The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: GOBUCKS on April 09, 2011, 01:44:25 PM
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upstatecajun (386 posts) Sat Apr-09-11 10:46 AM
Original message
The American Dream as We Know it Is Obsolete
In an era of insecurity, we all want security.
We want a decent home to call our own, healthcare to heal us when we are sick or old, education to improve our minds and job prospects, healthy food and clean water to nourish us, income to provide for all our needs and even some affordable luxuries, a career to give us social status and a sense of self-worth, and a pension for our golden years.
http://www.tloforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=91
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x851404
Well, DUmmy upstatecajun, if you aren't a mole, the way you describe it is pretty much the way it is for many of us. No one has perfect security, never did and never will, but all that other stuff is every bit as attainable today as it has ever been, despite the efforts of the jug-eared muslim and the socialists in Congress. Unless you are a DUmmy, which I guess you are. In that case, do the world a favor. Go away and die.
OHdem10 (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 10:50 AM
Response to Original message
1. Thanks to Conservative Economic Fundamentalism and
a Democratic Party not willing to fight it.
Instead they parrot the "Free Market Principles"
and throw their own under the bus.
Welcome to Right Wing America.
LiberalEsto (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 11:04 AM
Response to Original message
2. Yes it is and I'm obsolete too.
Former newspaper reporter and marketing writer, out of work two and a half years, 59 years old, female, no money for retraining, arthritic ankles and knees, unemployable in this job market.
Thank Goddess my husband has a job, but after working long hours all week, he is putting in a 13.5 hour work day today and a 12 hour work day tomorrow. Monday he has to be at his desk at 7 a.m when his regular work week starts again. And he does not get one penny of pay for the extra hours. I worry that he may keel over from the excessive work and stress.
I'll bet Dummy Liberalspanishword mentions those arthritic ankles in every job interview.
RickFromMN (91 posts) Sat Apr-09-11 11:42 AM
Response to Original message
3. What would the American Dream be like if FDR's Second Bill of Rights had been enacted?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights
They had unicorns back in the 1930s, too.
Mnemosyne (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 12:47 PM
Response to Reply #3
8. That would have been wonderful, Rick.
It would have been a country based on lifting each other up; rather than tearing each other apart.
Employment, with a living wage,
Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies,
Housing,
Medical care,
Education
Social security
Yes, Rick, it would have been so wonderful! Everything would have been free. No one would have to work. Free houses. Free medical care for all. The rich would be executed. There would be a big mountain made of rock candy. And the skies would not be cloudy all day.
realFedUp (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 11:46 AM
Response to Original message
4. but we aren't and neither are protests
Recall, vote, protest, write, call, e-mail, show up, support
the orgs that are doing the good work.
Show up with your money, if you still have some.
Support the pols who actually do what they say they will
Vote out those who are just taking up valuable seats
Speak out when people are wrong
Educate, inform, correct the lies, loudly and simply
Whoa, DUmmy realFedUp, you forgot internet petitions.
SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 11:53 AM
Response to Original message
5. It was all a post-world war mirage..that lasted a couple of generations & a smidge
the time before and after will be pretty much the way the world ran before, with the super rich in charge & everyone else scrambling to keep food in the belly & a roof over the head..
It would have been a shorter-lived blip, but for the introduction of the EZ-Credit for the masses. Plastic covered for the chipping away of the infrastructure that was the base. People tend to be optimistic, and while acquiring things on credit, and feeling more affluent, they fell into the trap as their optimism got crushed by job loss, high interest payments and generally things not working out as planned..
The only ones who got the full measure, were the parents of boomers, many of whom got the new deal when it was fresh & they were young & energetic, the ones who went through the "big war", came out the other side with all the government goodies, and then when they started to age, the Great Society was there as their old age safety net/ Many/most of them are gone now, but they had a good ride...and we younger ones (the boomers) paid for it all..for our whole lives..
Mulhane (41 posts) Sat Apr-09-11 12:31 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. And the ones who are left
...mostly want to deny even a semblance of these bennies for all the kids they produced.
I refuse to consider anything said by someone who uses the term "bennies".
SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 01:15 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. It was all done with borrowed money.. If younger ones want it, they will borrow too
Once we lost our manufacturing base & the good jobs that went with it, we have been "eating the seed corn".
