is better than the other party.
We are being used by the machine to their best interests not ours.

...What?

Did you just say I was making a cop out at the same time as parroting what I just said?

 

[uscitizen]

If the average citizen had any real control over government policy, I would completely agree with you.

This isn't a true democracy though, it is a representative democracy. We simply elect people who make the decisions and hope they were not liars during their campaign.

Unfortunately...most of the time they ARE.

You are doing the cop out.

We blindly support partisan politcs being led to believe that anyone in our party is better than the other party.
We are being used by the machine to their best interests not ours.

...What?

Did you just say I was making a cop out at the same time as parroting what I just said?

Think about it.

What if we had an election and virtually no one showed up?
Or most wrote in Jon Stewart for president or somesuch.

But noooo we keep voting for the same bunch of liars and their lying cronies.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Part of the problem as I see it is the unwillingness of corporations to hire despite consistently posting higher and higher profits. They are causing the same political instability that they refuse to hire because of. It's a catch-22.

Not to mention their unwillingness to hire people who have been unemployed even if it was for economic reasons and not unwillingness to work. They make it more difficult for people to get back to work. Welfare does not help either because it keeps them at home instead of out searching.

I was with you up to the ‘welfare’ part, which conflicts with your original correct statement that the issue isn’t an unwillingness to work. ‘Welfare’ is a symptom, nothing more – and necessary considering hiring is anathema to the corporate bottom line.