Where has this sense of entitlement come from?

If the market for my business were to dry up tomorrow, I would have no problem finding a job. It may not be a job I like, but there are always construction sites that need to be cleaned up, burgers to be flipped, etc etc.

No one is overqualified to push a broom, or push some computer buttons.

Well, why is the government "entitled" to all of our money and also "entitled" to set rules for us? Considering their recent lack of propensity for proper feduciary responsability and intelligent foreign and domestic policy I'd say mine is the better question.
They're funded by taxes paid on every purchase you make, piece of property you own and income you receive. So if we're paying them for a service (governing) and they're not performing that service (they're not) it's not really a sense of entitlement that demands a refund but a sense of justice and fairness.
Why do you feel an innate sense that you must be taxed and receive nothing for it? Programming?
None of the people working in our government today are personally responsible for the greatness of this nation so I feel no guilt in not giving them my loyalty. Faith in bad government is not what this country was founded on, some of you are confused. America was the original consumer advocate.

Thanks for you answer. My first job was at 14 (farm), I worked construction in late teens but I still haven't racked up as many jobs as you did.

You are looking at the situation from your particular angle. However, there are cases (like when you took out a college loan and need to repay) when you can't afford to take just any job. Secondly, finding a professional position takes a lot of research and actual interviews, and you need to be available on a moment's notice becase if you are not, they aren't going to talk to you again.

Don't you know ? To keep us safe from all those terrorists of course

I can't speak for other people. I'm not them.

That said, I don't expect something for nothing. However, it enrages me that productivity has increased astronomically in the past century yet we work longer and for less pay. There is no excuse for that whatsoever.

reply to post by Constitutional Scholar

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Ahoy matie...welcome aboard, the SS-ATS!!!

Now with the economy sinking we have the neo-fascists and communists crawling out of the woodwork calling for mutiny, "Capitalism, did this to us!!" -they cry-out.

Instead of trying to patch-up holes on the ship, caused by socialist and corporatist policies in the first place, they'd rather drop an anchor through the bowel. "Quick....poke a larger HOLE, SO THE WATER CAN ESCAPE!!" -scream the lemmings.







[edit on 10-10-2008 by Gateway]

At a dinner party I overheard a pin-brain employer loudmouthing as he stuffed grease into his ignorant face.

He said: ' People don't want to work these days. That's the problem. I'm always looking for workers. Can't get anyone. And when I do, they quit. They just don't want to work.' Ended with self-satisfied gloating grin as if expecting applause.

The other numb-nuts sat there, big adult-bibs tied around their necks, stuffing their faces, already at least half drunk. They nodded to the loud-mouth with equally self-satisfied smirks. They were his mother, his wife, one of his sons and his wife and assorted small-businessmen and women.

I'd been listening to this sort of garbage for years. I owned and operated a couple of businesses. My staff, in the majority of cases, had been with me for years. I'd had NO problem gaining applicants. More than I could handle. They'd all wanted a job.

So, I'd had enough of the ' back in MY day' bores and said to the loud-mouth: ' What qualifications do you have, Glenn ?'

He said he was a qualified electrician.

' When and how did you gain your qualifications, Glenn ? '

He smirked (maybe he just has a punchable face ?) .. ' Left school at 15 and went straight into an apprenticeship for my dad. Took over the business from him.'

I nodded. ' Uh huh. Dad gave you an apprenticeship. Taught you all he knew. Then handed you his business. Not bad. Since then, you've moved into an electrical retail business, selling washing machines, fridges, teevees. Well .. your employees work your business and you sit in your little office all day, reading the paper and playing big-shot. That's more the truth, isn't it ? Because you could no more climb in a roof space or under a house or wire up a new house these days than you could run 50 yards .. right ? '

It was right and we all knew it.

' And what do you pay your workers ? ' I asked him .. ' Award wage ? Contract ? And for that, they have to work weekends and public holidays. And you treat them like garbage to their faces and humiliate them in front of customers. YOU .. YOU do that. YOU, who have never SEEN a resume or CV, let alone know how to compile one or even spell it.
YOU, with your basic education and average-at-best IQ. YOU .. who was handed an apprenticeship 'back in the day' when average-IQ types were taught a trade.'

' Do you see many apprenticeships on offer these days?' I asked him.
' When was the last time YOU put on an apprentice ? Do you know how much the world has changed since your day ? Back in YOUR day, you could quit a job at 11 am and have another by 1pm. Full employment back in YOUR day. Not any more. Look around. If jobs were so easy to get ... WHY did you pay so your own children could have a university education ? And yet two of your children STILL aren't working ! Why IS that, Glenn ? Is it because they 'don't want to work ' ? Is it because they're finding a lot of employers are just like good old Dad and pay peanuts .. and abuse their staff and threaten them with the sack at least once a week ? Old power-freaks like you ? '

Then I dumped my napkin on the table and walked away.

