Atlas Shrugged the movie

CaptainObvious · Apr 16, 2011

Quote from Hello:

Whose money got stolen? Was it the bottom 50% of wage earners who paid zero dollars in taxes last year who got robbed? It was in fact the rich people who got robbed. Again i will reiterate i as a a person who actually paid taxes last year it made me extremely angry that my money got stolen to bail out a bunch of bankers. But lets be honest here, given the fact that the top 1% pay the overwhelming majority of taxes, it sure as hell wasnt the "poor" people who got robbed from the government/bankers.

I feel your pain. I paid taxes too. Wrote the check(s) Thursday. One for the feds and one for the state. Guess me and Ma made too much last year.
As to your question of who is stealing from whom, I don't know exactly what you'd call it. Now we all know that some Boardroom thug didn't exactly stick his hand in my/our pocket and take the money. They had their bought and paid for congressman facilitate that deal for them. Many of these guys wouldn't/shouldn't have jobs at all as it was our money that saved their sorry asses. So did they pay higher taxers than most? Sure they did, but they did it with our f'n money. Call it what you like, I call that theft.

Hello · Apr 16, 2011

Quote from bigarrow:

That's what this thread is about, a book.
Hey Mav some of these young Joe the plummers are basing their life on a book, atlas shrugged. You're probably the only one posting on this thread for the right who has a real business and makes money.

That seems like a pretty direct shot at me, given the fact that im the only other person besides Maverick regularly posting in this thread, and taking the right wing view point, so i will bite. Anytime you want to compare trading blotters let me know, i guarantee i make more money then you and 99% of other people in the market.

In terms of the book, i have yet to read it, upon seeing how many lefties it pissed off on this thread I decided to order it from amazon.

Hello · Apr 16, 2011

Neither me, nor Maverick were arguing whether or not these shitheads in the bank stole peoples money. We were merely pointing out whose money was stolen. It was not poor peoples money who got stolen, for the most part it was other rich people who got robbed.

Quote from CaptainObvious:

I feel your pain. I paid taxes too. Wrote the check(s) Thursday. One for the feds and one for the state. Guess me and Ma made too much last year.
As to your question of who is stealing from whom, I don't know exactly what you'd call it. Now we all know that some Boardroom thug didn't exactly stick his hand in my/our pocket and take the money. They had their bought and paid for congressman facilitate that deal for them. Many of these guys wouldn't/shouldn't have jobs at all as it was our money that saved their sorry asses. So did they pay higher taxers than most? Sure they did, but they did it with our f'n money. Call it what you like, I call that theft.

CaptainObvious · Apr 16, 2011

Quote from Hello:

Neither me, nor Maverick were arguing whether or not these shitheads in the bank stole peoples money. We were merely pointing out whose money was stolen. It was not poor peoples money who got stolen, for the most part it was other rich people who got robbed.

Correct for the most part, but I would argue that if some "poor" person lost their job because some "rich" guy got burned in this whole scam, they they got robbed as well. Bottom line is that many people got burned whether it be directly or indirectly and those that perpetrated the crime have yet to be brought to justice and it's doubtful they ever will. That my friend is the fatal flaw in the whole ever man for himself argument. Some men are on their own while others have "friends" in high places to pick up the pieces when they screw the pooch. These so-called self made corporate titans ain't exactly doing it without any help, but seem to squeal like pigs when the average Joe lines up at the government trough. That's been my main bitch all along. If the big boys get government assistance to stay in the game after they blow it, then so should the average guy in the street.

RedDuke · Apr 16, 2011

Quote from Hello:

Neither me, nor Maverick were arguing whether or not these shitheads in the bank stole peoples money. We were merely pointing out whose money was stolen. It was not poor peoples money who got stolen, for the most part it was other rich people who got robbed.

Hm, was it not tax payers money that was stolen? Yes it was not poor pips money, but it was middle class money, the people who pay the most.

I have no idea how things should work to get to the right balance. I would say that flat tax system would be a nice start.

