Quote:Not endorsing (selfishness or) anything of the sort. If I go out and work my ****** off for 15 to 18 hours a day for 10 years and build a business, is it selfish for me to reap the rewards???

Not at all. People who work hard should be rewarded. And, people who successfully build businesses always have been rewarded in America.

As for someone who, though hard work, has built up a nice business and attained some degree of personal wealth -- and then insists they deserve a personal income tax cut? In my mind, that person is selfish. It's even unpatriotic. America has been good to you. Give back to the country that has been good to you.

(I mean, it isn't like children of the wealthy have to do things like fight in Iraq).

Quote:anyone...I MEAN ANYONE... can start a business if they see a need. Hell, if you dont do anything but buy an old pickup truck and haul junk, you can build it into a business, if you are willing to work.

This might work. This might not. Most small businesses fail.

<a href='http://www.desmondconsulting.com/homepage_articles/why_do_small_business_fail.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.desmondconsulting.com/homepage_...siness_fail.htm</a>

Many, many things can go wrong. An established junk hauler could run me out of business. My pickup truck might break down, leaving me with no capital to buy a new one.

And, come on, let's face it, hauling junk isn't likely to put much food on the table. It might -- if I'm lucky. But I would need some luck.

Neither is working at Wal-Mart or McDonalds. Hard work might get someone to a place of self-sufficiency. But it might take a lot of hard work just to get to that place. What in the meantime?

The reality is, there are more people looking for jobs in America than there are jobs. Although the nation reached full employment (4 percent or so unemployment) in the late 1960s and late 1990s, historically, full employment is an anomaly.

What of the people left without jobs? And what of the people with jobs that don't pay enough to make ends meet?

This is where government helps. It helps with:

-- health insurance for the working poor (a major element of the 1996 welfare reform bill; previously, the prospect of losing health insurance work was a disincentive to work).
-- day care.
-- job training, so that the skills of people looking for work better match the skills in demand in the marketplace.
-- fighting addiction, so that people mired in alcohol or drugs can make themselves able to work and support a family on their own.
-- food stamps, ensuring that no one starves -- particularly children who didn't choose to grow up poor.
-- ensuring those too old to work can still be guaranteed a minimum standard of living.

Quote:I am not entitled to anyfreaking thing. And I never asked for anything other than a chance. Dont give me the bs that anyone cannot do what I did. It was not handed to me, I busted my ****** for it.

If you in fact did build up a business, that's great. But it doesn't work out that way for everyone.

My brother started a valet parking company. He lost his ******. He moved on, finished working on his bachelor's degree, got a decent job because of that education, and paid off his debts. He's doing okay. He even has some equity built up now.

But he had some advantages. He's smarter than the average bear. And he had parents who could afford to pull him through some rough patches. Not everyone has those advantages.

[quote]Ask family farmers about getting wealthy because of the death tax.