Employment used to be taken for granted, most often. Ok .. people were guilty of assuming that if they were prepared to work hard and be honest, then they could earn their daily bread. So sorry. It's just that back then, most of what a nation consumed was produced BY that nation's population.
So their bad, huh, for believing there were jobs out there .. for never expecting they'd ever have to join the dole queue .. for expecting they could marry, have children, pay their mortgage and have a bit left over for their retirement.

It's been my experience that most people DO want to work and earn their own living .. even those in their 60s. Given the opportunity AND a job, most people WOULD work to at least retirement age.

Now all we need are the jobs, huh ?

Think Obama or McCain will put an end to all that lucrative oursourcing ?
Think they'll have the guts to buck Big Business ?
Think they'll take care of their voters instead of their Big Business buddies ?

Let's see

reply to post by Dock6

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Dock6

That was a very great piece .

reply to post by TARBOX

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Everyone struggles at some point, what matters is that they do what it takes to succeed.

OP I agree with you on many points you've made and I agree with your philosophy myself.

I'm about your age and have done alot of things over the years from sales, IT, Data input, labouring, back to college and university, then back to IT and now finally working as a builder.

I have debts to pay from university etc.

It's always gonna be better to work a crappy job and earn £50 a day than to sit in the house earning nothing, regardless of how professional a position you think you should be in.

And there are ALWAYS jobs available, just because you dont wanna do any of them, doesnt mean they are not available.

I am entitled to what I have worked for.
As was mentioned earlier, I know for a fact that some of my taxes are paying for other's misdeeds and that bothers me because while some of us try and do rather well at living withing their means, others are simply freeloaders or outright criminals.
Hoarding, I think, is somewhat boarderline in my opinion, but I just think of it as another take on saving for a rainy day which can be a good thing if managed well and righteously distributed in times of need.

reply to post by 4N6310

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You already have what you have worked for correct?

Do you believe you are "owed" anything else?

reply to post by 4N6310

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Where the heck did this ‘hoarding’ stuff come from? It’s popping up all over and it always strikes me as peculiar. Is my mom a ‘hoarder’ for putting money away for her retirement, and why the heck should she be expected to ‘righteously distribute it in times of need?” She worked her butt off her whole life for what she’s got, and if she decides to keep it in money form, or property, or stored food it’s hers to do with as she wishes. Get your own! I sometimes think that excuses are being made in advance for stealing peoples preparations when the TSHTF.

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As to the OP, it seems to me that acclimating people to the nanny-state has been a decades long process. The black community has been particularly hard hit IMO. The welfare requirements that there be no man in the house has just destroyed so many black families that I find it criminal. Back in the 70’s during bussing when I was in Jr. High, many low income blacks were bussed to my school. I only knew two (both girls) who were planning on doing something with their lives. Most would tell you they didn’t want to work, that the gov should take care of them because of slavery. (Thanks LBJ) They just couldn’t see, and many still can’t, that they had just exchanged the old plantation for a government one. It’s one thing to not be particularly ambitious, I’m not myself, but to want to live as a dependant is too much for me to fathom.

I pay income tax, council tax, roadtax, and then tax on every single thing i purchase and inevitably i'll pay inheritance tax, in return the government sold all the national assets to private companies which we now have to pay extortionate prices for things like water, gas, electricity. If im made unemployed for whatever reason you are damn right im gonna be claiming whatever i need to because im entitled to it. You see if i fail to pay my bank my mortgage payments i become homeless, if the bank fails to cover its costs it gets bailed out.

The government as it exists now in the western world is there to protect the wealthy and keep everyone else in check, its a sad state of affairs we give our government too much power and shock horror they abuse it. At the very least we are all entitled to a roof over our heads and the means to survive, and protecting those who struggle to protect themselves is what makes us human or have we become that bitter its a case of screw everyone im alright jack.

Good post I've often thought the same thing

As Americans, we MUST, COMPLETELY, AVOID foreign influence in our markets, stop sending our jobs overseas, by supporting only "Made in the U.S.A." products.

Listen up, you lost your job, because you shopped at WalMart!

Turn things around and get a job, and buy into the American dream, yourself... I support the OP.

very succinctly put , RockCore!

My husband is disabled. Can he sit at computer in his wheelchair? Yes. Can he type? Sure. Do you want to hear his screams of agony all day as pain shoots down his legs, eating away at his muscles that is caused by his Muscular Dystrophy. Oh, and every employer gives nap time, I forgot about that. That will give him the relief he needs from his back pain caused by sitting in the wheelchair.

Choose your words wisely when it comes to disabled people. My husband woud ten times rather be working than be disabled. It's not an option for him. And the pay sucks. I make more in one week than he does all month.