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If you got a business you didn't build that, someone else made that happen.


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2012 Jul 19, 5:31am   63,731 views  172 comments

by Honest Abe   ➕follow (1)   💰tip   ignore  

OMG. What a totally offensive, devisive statement. Did the president of the United States REALLY say that? Thats got to down as one of the stupidest things ever said. It even tops Bush's statement: "We're dismantling free market principles in order to save the free market".

Success is continually demonized by the "president". Class warfare at it finest. Right up there with "make the rich pay their fair share". Punative progressive taxes are a classic example of punishing success. Is it any wonder America is in the tank?

This election isn't about Romneys success, its about oB'amam's failure.

#politics

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1   AlexS   2012 Jul 19, 5:52am  

You didn't earn that Noble Prize mr. president...

2   marcus   2012 Jul 20, 9:32am  

Honest Abe says

Success is continually demonized by the "president". Class warfare at it finest

3   xrpb11a   2012 Jul 20, 12:42pm  

You don't have a clue.
I'm a job creator, and I pay more corporate and personal taxes in one year than you will in a lifetime...

HRHMedia says

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

Zero taxes for Job Creators ! They are the CHRIST in our midst !

taxes lol, they pay no taxes, Job Creators are being PAID TO CREATE JOBS they are not creating.

Social Media Guru Since 1999

4   rdm   2012 Jul 20, 1:39pm  

xrpb11a says

I'm a job creator,

Right, you went into business to create jobs? I owned and operated a business for 23 years hired hundreds of people over that time period. They were vital to my business but their jobs were not *why* I was in business. My business did not exist to create jobs, it existed to create money, for me. To get the same work done with fewer hours and fewer people is how we increased productivity and profitability. We tried to lower labor costs on projects when ever we could. That didnt mean I didn't pay good wages and benefits as I did, including health insurance and pension but job creation is a side affect of being in a for profit business not its primary purpose which is to make money for the owners. My business could not have existed without its workers but the workers without my management and capital could not have done the work we did.

As we have seen with Bain not all businesses create jobs some destroy jobs.

5   thomaswong.1986   2012 Jul 20, 2:33pm  

Honest Abe says

Marcus - the current president is anti-business and anti-success. Democrats don't like personal responsibility. Their failures are always someone else's fault. Their failure is due to the evil 1%'rs, "The Man", the wealthy, the successful...the RICH.

Obama doesnt mind when he invites the same 1% industry leaders to his $38K a plate fund raiser... be they in SV, Hollywood or Wall Street

http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-big-wigs-paid-385000-to-have-dinner-with-obama-last-night-2012-5

Silicon Valley big shots to pay $36,000 for dinner with Obama?

According to several reports, President Barack Obama will be attending a fund-raiser in his honor at the home of Silicon Valley philanthropists tonight.

May 23, 2012 8:24 AM

6   Peter P   2012 Jul 25, 1:38pm  

Can someone please make it happen for me?

7   xrpb11a   2012 Jul 25, 1:39pm  

No, creating jobs was a side effect of me going into business....
nonetheless, that still makes me a "job creator"

rdm says

Right, you went into business to create jobs?

8   xrpb11a   2012 Jul 25, 1:44pm  

lemme guess...San Bernardino??

clambo says

A large city in southern california desired my services. They sent me a huge questionnaire about my "diversity" and "affirmative action" , etc. policies.
I wrote "I have none, but my ancestors owned slaves. Does this count?"
I got the contract anyway. Why? Because no one in that department probably could read.

10   pdh   2012 Jul 26, 8:34am  

I don't mind conservatives being upset by this, because if the myth of the self-made man is destroyed then so is modern conservatism.

11   Auntiegrav   2012 Jul 26, 1:14pm  

Fooled by Randomness.

Success is a combination of random chance, preparedness, and risk-taking. Business success usually involves some additional ability to manage (e.g. "harvest") talent.
Hard work is something almost everyone does, but few are lucky enough for it to pay off. Not just anyone can "work hard and succeed" when the dice are loaded in favor of those who already climbed the ladder and kicked it out.

