Mr. Spitzer had $80,000 to blow on hookers while I'm struggling to

[Carl]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3008292

hedgehog  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-14-08 12:38 PM
Original message
Mr. Spitzer had $80,000 to blow on hookers while I'm struggling to
   pay tuition, room and board for my kids at state universities.

Is this an argument that there is something wrong with our current tax system?

Yeah,damn rich capitalist democrat.

Well,not really to all of the primitives.

aikoaiko (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-14-08 12:40 PM
Response to Original message
1. I'm sure the escort service and escort paid their taxes that subsidize state univ tuition

I`m not sure if this is a joke or just stupid.

w4rma  (1000+ posts)         Fri Mar-14-08 12:40 PM
Response to Original message
2. Our country is blowing hundreds of billions to kill brown people in other places in the world. (nt)

selador (204 posts)        Fri Mar-14-08 12:41 PM
Response to Original message
3. not unless
   your argument is that the tax system should tax the wealthy (e.g. spitzer) out of their wealth


there's plenty wrong with the tax system, but the fact that a wealthy man has money to spend on hookers is not part of it, imo

i would like a higher minimum wage, and some other changes.

but i don't want the wealthy stripped of their riches

Post that on a different thread and you will see granite.

Ghost in the Machine  (1000+ posts)         Fri Mar-14-08 01:29 PM
Response to Original message
9. What does anyone elses financial status have to do with yours?
   I just don't understand this line of thinking by some people here. Seriously. It's beyond ridiculous. Part of the problem with this country is that too many people spend too much time worrying about what everyone else has, instead of worrying about their OWN lives and how to better it.

Here you are disaparaging someone who was born into a family with money, yet in the same breath you state that YOU are paying for YOUR KIDS to go to college. Shouldn't they be working to pay for their OWN education. That's basically what you're saying about Spitzer, isn't it? That if his family's money had been taxed to death, he wouldn't have had $80,000 to spend on hookers? Why should YOUR kids benefit from YOUR money? Pretty ironic and hypocritical, if you ask me.

 

Ghost in the Machine  (1000+ posts)         Fri Mar-14-08 04:40 PM
Response to Reply #10
18. I'm all for fair taxes, but the prevailing mentality that I've seen here is
   to tax the rich until they're poor. Education is the main key to ending the cycle of poverty, imho.

Also, all of these companies paying their CEOs all these huge salaries and golden parachute retirement packages should be barred from receiving one dime of government subsidies. The same with the oil companies. If they are unwilling to invest their profits back into their own businesses, they either need to go out of business or change how they do things, not keep sucking off of the government teat of subsidies and corporate welfare.

"If everyone were being taken care of, if we had universal and comprehensive medical care, decent unemployment benefits, universal education, if there were no homeless people because everyone was guaranteed shelter and clothing and food, then yes indeed who cares what the filthy rich waste their loot on?"

We have no guarantees in life, only constants. There is no *guarantee* that the sun is gonna come up tomorrow, but all past actions support the theory that it will. No one, and I do mean NO ONE, is guaranteed at birth to have a home, food or clothing. You have to work for things, not just expect them to be handed to you. If everyone was guaranteed a home, food & clothing, many people wouldn't have much incentive to work, would they?

 

Ghost in the Machine  (1000+ posts)         Fri Mar-14-08 06:51 PM
Response to Reply #23
25. "It seems you don't really realize the numbers here."
   It seems that YOU don't really realize the bottom line here. The bottom line is: Stop worrying about what someone else has and start worrying about yourself. It's not your job, nor is it your place, to tell someone else how much money they can make, or what to spend it on. PERIOD.

Some of you people friggin amaze me, you know that? If you aren't happy with your station in life, change stations and change your life. I *could* have gone to medical school. I had the grades & the scholarship offers ... I CHOSE to go into construction instead because, quite frankly, I LIKE working outdoors *and* with my hands. I also like being in different places. Finish one job, move on to the next. The thought of going to the same place day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year is just very unappealing to me... almost sickening. The thought of having to wear a suit and tie sickens me worse, as does the thought of having to shave every day. I can think of 100 things I'd rather do every morning than stand in front of a mirror dragging a sharp piece of metal across my face. I'd rather stick sewing needles under my fingernails...

Again.. the bottom line: worry about yourself and what you can do to improve YOUR life. Don't worry about how much money someone else has, or how they spend it. It's not your place...

 

Ghost in the Machine  (1000+ posts)         Fri Mar-14-08 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #13
21. not sharing equitably in the fruits of their labors??
   Acceptance of employment is a contract... either written, verbal or implied. If you don't like the terms of it, don't accept it. That's a pretty simple solution, isn't it? Otherwise, you need to start your own business, with your own money, then *you* can decide on how much you want to pay people, and how much you want to share with your employees.

I'm highly skilled in several construction trades, from residential and commercial roofing, to framing, iron working, tile setting, operating cranes & boom trucks, pipefitting, plumbing & installing cental AC systems. I never had to worry about a job back before I became disabled, and I knew how much I could make doing each job. I was usually hired on as a lead man, foreman or supervisor, but I worked right along beside my crews. I showed the owners what I knew AND how I worked. I never asked any of my crew members to do ANYTHING that I wouldn't do, couldn't do or hadn't already done at some point before. I've run multi MILLION dollar jobs. Does that mean I should be entitled to a huge salary or huge cut of the profits? NO! I accepted a job at $15 to $18 per hour, and I did what was expected of me. Period.

Also, in my business I just shut down, EVERY ONE of my employees made money. Me? I LOST $80,000 last year, trying to keep everyone employed and hoping things would turn around. They didn't... and now I'm out of business, broke... and scared for the first time in my life. Should I go tell my employees that they owe me money since they made some and I didn't?? How's that "sharing equitably in the fruits of their labors" sound to you now?? If you worked for a company that lost money, would YOU be willing to pay them back what you got from them?? I didn't think so...

   

[LadyLiberty]

I'd say Ghost In The Machine is on borrowed time there. Good for him/her, though.

[Lord Undies]

Well, the DUmmie idea....the liberal idea...is for all successful people...the people who have taken advantage of the American dream...should toss all their gain back to the government so the government can use it to pay 75 % of it to the folks working for the government, and send the other 25% TO FOLKS WHO CONTRIBUTE NOTHING to the country. 

Somewhere in the DUmmie mind, they think productive people will continue to produce, even when they gain nothing.  It amazes me.  They really think productive people produce out of the love of production.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I'd say Ghost In The Machine is on borrowed time there. Good for him/her, though.

Indeed, it sounds like he has a lot more in common with a few of us than with any of them.