Ask not what your country can do for you.

ukcatz12

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Time is undefeated friend, in the blink of an eye you’ll be an 80 year old man considered grumpy with outdated ideas by a 20 something that thinks he’s got it all figured out. Never a bad idea to show respect to the generations before us, hopefully it can be reciprocated if we’re lucky enough to make it that far.
I'm actually interested to see what topics I'm the grumpy old man about when I'm 80. Currently I'm almost as socially progressive as you can get, but I'm sure by the time I'm 80 the world will have moved far passed me. I'm sure I'll be looked upon as a horrible person for eating meat and driving a big V8 engine.
 
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ukcatz12

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I give the same answer as Sawnee and since I have had employees for the past 40 years, I have paid in on their Social Security. I will never draw as much as I paid in.
And that's fine. Social Security isn't for any individual retiree. It's to take care of our elderly population as a whole. My blue state pays a **** ton of federal taxes that go to pay for programs in red states. We pay into the federal government a lot more than we get in return. And that's fine, because taxes are to provide services as a whole to help create a stable and secure society.
 

Ron Mehico

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I'm actually interested to see what topics I'm the grumpy old man about when I'm 80. Currently I'm almost as socially progressive as you can get, but I'm sure by the time I'm 80 the world will have moved far past me. I'm sure I'll be looked upon as a horrible person for eating meat and driving a big V8 engine.

I’m just assuming people will identify as cats or some **** and I’ll be yelling “But they’re not cats, they’re f*cking people!!” To the horror of a bunch of 17 year olds.
 
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Ron Mehico

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And that's fine. Social Security isn't for any individual retiree. It's to take care of our elderly population as a whole. My blue state pays a **** ton of federal taxes that go to pay for programs in red states. We pay into the federal government a lot more than we get in return. And that's fine, because taxes are to provide services as a whole to help create a stable and secure society.

That’s definitely an interesting view on taxes. Funny our country basically started as an opposition to tax. Taxes didn’t start in this country until 1861 and it was a flat 3% tax.
 

rudd1

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-states don't pay taxes, Individuals pay taxes. Libs try to trot this out as some sort of virtue/bragging right...it's inane.

-I live in a red state...but *I* pay more in taxes than 97% of people who live in blue states. Does that make me somehow more virtuous?
 

_Mav_

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What makes you more virtuous is your exceptionally on-point OTC sock recs 👊.
 
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ukcatz12

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-states don't pay taxes, Individuals pay taxes. Libs try to trot this out as some sort of virtue/bragging right...it's inane.

-I live in a red state...but *I* pay more in taxes than 97% of people who live in blue states. Does that make me somehow more virtuous?
No one is bragging or claiming to be more virtuous. The point was you don't pay taxes to see individual benefit. You pay them to help fund a stable society.

You can't count the dollars you pay into SS and expect to see that many dollars given back to you. It's to help you secure a stable retirement just as much as it to make it so you don't see starving seniors on the street corner begging for money. It exists to take care of the senior population as a whole. If you pay in more than you get back that's just the price of living in a modern society.
 

berniecarbo

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And that's fine. Social Security isn't for any individual retiree. It's to take care of our elderly population as a whole. My blue state pays a **** ton of federal taxes that go to pay for programs in red states. We pay into the federal government a lot more than we get in return. And that's fine, because taxes are to provide services as a whole to help create a stable and secure society.
I knew the score on that game when I hired employees. Just answering a poster who was trying to imply I was somehow in the wrong per my post.
 
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rudd1

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-you said: I'm paraphrasing "my blue state pays a **** ton of taxes to fund programs in red states"...if your intent was simply to say "we pay taxes for the benefit of the society as a whole"...that's what you should have said.

^instead you threw in a jab about blue states funding red states...which is an incredibly ignorant and useless statement. Individuals pay taxes, not states.
 

RogCat1119

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Funny how people criticize other people getting “handouts” but the money they received is earned. They are hypocrites.
They'll never see it that way. They earned there's as you said. Walked 12 miles barefooted to school each day, worked two 7 day a week jobs to put themselves through college, survived on 2 hours a sleep. The Paddock is littered with real American success stories and lots of "bootstrapping." Let the Paddock run things for awhile.
 