The real issue is whether or not the principle of Nobless Oblige is applied: do the people in any particular business (or government position of power) repay those people (or the resources) that they harvest?
When I heard Obama say "you had help", I didn't first think of government, but all of the people who Romney harvested along the way to get to the top of a pile of dead bodies.
Obama probably knows a little bit about that type of 'business'. It's the American Way and you have to participate to get anywhere in politics (excepting maybe Vermont or Portland).
There is no middle class. There are those that work because they want to eat, and those who will never have to work to eat (welfare is a temporary holding cell for the 'extras').
The difference is that most people BELIEVE they are somewhere in the middle, and their belief is what makes them vulnerable to power. When they realize their actual position in regard to those with real power (usually when they are starving to death at the behest of the powerful), a revolution happens, probably led by someone with a simple ideology and a lot of charisma. This crap between Democrat corporatists and Republican corporatists is a nice show to watch while eating high fructose corn syrup, but there's a drought going on.

12   gbenson   2012 Jul 26, 2:06pm  

Auntie brings up a good, albeit rather deep point. If I might borrow one component of it that is quite relevant to this thread. "do the people in any particular business (or government position of power) repay those people (or the resources) that they harvest"

The bloviating earlier in this thread by all you 'job creators' fails to consider externalaties. If you had to pay the true cost of a gallon of gas in the US, it would be close to $12-$14/gallon. If your business had to pay the true cost of the infrastructure you use to deliver your products, your costs would at least triple, if not significantly more.

We made a decision as a nation that we would share these costs among all of us via taxes and the government to help foster an economic climate where you could start a business, and nurture it in America's fertile soil.

All you dumbasses want to 'drown the government in the bathtub'. Go right ahead. Let's go to zero taxes and shift the FULL burden of externalaties onto your business. You'd be bankrupt in a matter of weeks.

Want to know how this story ends. Welcome to Sudan! Go start your fancy business there and let me know how it turns out!

God, the stupidity and arrogance of some of you guys thinking you 'did it all alone' is amazing.

13   Honest Abe   2012 Jul 26, 2:31pm  

MUSLIMS FOR O'BAMA

14   gbenson   2012 Jul 26, 2:48pm  

Yes Abe, I am sure the Muslims love Obama because he killed Bin Laden, whereas Bush "really just don’t spend that much time on him". Welcome to the idiocracy; or do you just like to listen to yourself type?

Getting paid by the RNC for the thread remaining at the top?

15   HEY YOU   2012 Jul 26, 5:22pm  

OK, these people built their businesses but they can stay out & off the infrastructure that they could not afford to build. Just another group of socialist.

16   LuckyMethod   2012 Jul 26, 7:47pm  

Did anybody in this somewhat oniric thread mention the fact that the quote is incorrect? The president in the same speach, a little bit earlier mentions bridges, roads, and other infrastructures, then says "and if you got a business, you didn't build that" referred to such infrastructures.

I wanted to say it just in case you were all too busy to bother with facts.

17   xrpb11a   2012 Jul 26, 11:08pm  

Nobody believes they "did it all alone" if one includes infrastructure in the equation.

If 100 people in the same city are provided the same infrastructure and education by the taxpayers, via the government, a very small subset will take advantage and attempt to create a business. They take on all the risk. They suffer the consequences of bad decisions. They reap the benefits if they succeed. Business owners take offense at OB's statement because we see the infrastructure as a GIVEN, NOT INCLUDED IN THE DEFINITION OF 'BUILDING A BUSINESS'. ALL 100 PEOPLE HAVE ACCESS TO THE SAME INFRASTRUCTURE. Only the BUSINESS BUILDERS take advantage of it. The rest are too risk adverse, or too lazy.

I don't see all 100 people suffering the financial and personal consequences of a failed enterprise. If 'someone else made that happen', why is that 'someone else' not standing beside you taking the chapter 11 hit??

One could argue they 'are' standing beside you, as your failed business takes bailout funds from the government. That is a minuscule subset of all business owners and is irrelevant to the conversation.

So it appears the argument boils down to what defines the starting point of a new business. Business owners define it as applying for a business license. Others see it, incorrectly IMO, as everything else that happens prior to the license.

gbenson says

God, the stupidity and arrogance of some of you guys thinking you 'did it all alone' is amazing.

18   jhall   2012 Jul 27, 2:29am  

I can't believe no on this thread has picked up on the fact that Obama was paraphrasing what Elizabeth Warren said last year. Here's the quote:

There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you!

