Class Warfare Discussed
I was a little angered at the almighty Jesus Obama this morning when I
decided to post my morning thoughts on the wall at Facebook. The update went:
Ah, I can start my day now that I’ve seen the almighty Jesus Obama on the news this morning. Looking for a big jump in my Microsoft stock with Windows 7 coming out, and a fall in my financials with Obama killing salaries meaning the smart people will leave those companies or go overseas.
What followed was a spirited, even if somewhat heated debate with a more liberal colleague. I made the mistake of watching the today show and seeing them mention Obama for most of an hour on a show that masqueraded as news. Steve Balmer was on touting Windows 7, but the news also mentioned Obama’s salary cap on bankers. This thought, along with the people on the street giving remarks about bankers not deserving the money was disheartening. I thought the whole purpose of capitalism is that you get rewarded for hard work. The thought process should be that if a person takes advantage of the system to get some money they don’t deserve, you don’t complain about them doing so, you find your way to take advantage of the system. In other words, you are responsible for your actions instead of complaining about others. Ethics may change as business finds better ways to make money but your values are there to guide you through. Either you complain and never have what it takes to take your piece of the pie, or you work with the system and take a whole pie for yourself.
I’m off topic with my rant though. Here’s the discussion I had with my colleague so far. Keep in mind, this is a person I admire and respect as an Information Technology person so please keep comments in either direction respectful. And if you like the content and want to support this site, click once or twice on the google add at the top of the page. That actually defrays the cost of hosting.
A meeting of the minds:
Me: Ah, I can start my day now that I’ve seen the almighty Jesus Obama on the news this morning. Looking for a big jump in my Microsoft stock with Windows 7 coming out, and a fall in my financials with Obama killing salaries meaning the smart people will leave those companies or go overseas.
Him: There u go again. The “smart people” you’re talking about are the same ones who got us in this economic crisis. Check this out. If you’re not doing your job, your decissions cause economic distress for your company and their clients, you should get fired. Not get a Golden Parachute, or a raise. In the private sector, companies fix salaries for entry level and mid management, but upper management doesn’t do that for themselves. Obama is letting them know that if they do business with the goverment, those good ol boy practice won’t be financed at the people’s expense. As far as those “smart people”, where in the hell you think they’re going to go – China? They may have to cause the Chinese and Indians are the “smart people” coming over here to replace their selfserving asses…
Me: That’s half the problem. Obama started a lot of hate mongering and class warfare rather than pushing personal responsibility. Golden parachute means take the money and run, which is what most of those people did. Most of the people who were there when they made mistakes have already moved on. The ones you have now are fresh new talent that has been brought on to rebuild the banks, and based on my stock portfolio they’re doing good so far. So now you’re punishing these people for doing good and you’re gonna relegate the bank that needs all the help it can get to hiring less talented people who will work for less. Like firing your $60k a year Network Admin and hiring a student temp for $10 an hour. The smart people, will bail on this and go to the other banks that aren’t part owned by the feds. Case in point, one of the bankers was on 60 minutes. He made his bank about $30 billion last year and got a $250 million dollar bonus. That’s 8 tenth’s of a percent bonus. Not even 1%. That’s the problem with hate mongering and class war. People get blinded by emotion. If someone told me they could make me an extra $30 billion and they’d only ask me less than 1% of that as a gratuity I’d be happy. If I told them I can’t give you any of the action anymore and I’m capping your salary, could I expect them to stay? No, I’d end up with someone who might lose me $30 billion and let me go bankrupt. In the case of a bailed out bank, that means that because the government was short sighted, they don’t get any of their loan back because the company is now gone, thousands of people are now out of work and the economy takes a hit. They’ve got to learn to not stifle business. The way it works is the best in history and what makes us what we are. No other way has ever worked well in the long term except the democratic monarchy in Great Britain. I guess we could always go back to being a British Colony. We’d get the free healthcare, and security cameras everywhere.
Him: Personal responsibility for who – preditory lenders? Hate mongering you say, well I guess you can call the racist remarks and disrespect for the office such if you’d like. Understand this, racism has been used as a tool by upper class socities to divide the middle and lower classes throughout history – divide and conquer. With that in mind, I encourage class warfare. Maybe it will help decrease the enormous economic and social disparities between the haves and have nots…
Him: Just read your previous comment. Wage adjustment is a product of falling profits, and is the agenda of most companies worldwide – lower wages to maintain profit magins. As for the banker, he didn’t make the company $30 million by himself. What about those under him who actually did the work? What % of the bonus did they get? 5% of 30k aint shit. You said it yourself, “Most of the people who were there when they made mistakes have already moved on. The ones you have now are fresh new talent that has been brought on to rebuild the banks, and based on my stock portfolio they’re doing good so far”. So I say, let their overpaid asses go. One thing for sure, they all can’t go to the same place and get the same money. As with life, adaptation is a must for survival. Human beings, society, and economic systems must evolve and America’s history illustrates that. Our goverment and economic system transended the British, and hopefully it will be us Americans that figure out “What’s next”…
Me: I think class warfare is useless because it usually doesn’t mean personal responsibility. It’s mainly people hoping their existing lives can be better rather than going out and finding a way to do it themselves. That’s what personal responsibility means. Not worrying about or hating someone for what they’ve accomplished, but trying to accomplish more yourself. When I see these people with golden parachutes I think, if I’d only went to school for banking and chosen that path, I could have been there for my payout for it.
As for disrespecting the office, he’s a jackass, what can he expect. Every other president knew how to pick their battles. This one constantly talks down to anyone who doesn’t agree with him and says he’ll listen to others when he really won’t care what they say. Then he goes on campaign trips with his supporters doing the same. It’s obvious he’s only good at campaigning and not leading yet anyone who says anything about him is labeled a racist. I’ve seen racism first hand. It’s not as civil as calling a jackass a liar. With real Racism you have to do what Dr. King (a conservative), would have done. You have to rise above it and find your way. One of the more popular people speaking up against Obama at these so called racist tea parties is a black man from Chicago who has a blog athttp://theblacksphere.blogspot.com as well as a radio show.
Me: Those who worked under the guy who made the $30 billion in the perfect world would look at that bonus and say “Ok, I guess if I work harder I can take his job one day and I’ll be getting the $250 million.” Other than that, it’s up to him if he wants to share it or keep it. He’s the boss. Survival of the fittest.
Recently there has been a disturbing trend as our newly elected leader shows his inexperience in foreign affairs.
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