BlueDog wrote:And, one other possible reason for so many Americans expressing their dissatisfaction with "the way things are" is because they see America going in an unwanted direction. So many of the greedy wealthy are getting so much more, at an ever increasing rate, at the expense of the poor and the middle class. They have no qualms of selling out their fellow countrymen. A good GNP value masks the fact that only the greedy wealthy are prospering while the average Joe is failing fast. What used to be Ronald Reagan's trickle down affect now trickles to China, etc. The jobs are sent overseas. So I see it too as also told by vwtyp133, Surfcam & 82vdub. My turn to jump down from the soabox. Ed
I find it ironic that when someone is asked such a generic wide open question such as "are you happy with the direction the country is going" that anyone takes the answers seriously. I mean if they ask if you're happy with the number of abortions, how the economy is, or other pointed questions, then you may get some answers that actually means something. However, are you happy with the way the country is going means a million different things to a million different people and is, IMO, a stupid meaningless question.
I also find it ironic that everyone today seems to be complaining about the rich man getting richer and the poor man staying poor. Last time I checked, this is America. If you want to get rich, make changes in your life to work towards your goal. If you want to be the guy that finds the cure for breast cancer, work towards your goal. To blame the people that have money for all the problems is looking at the wrong guy. The fact is that the rich are the real movers and shakers of this country. Afterall, when Trump moves his money around, he's moving millions of it and effecting lots of people.
Americans are suckers for $20 a month. Americans will spend their entire income for a payment. We've been so ingrained to accept payments and taxes, that when any governor, senator, president etc says "oh, it's only going to cost just a little bit more" people sign up for it. Back when the tax system was instituted, it was never to effect anyone except the very wealthy. So, I find it ironic that everyone seems to be on the "Oh, just raise the taxes a bit and it'll fix all the problems" attitude. You've been sold a bill of goods, as government doesn't have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem.
Then, you want corporations to pay for universal health care, make them pay more for this or that, just dump all the taxes on the corporations, not the taxpayer. Wake up, corporations don't pay taxes, the consumer does. Then, when the corporation is faced with huge pressures to make a profit (afterall, that's the reason why they exist) against competition and other market forces, they move their production lines to places where their costs are lower. Then, you rail on them for moving jobs overseas, when it's been everyone's fault for falling for the "just a little bit more taxes" scheme you've bought into.
I have yet to find someone that will turn down a pay raise that comes with no additional responsibility. Everyone wants to make more money, so why hate the guy who's made it to where most people want to end up at? You would also be hard pressed to find anyone that's running around pushing the tax the rich theme who doesn't claim every legal tax deduction when filing their own taxes. I mean if you want the rich to pay more, then start paying more yourself. Lead by example. The government will only come after you if you take more deductions then you should, but will never come after you for not taking a tax deduction. If you don't know it, everyone is rich. You can't figure out what I mean here? Rich is another subjective term. $50k a year is like a million dollars to someone, but only like a $1 to someone else.
Taxes are an unfortunate part of today's life. Unfortunately, the governenments contribution (if you can call it that) to the GDP is somewhere around 30%. For those that don't get it, that means that governements spending accounts for 30% of all gross domestic product. All that 30% comes from the work of others, as the governement produces no goods or services and only "takes" from those that do. Why do people hate Exxon/Mobil when they make .06 on a dollar sold when Pepsi makes .22 on the same dollar of sales? Why do people hate Exxon/Mobil when they make .06 profit on a dollar of sales, but the government gets .26 "profit" on that dollar and they did absolutely nothing towards it's exploration, refinement, and delivery to market.
Wake up and start thinking outside the box. Sorry hagar
Everybody else lists their cars here - but not me.
I have too many to count