But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that maurauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea — God bless. Keep a big hunk of it.

But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

I haven't heard any argument that can dispute this statement. And, I might add, Warren did a better job than Obama did in making the point (Warren in '16!).

19   bob2356   2012 Jul 27, 2:49am  

jhall says

I haven't heard any argument that can dispute this statement. And, I might add, Warren did a better job than Obama did in making the point (Warren in '16!).

Because if you look at the actual intent and context of the Obama version of this statement then you couldn't do a lot of pathetic Obama bashing. Why these people have to manufacture petty things like this controversy mystifies me. There are so many legitimate big issues to take Obama to task for, why bother with a poorly worded sentence. Some people just have no lives at all I would have to guess.

20   CL   2012 Jul 27, 2:57am  

Would entrepreneurs in America be able to "make it" in China, Viet Nam, or environs? Isn't that why people come here typically?

America's foundation makes it a good place for just about anyone to start a business. All of that comes with a price, paid for by your parents and grandparents, neighbors and fellow citizens.

Despite the fact that this is much ado about nothing, I'd say even the poorly delivered line from Obama has merit.

You didn't really do it by yourself. It's true.

21   omgbacon   2012 Jul 27, 4:15am  

jhall says

I can't believe no on this thread has picked up on the fact that Obama was paraphrasing what Elizabeth Warren said last year.

It's because they're kinda whiny. I had no idea that small business owners had egos so fragile they could be easily shattered by a quote taken out of context that doesn't mean what they think it means.

22   Tenpoundbass   2012 Jul 27, 4:36am  

Well I have to ask a bigger important question.
Why is the President quoting Elizabeth Warren if he has no designs or aspirations to explore the eras of concerns she warns the US about.
And as a reward for her tireless work, she was exiled to run in a winless political office in Massachusetts. To get her out of the way, she was a general pain the ass for Obama and thorn in his and the Feds side.

Quite ingenious of the President to quote her, don't you think?

There is that picked up on, enough for you?

23   CL   2012 Jul 27, 4:40am  

omgbacon says

It's because they're kinda whiny. I had no idea that small business owners had egos so fragile they could be easily shattered by a quote taken out of context that doesn't mean what they think it means.

And even if it meant what they thought it meant, it would be true anyway.

All of society is built on our past, and is a product of our current collective effort.

That's where the distribution of income comes in too. Why do the workers who produce the goods get so little of the benefit?

24   Honest Abe   2012 Jul 27, 4:47am  

The "workers" have the same equal opportunity start their own company, become the owner, and produce the goods themselves.

Stop complaining and get to work - start your own company and pay your workers twice what they currently earn, heck why not pay them 10 Xs the normal wage. That will create some much needed FAIRNESS in the workplace!

25   finehoe   2012 Jul 27, 4:49am  

Honest Abe says

Did the president of the United States REALLY say that?

No he didn't, not in the context the wingnut media is going all out to portray.

26   xrpb11a   2012 Jul 27, 6:03am  

Because they took no risk.
They can always move on in the blink of an eye.
the small business owner has hard assets and is invested in the business. They cannot.

CL says

That's where the distribution of income comes in too. Why do the workers who produce the goods get so little of the benefit?

27   Honest Abe   2012 Jul 27, 6:06am  

He didn't say "you didn't build that road, someone else made that happen" He said: "if you've got a BUSINESS you didn't build that..." He got caught with his pants down and is desperately backpedaling in order to do damage control.

He doesn't want to be seen for what he really is: anti-success, anti-business, anti-constitution, anti-free enterprise, anti-private property, IOW anti-American.

28   xrpb11a   2012 Jul 27, 6:08am  

No...they never will.
They'd rather sit back, complain, and collect.....

Honest Abe says

Stop complaining and get to work - start your own company and pay your workers twice what they currently earn, heck why not pay them 10 Xs the normal wage. That will create some much needed FAIRNESS in the workplace!

