Grass Roots Grow Against Greed - Bill Moyers & Jim Hightower

2seaoat wrote:I was a greedy developer, and business owner.  I had been a Republican since I was a kid.  I believed that the free market always efficiently assigns capital and labor and maximizes productivity and wealth accumulation for a society.   So when Ronald Reagan came along and was going to attack the new deal and government interference in that free market, I was gung ho.   I was not happy with the PATCO strike and I thought unions had gotten greedy.  I certainly loved the tax breaks I received as I had a young family and was accumulating capital quickly and did not want to pay taxes.   America was unlimited.

I started to see the displacement of the importance of labor.  I saw unfettered capitalism and unfair tax codes allowing greed to invest in unproductive investments like structures on barrier islands.....which of course I was all in......making money on real estate.....oblivious to the social costs that my hero had implemented in his tax cuts and expanding the deficit....and then one day the America I grew up with was gone.....the hard working blue collar guy who was a neighbor lost his job, entire factories were picked up and communities abandoned.....the local bank was closed and all of a sudden it was chase, bank of America, or other non local banks crushing the local banks, making no loans and hooking people on credit cards and lines of credit.......still making lots of money......starting to get concerned, and then I got Ill.......suddenly I had wisdom.......I realized how precious life is and how unworthy my goals had been.  The kids were raised and had started their families, but with the life I had left, I would work every to correct the collective mistakes my generation had made.  Wisdom comes with a price......and I have never been happier in my life understanding what I did wrong, and what I have since done right.........America is a great place.....and with the time I have left, I will support policies that care about her people......not the Silas miner floor boards where one stashes their gold.......free at last.

Floridatexan wrote:
Please do not beat yourself up for going out and trying to make a decent living for your family.  Did you screw anyone to make a deal?  Did you treat your employees like crap?  I doubt it.

2seaoat wrote:I was a greedy developer, and business owner.  I had been a Republican since I was a kid.  I believed that the free market always efficiently assigns capital and labor and maximizes productivity and wealth accumulation for a society.   So when Ronald Reagan came along and was going to attack the new deal and government interference in that free market, I was gung ho.   I was not happy with the PATCO strike and I thought unions had gotten greedy.  I certainly loved the tax breaks I received as I had a young family and was accumulating capital quickly and did not want to pay taxes.   America was unlimited.

I started to see the displacement of the importance of labor.  I saw unfettered capitalism and unfair tax codes allowing greed to invest in unproductive investments like structures on barrier islands.....which of course I was all in......making money on real estate.....oblivious to the social costs that my hero had implemented in his tax cuts and expanding the deficit....and then one day the America I grew up with was gone.....the hard working blue collar guy who was a neighbor lost his job, entire factories were picked up and communities abandoned.....the local bank was closed and all of a sudden it was chase, bank of America, or other non local banks crushing the local banks, making no loans and hooking people on credit cards and lines of credit.......still making lots of money......starting to get concerned, and then I got Ill.......suddenly I had wisdom.......I realized how precious life is and how unworthy my goals had been.  The kids were raised and had started their families, but with the life I had left, I would work every to correct the collective mistakes my generation had made.  Wisdom comes with a price......and I have never been happier in my life understanding what I did wrong, and what I have since done right.........America is a great place.....and with the time I have left, I will support policies that care about her people......not the Silas miner floor boards where one stashes their gold.......free at last.

no stress wrote:

2seaoat wrote:I was a greedy developer, and business owner.  I had been a Republican since I was a kid.  I believed that the free market always efficiently assigns capital and labor and maximizes productivity and wealth accumulation for a society.   So when Ronald Reagan came along and was going to attack the new deal and government interference in that free market, I was gung ho.   I was not happy with the PATCO strike and I thought unions had gotten greedy.  I certainly loved the tax breaks I received as I had a young family and was accumulating capital quickly and did not want to pay taxes.   America was unlimited.

I started to see the displacement of the importance of labor.  I saw unfettered capitalism and unfair tax codes allowing greed to invest in unproductive investments like structures on barrier islands.....which of course I was all in......making money on real estate.....oblivious to the social costs that my hero had implemented in his tax cuts and expanding the deficit....and then one day the America I grew up with was gone.....the hard working blue collar guy who was a neighbor lost his job, entire factories were picked up and communities abandoned.....the local bank was closed and all of a sudden it was chase, bank of America, or other non local banks crushing the local banks, making no loans and hooking people on credit cards and lines of credit.......still making lots of money......starting to get concerned, and then I got Ill.......suddenly I had wisdom.......I realized how precious life is and how unworthy my goals had been.  The kids were raised and had started their families, but with the life I had left, I would work every to correct the collective mistakes my generation had made.  Wisdom comes with a price......and I have never been happier in my life understanding what I did wrong, and what I have since done right.........America is a great place.....and with the time I have left, I will support policies that care about her people......not the Silas miner floor boards where one stashes their gold.......free at last.

      

2seaoat wrote:I was a greedy developer, and business owner.  I had been a Republican since I was a kid.  I believed that the free market always efficiently assigns capital and labor and maximizes productivity and wealth accumulation for a society.   So when Ronald Reagan came along and was going to attack the new deal and government interference in that free market, I was gung ho.   I was not happy with the PATCO strike and I thought unions had gotten greedy.  I certainly loved the tax breaks I received as I had a young family and was accumulating capital quickly and did not want to pay taxes.   America was unlimited.

I started to see the displacement of the importance of labor.  I saw unfettered capitalism and unfair tax codes allowing greed to invest in unproductive investments like structures on barrier islands.....which of course I was all in......making money on real estate.....oblivious to the social costs that my hero had implemented in his tax cuts and expanding the deficit....and then one day the America I grew up with was gone.....the hard working blue collar guy who was a neighbor lost his job, entire factories were picked up and communities abandoned.....the local bank was closed and all of a sudden it was chase, bank of America, or other non local banks crushing the local banks, making no loans and hooking people on credit cards and lines of credit.......still making lots of money......starting to get concerned, and then I got Ill.......suddenly I had wisdom.......I realized how precious life is and how unworthy my goals had been.  The kids were raised and had started their families, but with the life I had left, I would work every to correct the collective mistakes my generation had made.  Wisdom comes with a price......and I have never been happier in my life understanding what I did wrong, and what I have since done right.........America is a great place.....and with the time I have left, I will support policies that care about her people......not the Silas miner floor boards where one stashes their gold.......free at last.