On the other hand, the vast majority of people never had such a prosperity that we enjoyed over the last century, so the system does work. We just need to make sure we do not f it up beyond repair.

bigarrow · Apr 16, 2011

Quote from Hello:

That seems like a pretty direct shot at me, given the fact that im the only other person besides Maverick regularly posting in this thread, and taking the right wing view point, so i will bite. Anytime you want to compare trading blotters let me know, i guarantee i make more money then you and 99% of other people in the market.

In terms of the book, i have yet to read it, upon seeing how many lefties it pissed off on this thread I decided to order it from amazon.

Sorry hello I hadn't read much of your posts on this thread just the one where you responded to me. I had no idea you were such a big player. You ought to post you blotters, it would give your bragging some substance. The book didn't piss me off, I just thought it was poorly written and boring and repetitive. And the characters in the book were not fully developed, they were like a cardboard cut out of a person, one dimensional. But if you have a week of your life to throw away then go for it.

Hello · Apr 17, 2011

This is the most disingenous B.S. i have ever read. You lob out a direct insult at me, then when i call you on it you attempt to make me out as the asshole, and you get indignant. So tell me something then, since you clearly werent referring to me, exactly which "right wingers posting in this thread" were you implying dont make any money? You supposedly didnt pay any attention to any of my posts, so please tell me which right wing person from this thread your insult was directed at.

Quote from bigarrow:

Sorry hello I hadn't read much of your posts on this thread just the one where you responded to me. I had no idea you were such a big player. You ought to post you blotters, it would give your bragging some substance. The book didn't piss me off, I just thought it was poorly written and boring and repetitive. And the characters in the book were not fully developed, they were like a cardboard cut out of a person, one dimensional. But if you have a week of your life to throw away then go for it.

Quote from bigarrow:

That's what this thread is about, a book.
Hey Mav some of these young Joe the plummers are basing their life on a book, atlas shrugged. You're probably the only one posting on this thread for the right who has a real business and makes money.

maxpi · Apr 17, 2011

Freeloading is kind of cool actually... I'm kicked back here after a few years of unemployment insurance. They started busting my balls about whether I was actually looking for work or not so I had to switch over to Social Security... I defaulted on all the unsecured debt too, that was sort of fun but my wife hated it and kicked me out of the house because I couldn't get a job in the worst depression of our lifetimes.. she had the house in a trust and I didn't know she could do that but there 'ya go... so wifey became really terminally sick and I don't have to do the caregiving shit....but I was able to trade my equity in a rental we share for visitation rights with the dogs so I'm good...

Freeloading has been good to me, I had time to study Jack Hershey and all that good stuff [what IS he saying?], it took all the pressure off me to make $ trading which enables trading if one studies a lot...

But I don't vote at all, not registered for anything, I hate jury duty, simply hate it... I thought all those stories I told in court were bullshit but they were nothing compared to some of the stuff I heard when I did Jury Duty, it expanded my bullshit horizons considerably... and philosophers, wow, don't make me laugh, after generations of detailed arguments they are not sure how a person should be happy!

Hey, philosopher, I'm talking to you! yeah you asshole: wtf you doing on my street?

ralph00 · Apr 17, 2011

Excellent essay about the movie from PJ O'Rourke. The movie doesn't work because times have changed - it's the business elite who are now part of the collective, and the average Joe who is under attack.

It's not Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein or Warren Buffet we have to worry about going on strike and taking their brilliance from society, it's the guy working the meat counter at Safeway, who may just say "fuck it," close his BAC checking account, and take off ...

http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/06/atlas-shrugged-and-so-did-i/

Eight · Apr 17, 2011

Quote from maxpi:

Hey, philosopher, I'm talking to you! yeah you asshole: wtf you doing on my street?

Oh yeah, so what are you "eyes and ears everywhere", get paid a lot for that do ya? Happy with a few smurfs and your welfare cash are you? I'm staring at you and I'm seeing a wimp! Your street! That will be the day after I bang your girlfriend and move up... look at me when I'm talking to you punk or I'll give you a boxing lesson you won't forget...