29   omgbacon   2012 Jul 27, 6:10am  

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/mittromney/a/Mitt-Romney-Quotes.htm

1. "Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Human beings, my friend." —Mitt Romney to a heckler at the Iowa State Fair who suggested that taxes should be raised on corporations as part of balancing the budget (August 2011)

2. "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me." –Mitt Romney, using an unfortunate choice of words while advocating for consumer choice in health insurance plans (January 2012)

3. "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there." —Mitt Romney (January 2012)

4. "He [Obama] says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time for us to cut back on government and help the American people." —Mitt Romney at a campaign event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, June 8, 2012

5. "I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry's come back." –Mitt Romney, –Mitt Romney, on the American auto industry, despite having written a New York Times op-ed in 2008 titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," in which he said if GM, Ford and Chrysler got a government bailout "you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye"

6. "It's hard to know just how well [the 2012 London Olympics] will turn out. There are a few things that were disconcerting. The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging." –Mitt Romney, insulting Britain on the eve of the Olympics by suggesting the country is not ready, NBC News interview, July 25, 2012

7. "I'll tell you what, ten-thousand bucks? $10,000 bet?" –Mitt Romney, attempting to make a wager with Rick Perry during a Republican presidential debate to settle a disagreement about health care (December 2011)

8. "I should tell my story. I'm also unemployed." —Mitt Romney, speaking in 2011 to unemployed people in Florida. Romney's net worth is over $200 million.

9. "[My wife] drives a couple of Cadillacs." –Mitt Romney, campaigning for president in Michigan (February 2012)

10. "I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love." –Mitt Romney (January 2012)

Bonus Quotes:

"PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air." —Mitt Romney in 2007, responding to criticism from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals following revelations that he had once put the family dog in a carrier and strapped it to the roof of his car during a 12-hour road trip

"I have some friends who are NASCAR team owners." —Mitt Romney, after being asked whether he follows NASCAR racing (February 2012)

"There were a couple of times I wondered whether I was going to get a pink slip" –Mitt Romney, attempting to identify with the problems of average folk (January 2012)

"I'm not sure about these cookies. They don't look like you made them. No, no. They came from the local 7/11 bakery, or whatever." —Mitt Romney, visiting a local bakery while campaigning in Pittsburgh, PA, April 17, 2012 (The owner of the baker later told MSNBC he was offended by Romney's remarks.)

"I like those fancy raincoats you bought. Really sprung for the big bucks." —Mitt Romney to a group of NASCAR fans wearing plastic ponchos at the Daytona 500 (February 2012)

"We have a president, who I think is is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard, perhaps." —Mitt Romney, who has two Harvard degrees (April 5, 2012)

"I love this state. The trees are the right height." —Mitt Romney, campaigning in Michigan (February 2012)

"I'm running for office for Pete's sake, we can't have illegals" –Mitt Romney, recalling his reaction when he learned that there were illegal aliens working the ground on his property, employed by a firm that he subsequently fired (October 2011)

"I get speaker's fees from time to time, but not very much." —Mitt Romney, who earned $374,000 in speaking fees in one year according to according to his personal financial disclosure (January 2012)

"It's not worth moving heaven and earth, spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person." —Mitt Romney, speaking in 2007 about killing Osama bin Laden

"Who let the dogs out? Who, who." –Mitt Romney, during an awkward photo op with a group of African Americans kids at a Martin Luther King Day parade (January 2008)

"I'm Wolf Blitzer and yes, that's my real name." —CNN's Wolf Blitzer at the beginning of a November 2011 Republican presidential debate
"I'm Mitt Romney—and yes Wolf, that's also my first name." —Mitt Romney, getting his own name wrong (his first name is "Willard," and his middle name is "Mitt")

"I'm not familiar precisely with what I said, but I'll stand by what I said, whatever it was." —Mitt Romney (May 17, 2012)

30   omgbacon   2012 Jul 27, 6:12am  

Is that enough out of context quotes? Or should we spend more time manufacturing controversy and scandal by acting like 12 year old?

31   Honest Abe   2012 Jul 27, 6:18am  

Business and success haters love obama!

32   xrpb11a   2012 Jul 27, 6:53am  

Why are you afraid of reliving your childhood?

omgbacon says

Is that enough out of context quotes? Or should we spend more time manufacturing controversy and scandal by acting like 12 year old?