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RogCat1119

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-states don't pay taxes, Individuals pay taxes. Libs try to trot this out as some sort of virtue/bragging right...it's inane.

-I live in a red state...but *I* pay more in taxes than 97% of people who live in blue states. Does that make me somehow more virtuous?
I seriously thought you were from England.
 
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ukcatz12

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-you said, I'm paraphrasing "my blue state pays a **** ton of taxes to fund programs in red states"...if your intent was simply to say "we pay taxes for the benefit of the society as a whole"...that's what you should said.

^instead you threw in a jab about blue states funding red states...which is an incredibly ignorant and useless statement. Individuals pay taxes, not states.
I said:
My blue state pays a **** ton of federal taxes that go to pay for programs in red states. We pay into the federal government a lot more than we get in return. And that's fine, because taxes are to provide services as a whole to help create a stable and secure society.
As in, "stop bitching if you pay more in than you get in return. It happens and it's how it's supposed to work."

Blue states are often economic drivers, red states are often agricultural or energy drivers. They're each dependent on each other for different things. It's not a scorecard that needs to be kept.
 

Ron Mehico

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They'll never see it that way. They earned there's as you said. Walked 12 miles barefooted to school each day, worked two 7 day a week jobs to put themselves through college, survived on 2 hours a sleep. The Paddock is littered with real American success stories and lots of "bootstrapping." Let the Paddock run things for awhile.

Are you guys talking about social security? It sometimes feels like there’s 20 different conversations going on at once
 
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rudd1

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-I agree with your first point...with the exception of ss and such.

-Top wage earners have always paid the freight.

-states are not the drivers of anything. Individuals/businesses in said states are drivers of various things.

^states can try to attract these individuals/businesses, as were seeing as folks are migrating to Texas, Florida and Tennessee.
 
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J_Dee

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I’m just assuming people will identify as cats or some **** and I’ll be yelling “But they’re not cats, they’re f*cking people!!” To the horror of a bunch of 17 year olds.

If that cat-astrophe ever comes to pass, I know how to make the best of it.

 
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John Henry

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No one is bragging or claiming to be more virtuous. The point was you don't pay taxes to see individual benefit. You pay them to help fund a stable society.

You can't count the dollars you pay into SS and expect to see that many dollars given back to you. It's to help you secure a stable retirement just as much as it to make it so you don't see starving seniors on the street corner begging for money. It exists to take care of the senior population as a whole. If you pay in more than you get back that's just the price of living in a modern society.
If you can read and write and understand economics you should be able to take that money and invest in your own nest egg and retirement plan. You do not need a government to take from all and distribute pennies back on the dollar to the masses.

That is what social security does. And since when does it secure a stable retirement? There is nothing stable about a social security check. You need a supplemental retirement plan to live a stable life after retirement. I happen to know since I have been doing it since 2009. Had I not planned beginning in 1965 for my future I would be dependent on the government for my commodity cheese
 

HDAWG123455

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The quote still holds up. It’s just people are much more self-absorbed nowadays it feels. I have no issue with government assistance. But I do have an issue with people relying solely on government assistance while contributing nothing to society.
 

berniecarbo

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If you can read and write and understand economics you should be able to take that money and invest in your own nest egg and retirement plan. You do not need a government to take from all and distribute pennies back on the dollar to the masses.

That is what social security does. And since when does it secure a stable retirement? There is nothing stable about a social security check. You need a supplemental retirement plan to live a stable life after retirement. I happen to know since I have been doing it since 2009. Had I not planned beginning in 1965 for my future I would be dependent on the government for my commodity cheese
It irks me to no end to ask someone for help. I'd rather do 20 times the work than to ask for help. Gov is not my daddy. I was raised to take pride in taking care of yourself and that it brought shame and a loss of self respect to ask for help. It seems to me that most D politicians (and a lot of R) want people beholden to them.
 
