Dumb Letters to the Plain Dealer, Part CXVI - "Recognizing the Merits of American Capitalism"

[HughBeaumont]

http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2010/09/recognizing_the_merits_of_amer.html

Continuing the cavalcade of suck this morning, the Plain Freeper's LTTE section contains a particularly deluded reader's hilarious assertion that the American Dream, indeed, is STILL ALIVE . . . you slobs just have to work harder and harder and HARDER to attain it!! What's wrong with you? I got mine!

Really, read on . . . it's teh laffs:


Monday's Los Angeles Times editorial "The rich get richer" is poorly thought out.

Yes, we have a large income gap in America, because the possibility still exists for hard work to pay off with big success. This is still the land of opportunity. In America, we have the freedom to take risks, freedom to fail and freedom to succeed.

Worse would be to live in a country where earning potential -- and thus your fate -- is predetermined by the government.

For those who need a hand up, we have government safety nets and charitable organizations funded by donations from those who have found success. Even the poorest in America don't suffer the lifestyle of those living on garbage heaps in Haiti and other Third World nations.

Finally, the government, dictator or democracy should not be in charge of any "financial management" of personal income. Equality of opportunity gives everyone the hope and chance of prosperity. Equality of result guarantees mediocrity for all.

Jeannine Reese, Sagamore Hills



Wow. Just. Wow.

Equivocation fallacy, talking points, refusal to look outside their hamlet, "Murka's Nummer ONE" jingoism, vastly mistaken assumptions on the role of government . . . yeah it's all there in it's glorious vomit-coated beauty.

I take it someone never listened to George Carlin in college . . . especially that little thing he says about "you have to be asleep to believe it"?

Jeannine, dear? Just because I'm not living in a mud hut or you're not dumpster diving doesn't mean squalor at the level you're describing doesn't exist here in America. Nor does it mean a person who just lost his or her job or is wiped out by a major illness and/or loses their home and everything they work for is somehow "better off" . . . their debt never goes away.

Anyone who thinks our social safety nets and health care are more adequate than those of Europe, Scandanavia or Canada needs to have hot coffee splashed on them.

I always find it hilarious when privileged, monied whiteys are instant experts on poverty and espouse their conveniently packaged (and often, coded racist) comparisons straight from Bill-O's pie-hole when the opportunity exists.

Not to mention the notion that if you're not bathing in money, that somehow means you FAILED somewhere in life.

You know what I think would be worse than a guaranteed minimum income? A nation almost completely run by corporations where a person's success in life is determined by how gainfully they're employed. You know, kind of like it is NOW. Ask anyone who's been in corporate America for any given number of years how far that path has gotten them in life. Multiple layoffs, constant worry, stress, debt, fear, wage stagnation, anti-depressants . . . Yeah, it's just a HUNKY DORY FLAG-WANKING FREEDOMFEST here, Slappy!

. . . sigh . . . one only needs to look at the data of this well-to-do, 94% white suburb of Clevo to get a perception of the delusion oozing out of every pore of this letter:

Estimated median household income in 2008: $78,973 ($67,401 in 1999)
This township: $78,973
Ohio: $47,987

Estimated median house or condo value in 2008: $246,073 (it was $178,100 in 2000)
Sagamore Hills township: $246,073
Ohio: $140,200

Morans: Proving P.T. Barnum Right Since 1963 . . .

[RKP5637]

1. Yeah, typical, I've got my bulldozer, now let me run over everyone. Typical

capitalistic sociopathic over the edge speak. And the rest are failures in life.
What a load of crap.

[handmade34]

2. yup... stupid letter

"...Equality of opportunity gives everyone the hope..." to start- if ONLY we had equality of opportunity :shrug: The people that still believe that have their heads in the sand and/or have been completely hoodwinked....

Many in this country have a serious lack of understanding and empathy for those that live outside their bubble

[Octafish]

3. Everyone deserves a piece of the action.

Otherwise, the only ones who get ahead are the ones with real property, backed by real guns.

Excellent post, HughBeaumont.



1963 sealed the deal and our destiny.

[bherrera]

4. That letter sounds very naive

Indeed, the man who writes that letter is very naive. But capitalism harnessed with a light touch of socialism is a better solution than pure socialism as advocated by Marx - what he called communism.

[HughBeaumont]

5. One time I posted one of these things . . .

. . . the letter writer logged on and defended himself. :rofl: :rofl:

It's so aggravating that people still believe this "bootstrapper" crap. What is it, the common sole-proprietor/small businessperson makes, on average, 12,000 a year? But all we need is hard work and ambition and THAT will separate the lottery winners from the Average Joes. Right.

I wish Mrs. Sagamore Hills (McMansionville) would briefly invade and drop some more wisdumb on us. Comments can be left there, I don't know if they're subject to approval or not.

[Octafish]

6. Brother, I'm in Detroit...

...my neighborhood's property values have gone down so much, the bank has twice refunded money from the house's escrow account -- meaning the place has gone from $250,000 to $150,000 and is going down about 2-percent per month.

Thank Moon Wall Street's doing well.