33   clambo   2012 Jul 27, 7:05am  

Obama's inane comment being defended here by some clowns is funny, since he himself is backtracking it.
Of course the infastructure is important to succeed. And we all have paid for it in many forms of taxation.
What Obama was suggesting in that idiotic rant of a speech in front of a crowd of welfare sucking losers was that success should be taxed MORE.
This is so idiotic, stupid and wrong there is no way to defend it.
All people moving around pay for roads and bridges. All people and products flying around pay for it.
What Obama is saying is that those who may use transportation for their business success owe MORE to Uncle Sam because decades ago our interestate highway system was built, and the FAA was created, etc.
His entire premise is bullshit. We have already paid, and so have all businesses. He wants to invent a pretext to TAKE more from successful people to transfer their wealth, sweat, blood and effort to give to losers.
Obama is just appealing to the lowest denominator since he cannot sell his nonsense to anyone who has 1. a brain 2. money 3. a job 4. not lgbt, minority, dilettante.

34   fewy   2012 Jul 27, 7:12am  

Honest Abe,

The full quote is below. I understand it is a little long but he is right and no one made it on there own. Does your business use roads? Who do you think built the roads for your business? Do you have employee's at your business? Who do you think educated your employee's? Unless you built something from your land, on your land, with your own hands society helped you out in more ways than you recognize.

Here’s what Obama said:
“Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something—there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own.”

35   clambo   2012 Jul 27, 7:37am  

fewy, evidently no one educated you.
You wrote:"..and no one made it on there own".
It should be ...and no one made on their own. (their=possesive)
There is no apostrophe to make employee plural, it's employees, not your "employee's".
Evidently then you are an illiterate who happens to own a computer.
How are you making it pal? Work for the government?
We are aware of the entirety of the Obama speech.

36   fewy   2012 Jul 27, 8:04am  

Ruki,

You misunderstood the argument that is being made. But I guess you agree that we don't need laws to protect us. People should be able to use patents and copy written work all they want after all historically we didn't need them. Why should you be able to stop me from taking your idea/product and making it myself. After all you are saying that if I'm an entrepreneur who is making a copy of an ipad, no one helped me make the copy. Sounds pretty ridicules.

37   CL   2012 Jul 27, 8:14am  

Honest Abe says

The "workers" have the same equal opportunity start their own company, become the owner, and produce the goods themselves.

Do they? Where do they get their capital when they're struggling just to pay bills?

In all markets, including labor, there are buyers and sellers. Sometimes conditions favor buyers and others, sellers. In labor, conditions have favored the buyers (employers) over the laborers.

And when you have labor over a barrel, it is a lot hard for disadvantaged folks to start the business.

xrpb11a says

Because they took no risk.
They can always move on in the blink of an eye.
the small business owner has hard assets and is invested in the business. They cannot.

They likely have little to risk in the first place. They're probably in debt. They're probably shut out of lending.

Wealth begets wealth. And those who are born in privilege fight to keep that privilege.

And can the poor or middle class really move when they want? And if businesses can't move, then why do the rightwing types always say that business will flee higher taxes, especially here in California?

38   Honest Abe   2012 Jul 27, 8:18am  

Its pretty clear that obama has the "collective" mentality. He doesn't seem to believe in personal accomplishment - its collectivism that made it happen, you didn't.

If failure isn't your fault, success can not by your accomplishment. Notice the lack of personal responsibility?

All the roads, all the bridges, all the public education are the same for everyone. Yet some build businesses, and some are successful - despite government roadblocks and the collective mentality of liberals and liberal politicians who say "no, you didn't build that, someone did".

39   xrpb11a   2012 Jul 27, 8:26am  

Samsung helped you..

fewy says

After all you are saying that if I'm an entrepreneur who is making a copy of an ipad, no one helped me make the copy. Sounds pretty ridicules

40   Honest Abe   2012 Jul 27, 8:30am  

CL - with that type of thinking, NO ONE could succeed. "If you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right". If its meant to be its up to me. Only a tiny fraction of 1% of Americans are born into privilege - and so what? My life is determined by my talents, my abilities, my work ethic, and the choices I make, not by filthy rich people I'll never meet in my life.

Why do we continually see articles like this: "Ten new millionaires under 30 years old" or "New businesses strike it rich".

Have you read The Millionaire Next Door? My guess is that NONE of those millionaires share your mentality. If you think you can't, you can't.

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