He worked in radio, films and television, and was president of the Screen Actors guild before he was governor of California, then President of the US. If he ran a business, it is missing from his bio on Wikipedia.
I am wondering how it could possibly seem that way to anybody.
GOP kills tax cut for small business in Senate.
Not sure that this needs any further comment than the title of the link.
This makes me want to vote for Obama more than anything I’ve read this campaign.
One line of logic that you hear from the conservatives is that by raising taxes on the wealthy (by any definition) you are punishing success. Another is that the rich pay taxes and get no benefit while the poor don’t pay takes and get handouts. This issue actually gets to the error of that. Indirectly the wealthy are benefiting more than the poor because they have an infrastructure that allows their businesses to prosper. Yes, the poor are legally allowed to use that same infrastructure but there are barriers to be overcome.
Keeping this country going costs money, infrastructure has to be maintained and expanded. You can’t say that it was already paid for unless you want it to stagnate and deteriorate.
Obama clearly said that a successful business requires initiative and effort of the owner but also an environment to work in. If you don’t believe that, open a Starbucks in the Sahara and see how well it goes. The only quibble I might find is that it takes more than the government, it takes other businesses also.
Pretend your taxes aren’t used for the programs you don’t like and I’ll pretend mine aren’t used for the ones you do like. 
:smack:
Wow, I read that three times as a money-raising business.
So before 19, you were a freeloading communist?
So you are making over $250,000 a year? :dubious:
In that case, yes you should be paying a little more.
Much like Reagan, you looked at monkeys and saw dollar bills.
Did you hack your business out of the wilderness, carrying your child on your back like the frontierfolk of old?
The reason you sound “foolish” is that ANY business depends on things like roads to get goods to and from customers and suppliers and an educated workforce.
I’ll respond to the quote directly, though I rather suspect it’s been doctored somewhat (I haven;t read the thread, or clicked on the link to watch the youtube).
I run my own business. I do nicely. My work is in demand.
I have succeeded on my own initiative. I’ve worked to develop relationships. I’ve practiced what I do to get good at it. I’ve taken every opportunity to stretch myself in a new direction, within reason.
That being said, of course I’ve benefitted from “somebody else”–which really means “everybody else.” I’ve benefitted from the work of the government, the work of other businesspeople, the work of scholars, the work of taxpayers–to the extent you can separate all of them.
–Without the internet, my business would collapse. Immediately. Thank you, those-folks-who-invented-the-internet. Thank you, those colleges and universities, many of them public, that provided funding and space for the work that needed to happen to make the internet a reality. Thank you, governments and taxpayers which have made it a priority to keep the internet up and running. Without you, I wouldn’t be here.
–Without a consistent power supply, I wouldn;t be in business. At all. Thank you to the power companies who build and maintain power stations, to the government officials who funded large projects designed to expand the power grid, to the peaceful interactions in the USA that allow my state to get power from other states as needed (and I suppose vice versa), to the scientists who developed ways of generating power other than whale oil and candle wax, to the linemen and -women who clear the tree branches off the lines after storms. Without you, I wouldn’t be here.
–Without roads, I wouldn’t be in business. This would take a little while to squeeze me out, since I’m so dependent on the internet these days, but when I order supplies that come via UPS or FedEx, guess what, they use the highways and the streets of my city. Not to mention that eventually I’d get hungry, and the supermarkets wouldn’t have much food for sale without trucking, and I’d have difficulty getting it all home if I had to lug it through the brambles. Thank you to the departments of transportation who plow the snow, repair the roads, fix the bridges, and built the highways to begin with. Than you to the people decades back who decided that a good road system would be good for business. Thank you to the taxpayers who fund this not inconsiderable expense. I doubt very many small business owners could afford their own road system. Without you, I wouldn’t be here.
–Without an education, I’d be nowhere. True, I did a lot to educate myself–I worked hard in school, got into a “good” college; I had parents who valued education. But I also learned a lot from fellow students, and I learned a great deal from many (though by no means all) teachers. Not only that, my business relies on having customers who are educated themselves. Without an education, they wouldn’t be able to hire me/sell me goods/support me in the myriad of details that go along with running a business. Thank you to the teachers who taught me and everybody else, to the municipalities and other governments that decided education was worth supporting, thank you to the people who produced books, videos, offered me and everyone else educational experiences. Without you, I wouldn’t be here.
–Oh, let’s skip ahead, shall we? Without a dedicated military, a strong police force, a corps of firefighters, things would be very different. I can devote my time to work rather than to policing my property or worrying about foreign invaders. I can rest easy knowing that I live in a country that’s taken on these roles for me, allowing me to concentrate on my business. It’s hard for me to see how anybody lives in a country that doesn’t provide these services, let alone runs a business. Thank you to the fighting men and women and the government agencies that train them and pay them. Thank you to the taxpayers who support police forces and fire departments. Thank you to the people who way back when decided that these were legitimate functions of government. Without you, I wouldn’t be here.
So, in answer to the question, yes. Somebody else made it happen. A whole lot of somebody elses made it happen. I made it happen too. But it would be silly to think I could have done it “all on my own.” And if you doubt it, ask yourself: How easy would it be for me to start my business all over again in Somalia???
As it happens, I do. Wasn’t my question, though.
Oh, HERE’S my question:
Kinda. I lived at home, didn’t work, and shared pot freely with my friends.
Nope not yet. We’re right at 100k. But we always face property tax increases every year, and they’ve been trying to put a county income tax in place, which would be another 2-4% on our income
And why should I pay more if I hit 250k? If I do get there, it will be through growing my businesses, not through capital gains or breaking the back of the workers. Why should you get to decide at what point what I have is enough to share?
Why in OG’s name would I pick through the budget to find something you already know? Do you have a point that you’d like to make?
Where did I say I didn’t?
Would any of you like to address the “level playing field” idea presented in this thread? I agree that these things are provided for everyone, so I’d like to know why business owners are singled out for scorn. I think they should be celebrated.
My point is that the USPS is NOT funded by tax dollars.
Also, I didn’t ask YOU for the cite. I asked Sateryn76.
No one is singling out business owners for scorn. FOX News is simply pretending that President Obama is doing so.
I agree, and so does the president.
[QUOTE=Barack Obama, same speech as the OP, trimmed in the same fashion]
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative
[/QUOTE]
I’m wondering how anyone can miss it. You are aware, aren’t you, that Obama constantly claims that business owners/the rich aren’t paying “their fair share”? I’m stunned that you think the title statement is any different than the actual, full quote.
It’s pretty straight forward- Obama thinks that businesses and the rich aren’t paying enough in taxes. He thinks because roads and bridges exist, that they owe more money than they’ve already paid. And how anyone can fail to realize that they funded the lion’s share of those bridges and schools is beyond me.