All the bazillions of dollars pumped into the economy by the taxes of the Boomers were not used wisely.. Congress after congress gobbled it up and slathered it all over themselves & their buddies..
As long as we were all working,. paying & using plastic, those plates kept spinning, but money can only be spent once & then it;s gone, and now we are entering the retirement phase and all that extra money we prepaid for ourselves while we were "bonusing" up Granny & Gramps' retirements, well..it's all been spent..
The 30 year span from 1950-1980 was about the best it was financially, and it will not return anytime soon, for a lot of reasons.. it was a blip..
an oddity
Life will go back to the way it was before, and we will all have to adapt..
Countries here and there will experience their own "blip", but eventually theirs will falter too..
That goes to show you how stupid DUmmies really are! The real prosperity didn't kick in until the great Ronald Reagan took the presidency in the 1980 election. Most of us are still enjoying era of security and prosperity he brought to the entire civilized world. Of course, DUmmies like SoCalDem languish under in any circumstances, having no useful skill and no work ethic.
taught_me_patience (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 01:54 PM
Response to Original message
10. I just don't buy it
The middle class is alive and well for millions of SoCal people and people across the nation. America is STILL the place that immigrants want to come to make a living. The american dream is a bit harder than it used to be, but is far from dead.
Troll alert! Troll alert! True democrats know America sucks. This guy has to be a Rethug.
Tierra_y_Libertad (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 02:04 PM
Response to Original message
11. You mean there isn't really a Happy Land?
Where dad carries a briefcase and mom does the cooking and the kids are named Duff and Muffin? Where only white people live..except for the nice negro maid and funny Mexican gardener?
Sorry, DUmmy Tierrabunchofspanish, but the life you describe is almost exactly the one many of us lead. Now, we have never had a black maid, and the Mexican is a lawn guy, not a gardener per se, but yep, you've got it. The kids aren't named DUff or Muffin, but as young adults they are already leading that lifestyle as well. So, DUmmy Tierrabunchofspanish, eat your heart out.
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The American Dream is alive and well for those that work hard and live right.
Instead of sitting at the DUmp and wishing for free stuff or hoping to take what they didn't work for, that dream could be their's too.
I've never seen such envy and hate in my life before reading the DUmp.
Lazy good for nothing Liberals. I have yet to meet one that doesn't think they deserve what someone else has without working for it.
I live the dream. Suck on that DUmmies. :tongue:
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Mnemosyne (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 12:47 PM
Response to Reply #3
8. That would have been wonderful, Rick.
It would have been a country based on lifting each other up; rather than tearing each other apart.
Employment, with a living wage,
Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies,
Housing,
Medical care,
Education
Social security
Wasn't there a place somewhere once that claimed to be doing pretty much what this comrade talks about? My face is red because I can't remember for sure.
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Translation: Mom and dad wrote me out of the will for being a zoned out liberal freak. Or mom and dad got ill and needed all their savings to care for themselves. IOW the big payday never came. Now I am bitter because I frittered away my life expecting to spend still more of mom and dad's money.
Woe is me.
There are plenty of people who find themselves in this situation though their own failure to build a foundation under their dreams instead of expecting mom and dad to leave them a bundle. Then too, there are those who thought they could sell the Mc Mansion for a kings ransom, buy a cottage on Walden pond for cheap with the excess filling the empty retirement account. (the eggs in one basket crowd IYW) Um nope, that ain't going to happen either. Now in hindsight they are coming to realize they should have done what their parents did (save for the rainy day and not expect someone else to do it for them). Amazing how accurate hindsight is.
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The screaming about equal education is getting old. Don't the DUmmies realize that if every swinging dick had the same education level, they would be in no better position than they are currently in!
The world needs janitors and ditch diggers. Oh, and let's not forget those who are practiced in the art of saying "Would you like fries with that?"
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The screaming about equal education is getting old. Don't the DUmmies realize that if every swinging dick had the same education level, they would be in no better position than they are currently in!
The world needs janitors and ditch diggers. Oh, and let's not forget those who are practiced in the art of saying "Would you like fries with that?"
You are exactly on target. No matter where or how much the bell-shaped curve is shifted, the DUmmies will always occupy the left-hand tail.