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bigsmoothie

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Ronnie D sending out them covid checks in Florida. Good to see him finally coming around.
 

bigsmoothie

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It irks me to no end to ask someone for help. I'd rather do 20 times the work than to ask for help. Gov is not my daddy. I was raised to take pride in taking care of yourself and that it brought shame and a loss of self respect to ask for help. It seems to me that most D politicians (and a lot of R) want people beholden to them.
This is sad on so many levels.
 
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Ron Mehico

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It takes a weak man to not ask for help.

They did a study and found that people who “troll” and participate in primarily negative language online are actually more stressed and unhappier in life because of it. Even though we’re “anonymous” we still view our interactions as real and the more negative interactions the worse we feel. Makes sense honestly.
 

bigsmoothie

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They did a study and found that people who “troll” and participate in primarily negative language online are actually more stressed and unhappier in life because of it. Even though we’re “anonymous” we still view our interactions as real and the more negative interactions the worse we feel. Makes sense honestly.
Any studies on people with inflated opinions of themselves?
 

bigsmoothie

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Narcissistic people? I think they have ya. I wanted to keep it directed for you, but if you feel you’re narcissistic as well I’m sure that’s not great either.
If only there weren’t hundreds of examples of your posting style you may could pull off the I’m smarter than you game you play.
 

Ron Mehico

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If only there weren’t hundreds of examples of your posting style you may could pull off the I’m smarter than you game you play.

Despite our obvious differences in personality/posting style/reason for being here that was a pretty good study and something I’d suggest you keep in mind. After all, no one is above improvement! GBB!
 
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berniecarbo

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Then 99.999% are weak because everyone needs help in life. No one does it alone. Except you I guess.
I have accepted help, I just don't like it. My wife has a house in town that was damaged by a tornado. There were numerous trees down in her yard. I'm almost 75 and we spent a day and a half on her front yard with a chainsaw making a path so we could just get in her front door and inspect the inside of the house. While we were on the roof tarping, a group from Samaritan's Purse came by and finished cutting up the downed trees in the front and back yard. We left to go to Lowes for supplies and while we were gone, they finished tarping the roof. We didn't ask for help. They just started doing it and we were grateful.
 
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MegaBlue05

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“Don’t ask what you can do for your country. Ask what your country can do for you” - Dave Mustaine, “Take No Prisoners” - 1990.
 

John Henry

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I have accepted help, I just don't like it. My wife has a house in town that was damaged by a tornado. There were numerous trees down in her yard. I'm almost 75 and we spent a day and a half on her front yard with a chainsaw making a path so we could just get in her front door and inspect the inside of the house. While we were on the roof tarping, a group from Samaritan's Purse came by and finished cutting up the downed trees in the front and back yard. We left to go to Lowes for supplies and while we were gone, they finished tarping the roof. We didn't ask for help. They just started doing it and we were grateful.
That is the America I love. Helping people who do not ask for help and not expecting a dime for their help. God has a reward for people like that. No amount of government can give the love and blessings a person volunteering can give.

They were there because people needed them. I love this country.
 

ukcatz12

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If you can read and write and understand economics you should be able to take that money and invest in your own nest egg and retirement plan. You do not need a government to take from all and distribute pennies back on the dollar to the masses.

That is what social security does. And since when does it secure a stable retirement? There is nothing stable about a social security check. You need a supplemental retirement plan to live a stable life after retirement. I happen to know since I have been doing it since 2009. Had I not planned beginning in 1965 for my future I would be dependent on the government for my commodity cheese
I didn't say it secures a stable retirement. It helps people who have saved themself achieve a stable retirement and it helps people who have not live at least a dignified life where they don't have to beg on the street corner. Slaving away until you die sounds horrible. I think as a society we should at least give people a few years at the end of their life where they don't have to work 40+ hours to just survive.
 

Lexie's Dad

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Taxation is theft.

Asking me to ask what I can do for my country is collectivist and directly in opposition to freedom and rational self-interest. Meanwhile, the orator is usually associated with corruption and is fondly remembered only because he was assassinated.

How about letting me take care of me while you take care of you and the government backs off and provides a system to enforce property and contract rights and national defense?