Mitt Romney income calculator

[Perhaps]

People wouldn't work if they felt they weren't getting paid enough

Another naive response. People work because they must do so to survive in this fucked up system. What kind of social vacuum do you live in? thats why some people have to work 2 or 3 jobs and never have a life. Not because they "feel" that they arent being paid enough...but because they KNOW they arent being paid enough and have to work much more just to make ends meet.

We are in a recession. Service jobs will get their jobs back and the factory workers will live on welfare. It takes time for a market to recover. We aren't living in the 80's or the 90's anymore. Service jobs aren't as valuable as they once were, because more and more people are able to do them. Those who invested in advanced education are now feeling the benefits. To those who didn't they are now hurting. It all comes back to marginal analysis.

look at people who get laid off and refuse to work minimum wage jobs and use well fare.

Right, so if I have two car payments, a house payment, and 2 children, me losing my $25 an hour job...I should go directly to a minimum wage job and be glad that the rich "job proivders" are taking care of the system. And if I work hard enough then maybe I too will be rich one day.

As I have said before, what kind of social vaccum do you live in?

This comes back to education. We have moved from the industrial era to the post industrial. The menial jobs are being taken over by technology and the requirements for well paying jobs are going up (as they naturally should). To possess a high paying job requires adequate knowledge. The individuals with degrees in fields which are necessary or advanced will retain their employment, while individuals working in factories (being taken over by technology) will lose their job as there is no advanced education required. The only reason services companies are letting go and laying off their employees is because of the recession - this happens every time we have one. The jobs will return.

Once again, it is not the responsibility of the business owners to guarantee employment - the business fluctuates as much as the economy. A business' goal is to maximizes profits while increasing production, simple as that. When the market crashes and services become scarce or demand for services becomes scarce there is a reaction. It's all simple economics which people avoid to provide justifications for their situations. [/quote]

BTW - its "welfare", not "well fare". You also seem to be completely ignorant to what welfare is anyways. Welfare is an insurance that has been PAID FOR by the person who is collecting it in most all of the cases. If I work 20 freaking years paying into welfare, and some scum bag decides to move my job to the philipines to pay children 2% of my original pay to do the work I once did...then you mean to tell me I should NOT take advantage of the welfare insurance I have paid into and purchased?

I apologize for my misspelling, and I am aware that we all pay into welfare, even the rich. It's there for a reason, and many people (more than I would prefer) are using it now. I'm sorry your job got shipped off, but open economies often work best in creating efficiency overall. You may have lost your job, but whatever service or good you provided is now being provided for much cheaper. Say you make sweaters and get paid $15 an hour, if they export the making of sweaters to a place that only charges $2 an hour then the good will effectively cost less. A great example is Walmart. The system as it is currently exploits the poor, I agree, but more importantly, it exploits the uneducated.

I have a suggestion. How about you actually do your homework on a subject before you type your ignorance upon this board for all to see and cringe at.

*Bet you dont know jack shit about unemployment benefits as well*

Thanks for your opinion.

Lastly, it reflects a lot about a person's character when they dictate their feelings of someone based on a simple difference in opinion.

Then clearly you havent the foggiest notion between "opinion" and "fact". It is quite obvious that you are extremely ignorant to the social safety nets of America, and even basic economic system in America. Just like your mentioning of predictions of gas prices. Does that INCLUDE the billions we give annually in oil subsidies, will we be removing them? Or did you not know anything about such govt plans?

I'd beg to differ. You stated your opinion on economics and I stated mine. I used facts and you used facts. We can make it a debate, or we can keep it a discussion. Your responses are heated, and I'm sure that you have some personal knowledge of the system and the system's safety nets. My knowledge is learned through text and discussion. I'm sorry for what you've been through, but facts are facts, and to misrepresent them or to use misinterpreted ideas as an argument is invalid. I have stated what capitalism is, how our system can be fixed, and why the rich aren't to blame. You can feel free to disagree with any of them, but why base your opinion of my character on these?

The ad hominem attacks are amazing in this thread.

Especially the ones you have been posting:
"On a forum which celebrates intellectual conversation, I'm amazed at how many people have the socialist mindset. "
Ad-hom and blanket statement: All socialists are not intellectuals

You inferred a meaning from my words. Socialism has many many flaws inherent to its structure (Please I beg of you, do not tell me I don't know what Socialism is or its difference from Communism). While capitalism also does, I feel they are lesser as capitalism abides by the fundamental basic nature of things - competition, scarcity, etc.. I love discussing competing systems of economics but at the end of the day I am honestly surprised by how many individuals support the socialist mindset - even with its flaws.

educate the poor and you solve the problem

THIS, is why I keep calling you naive.

What would be your suggestion if mine is so naive? I would love to see education being the primary focus of government. I would love to see college education paid for by government. I would love to see children succeed with actual grades, not ones given to pass them along in the broken system.

I feel that the current working generations have made their own decisions about how to live their lives and perform in their careers. The least they can do is learn from their own mistakes, look to the future, and realize that their children still have a chance in this world while they, themselves may not.

I ache when I hear of people being laid off. It sickens me to hear of corporate greed. I can't fathom what this country has come to with politicians being bought and businesses ruling the country. These things combined do not change my opinion that Capitalism, true and honest capitalism, is the most efficient, most effective, and most realistic economic system available.