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SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-09-11 11:53 AM
Response to Original message
5......The only ones who got the full measure, were the parents of boomers, many of whom got the new deal when it was fresh & they were young & energetic, the ones who went through the "big war", came out the other side with all the government goodies, and then when they started to age, the Great Society was there as their old age safety net/ Many/most of them are gone now, but they had a good ride...and we younger ones (the boomers) paid for it all..for our whole lives..
I'm not totally sure about this.
Seems to me there was an age group where SS really didn't help, or it was minimal.
The term "cusp", comes to mind.
Do any of you recall this?
My folks were part of that group.
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When my husband graduated from high school, he went to work in a factory and hated it. After about a year of this, he decided he wanted to go to tech school. However, his father had recently died and his family had barely enough money to survive so he received a Pell grant which allowed him to go to tech school full-time. He also worked full-time. Back then, his Pell grant was maybe for $3000.00. He went to school for two years and immediately went to work in his chosen field and still works in that field 25 years later.
The federal government got a nice return on their investment in him. We pay more than that in federal taxes each and every month.
See how that works, DUmmies? It can be done.
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upstatecajun (386 posts) Sat Apr-09-11 10:46 AM
Original message
The American Dream as We Know it Is Obsolete
In an era of insecurity, we all want security.
We want a decent home to call our own, healthcare to heal us when we are sick or old, education to improve our minds and job prospects, healthy food and clean water to nourish us, income to provide for all our needs and even some affordable luxuries, a career to give us social status and a sense of self-worth, and a pension for our golden years.
http://www.tloforum.org/v...ewtopic.php?f=11&t=91
AND MOST importantly, I want someone else to pay for this....because I am so gifted and talented. The teachers all told me so and marveled at my arithmetic skills proving that 1+1 does equal POTATO.
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When my husband graduated from high school, he went to work in a factory and hated it. After about a year of this, he decided he wanted to go to tech school. However, his father had recently died and his family had barely enough money to survive so he received a Pell grant which allowed him to go to tech school full-time. He also worked full-time. Back then, his Pell grant was maybe for $3000.00. He went to school for two years and immediately went to work in his chosen field and still works in that field 25 years later.
The federal government got a nice return on their investment in him. We pay more than that in federal taxes each and every month.
See how that works, DUmmies? It can be done.
Yes, it does work very well, but you have to put down the bong, turn off the TV, get your fat ass off the couch, take a shower (daily), and apply yourself for it to work. That is the annoying detail that DUmmies can't get their empty heads wrapped around.
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When my husband graduated from high school, he went to work in a factory and hated it. After about a year of this, he decided he wanted to go to tech school. However, his father had recently died and his family had barely enough money to survive so he received a Pell grant which allowed him to go to tech school full-time. He also worked full-time. Back then, his Pell grant was maybe for $3000.00. He went to school for two years and immediately went to work in his chosen field and still works in that field 25 years later.
The federal government got a nice return on their investment in him. We pay more than that in federal taxes each and every month.
See how that works, DUmmies? It can be done.
Had a similar situation. Knew the college fund wasn't there so I joined the military. Got my GI bill and learned some valuable life lessons along the way. Now I am in school and in the top of my class.
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Life is full of choices.
You can choose to sit around on your ass and cry about not having what you want, while demanding that Big Brother provide you with it. Choose to demand that Big Brother confiscate something from another person, because you're too lazy or lacking in ability to get it yourself and too spiteful that someone might have it better than you.
Or, you can choose to work to the best of your ability to gain those things that you desire.
Obviously those things you desire will have to be tempered somewhat by your ability to achieve them, rather than your ability to persuade the looters to steal them for you.
Should you choose the first option - you'll most definitely die with your dreams unfulfilled.
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RickFromMN (91 posts) Sat Apr-09-11 11:42 AM
Response to Original message
3. What would the American Dream be like if FDR's Second Bill of Rights had been enacted?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights
We'd all be enjoying an equal standard of living. Except that it would be a c. 1950's lower-middle-class standard which would be viewed as "poor" by today's reckoning. We wouldn't have half the advances in science and medicine and technology that we now have because of the Socialism required to enact that bill of "rights", and thus the lack of profit motive.
Probably we'd be like Cuba with slightly newer cars.