Despite the rhetoric employed, the current dominant idea in the United States seems to be not so much that the “rich” (and, in practice, the middle class) have to pay “their fair share” to those who are starving to death in rat-infested squatter camps (of whom there aren’t many), but that they must subsidize upper middle class people who are non-productive yet living very nice lives, often better lives than those who are hard-working and subsidizing them. Those to be subsidized include those who want to work in cushy, unproductive, useless but prestigious jobs but cannot find them, or those who want to work in cushy, unproductive, useless but prestigious jobs and do find them working directly or indirectly for the government, supposedly doing good things.
h/t Revnant Dream
Excellent!
That’s a great essay.
AMEN !
this pretty much says it all about what we’ve bred…
http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/1483254_460s.jpg
Richard Dreyfuss is absolutely right. I should add, clanking my chains like the ghost of Jacob Marley: Don’t get a degree in Anthropology.
Since when have Americans fallen for the idea that government bureaucrats are so useful and productive that the answer to their problems is to have more such people?
That was the heart of the piece I think.
It also applies to subsidizing d1cks who write for papers like the Red Star.
I find it profoundly telling that the unionized, tenured and coddled professors of these liberal arts programs are all of your generation, but you still manage to point the blame at “the damn kids”.
People of the “entitlement generation” are just expecting what their parents (likely people of your age) took. Ironically, the goodies and entitlements of the boomers (not paid fo, of course) are being paid for by hard working members of this “entitlement generation”.
It’d be nice if you would look in the generational mirror every once in a while.
“Those to be subsidized include…those who want to work in cushy, unproductive, useless but prestigious jobs and do find them working directly or indirectly for the government, supposedly doing good things”
Entire ministries in that category…
My oldest son lost his job 3 years ago. The government helped out with Second Careers. Before releasing funds they made sure he did his research and found a field of interest to him with real job possibilities.
What a novel concept!
Yes, he is working in a productive job with a future.
“I find it profoundly telling that the unionized, tenured and coddled professors of these liberal arts programs are all of your generation, but you still manage to point the blame at “the damn kids”.”
Jon,
When it comes to Professors of Marxist mentality there is no growing up. In fact that is a trait of the left … forever young and carefree. That is the point of wanting so much government and nanny state …. so that one does not have to be responsible for one’s self nor one’s family. There is a government agency for all reasons or for no reason …. All there to make sure you are happy, fed and cared for.
The problem is that we have run out of money on a global scale and it’s time for you, Jon, to grow up. It is time for the entire western world to grow up and realize that the experiment with socialism is over…. as predicted by the smarter half of the equation …. it can’t work because it has gigantic economic flaw …. it is NOT CONDUCIVE TO WEALTH CREATION.
And nothing requires (and destroys) more wealth than big governments and their mobs of parasites.
Are you one of those parasites, Jon?
Abe,
I’m 99% sure that I pay more in tax than you do because I work my ass off as an engineer. I’m also 99% sure that I have received less from the government than you have because I’m under 30.
The combination of young conservatives like me paying more, getting less and still taking crap from idiot old-folk conservatives is frustrating. Your generation will need to learn how to speak politely to those younger than you, especially those of us who earn a high wage, because ultimately we’ll be paying for your pensions and health care… and I can assure you that folks like me don’t like that you took so much in the last 40 years and made a point of not paying for it but rather passing on the debt to us.
Remember, you were the ones who voted for (or didn’t do enough to stop) Trudeau and Chretien.
I always have to laugh at this myth of the boomers who made all this money. Guess what? They spent it raising kids like jon and giving them a decent life style. And now they’re getting ready to pass it on the next generation: houses, cottages, etc.
And finally, I can think of many boomers who were making a decent wage at a blue collar job that went up the spout twenty years ago.
I wasn’t one of those affluent boomers, but at least I didn’t bust my butt raising one of these whiny little pukes.
Wyatt,
Better watch out who you call a whiny puke. I will decide how much is spent on your end of life care.
With all due respect,