[quote]zecarlo wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
[quote]zecarlo wrote:
The whole “if you work at Walmart you deserve what you get because you are basically a loser who didn’t plan your life properly” argument. I am in awe of your greatness. … I have to agree with you: someone who decides to work at Walmart so they can support themselves and take some pride in being a contributor to society is a real piece of uneducated trash. How dare they try and be like normal people, the good people, people like you. They’re lucky to even have a paying job because there was a time when they would have been the slaves and serfs while all of us would have been the masters or members of royalty. Let them eat twinkies. [/quote]
This is not at all what anyone is saying. In fact this is insane really.
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No one is saying “take it or leave it”? No one is saying it is unskilled work for uneducated people so they get what they are worth? What they are worth as Americans? Humans? What? Oh wait, what the work is worth and since the work can be done by people who are unskilled and uneducated the work is not worth much. So everyone should go to college or get trained in some trade? Funny how when Obama said he wanted every American to have that opportunity a republican like Santorum criticized him for being an elitist because he wanted everyone to get some form of higher education. The irony was that Santorum’s education, BA, MBA, JD, was obtained at public universities.
It’s obvious that some here, whether they realize it or not, are making a connection between the value of the work and the value of the person. The idea that Americans, the greatest people on Earth ever, from the greatest nation ever, don’t have a problem with their fellow countrymen working a full time job while still being in poverty is very heartwarming. So we’re only in it together when blood needs to be spilled? [/quote]
Wow. Dude, America is great because everyone has the OPPORTUNITY to be what they want to be, not because of some socialist guarantee that everyone gets a “fair share”. If you work hard, persevere, create a semi-intelligent plan, and execute it over a reasonable time frame, your chance of success here in the good ole’ USA is better than than anywhere else in the world. THAT’S IT.
If you fuck off, get poor grades, make stupid decisions and are a lazy person, then WHY on earth are you “owed” nice things and good income? Just because you live in America? That makes no sense… Walmart employees should feel LUCKY that someone has hired them, because generally, they have no marketable skills. If they DO have marketable skills, then they must not want to work using those skills bad enough to get a job. Any thing else is just a fucking excuse.
I grew up DIRT POOR in shitty Baltimore City neighborhood. Fucked up family situation, left home at 16, didn’t graduate High School. Started fucking up and went to prison for almost four year. Got stabbed five times. When I got out, I got the only job that would hire an unskilled felon without a HS diploma - a painter’s helper. I didn’t like it very much, but having a job was a condition of my parole, so stuck with it. On one of the jobs I met some carpenters. They made more money and didn’t have to breath paint fumes all day, so I asked if they were hiring. They saw that I came to work on time every day and worked hard, so the owner gave me a chance. A few months later, on a bigger job, I was working around some electricians. I got to know them pretty well and one of them had a father who was an electrical contractor. He spoke with his dad and I was hired as an electrical helper. I liked being an electrician so I showed up for work every day and worked hard. A few years later, the owner was able to help me get accepted into the apprenticeship program.
Fast forward ten years and I was a top foreman making money over scale with a company truck and money in the bank. The real estate market was booming and I seized an opportunity to get into the mortgage business. I could afford to take the risk. I became a loan officer, made a shit-ton of money, bought and sold a bunch of real estate, took some business/marketing classes, started a marketing company, got a bunch of clients outside of the real estate/mortgage arena. Leveraged my assets and became a principal in several of those businesses including a successful renewable energy company. When I suspected the bubble economy was unsustainable, I sold most of my shares for a NICE profit and geared my mortgage business toward FHA/VA/Agency business and away from the sub-prime.
Turns out I was right and the bubble popped. I was one of the few mortgage brokers positioned to do FHA loans - most lenders/brokers didn’t even have a mini-eagle (the ability to underwrite Gov’t secured loans vs. portfolio loans). I watched as banks shut down and lenders “imploded”. I saw veterans of the real estate/mortgage industry go bankrupt and lose everything they had. I was still originating between 5 and 10 million in volume a month and doing just fine. Then, when Obama singed the Dodd Frank Act into law, my mortgage career was unceremoniously ripped out from under me. Being a felon made it impossible for me to become licensed under the new requirements, even though I can count the number of foreclose loans that I had originated on one hand.
But I still had my electrical skill to fall back on. The only problem is that there were about 1200 guys “on the bench”, so I had to wait. So I bartended and did side jobs. Keep in mind, I was handling other obligations other than my own, I had people depending on me that I was providing for, so I blew through a lot of savings, but it was worth it. Bartending was fun, but I needed to make more money, and I wasn’t utilizing my electrical skill set. So I packed all my shit in my car, drove to Louisiana and paid for some classes that would enable me to work offshore on oil rigs. While I lived in a tent. I knocked on doors and found a job. I worked in the Gulf of Mexico for the better part of year. It was long hard hours away from my family, but I did it because I had people counting on me. I continued to network for employment closer to home and was recently hired as a foreman to install the Switchgear, Generators, ATS system and UPS system for the larges construction project east of the Mississippi - it’s close to my house.
So when someone bitches about being poor (or worse yet, when someone NOT poor bitches about so many people being poor) I really don’t want to hear it. I grew up with every disadvantage you can think of. I am a felon without a HS diploma. What’s THEIR excuse?
You want a HINT about why I was able to do all that? I never felt like anyone OWED me anything. I have never taken a dollar of unemployment in my life. I worked hard, set goals and didn’t quit. When I saw an opportunity, I took it. I took risks. I sacrificed. I moved across the country. I educated myself. I networked. I always believed in myself and never counted on anyone else or the government to “help” me. When I started something, I had an exit strategy (“begin with the end in mind”, ring a bell for anyone?). I NEVER made excuses for my failures, shortcomings or mistakes - I owned them ALL and, more importantly, I LEARNED from them. Without shame, embarrassment or resistance.
“The MAN” isn’t holding poor people back. Walmart isn’t holding it’s employees back. PEOPLE hold THEMSELVES back. The American Dream is REAL. I’m living proof. People are just too lazy and more worried about Kim Kardashian’s ass or the next Call of Duty game to realize it.