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Dem. Sen. Claims U.S. Doesn’t Have a Spending Problem, It Has a ‘Misallocation of Wealth’ Problem

Feb. 15, 2013 10:22am Becket Adams

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) on Thursday explained something rather extraordinary: The U.S. doesn’t have a spending problem, it has a “misallocation of wealth” problem.

“First of all, I want to disagree with those who say we have a spending problem. Everyone keeps saying we have a spending problem,” he said during a discussion on the Budget Control Act of 2011 (which includes the across-the-board spending cuts known as “sequestration”) .

“And when they talk about that, it’s like there’s an assumption that somehow we as a nation are broke,” he added.

Sen. Harkin, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, continued:

Well look at it this way, we’re the richest nation in the history of the world. We are now the richest nation in the world.

We have the highest per capita income of any major nation. That kind of begs the question, doesn’t it? If we’re so rich, why are we so broke? Is it a spending problem?

No, it’s because we have a misallocation of capital, a misallocation of wealth.

And by “misallocation,” the senator is, of course, alluding to the so-called “one percent.”

“All of this wealth that’s been built up by hard-working Americans has been accumulated into fewer and fewer and fewer hands all the time,” Harkin said.

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Comments (183)

The Big Mick
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:58am
Show of hands. WHO still thinks you can “reach common ground” or “come together” with this guy and his Collectivist Statist Redistributionist ilk? Figured out yet you CAN’T OutVOTE them?
Anybody bothered to read Walter Williams’ April 7, 2010 Column “Parting Company” yet?

Or is Clinical Grade DENIAL still rampant among The Blazers?

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- Cavallo
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:13am
  There is no common ground with Statists. Ever. Pedophiles and drug dealers are more ethical standards than the autocrats and centralized planners. The Left are not my countrymen, they are not my brothers, they are not my neighbors. They are not human. They will rob you, they will enslave you, and they will murder you. If anyone wants to find common ground with a thieving murdering sociopathic slave master they are a fool.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:23am
  Cavallo, the 20th century stands as testimony to your stated truth.
  
  Report this comment
- LTC911
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:27am
  We need to get this marxist off the appropriations committee and replace him with someone who won’t steal your money.
  
  Report this comment
- Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:44am
  Communists such as that senator only understand two ways – taxation and the government enforcement by the end of a gun.
  
  Report this comment
- oldguy49
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:08pm
  TERM LIMITS………..flat tax
  
  Report this comment
- mrunner
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:49pm
  Agreed. @Oldguy49 – I think we need to add mandatory drug testing of all elected officials to your flat tax and term limits. lol
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:09pm
  Oldguy49, FaitTax, not flat tax. FairTax is volitional. A flat tax is not.
  
  Report this comment
- joey g
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:35pm
  why do we call these a holes progresses …they are hard nose communists period………….
  
  Report this comment
- GilbertAcct
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:39pm
  Romney was a Statist Collectivist Redistributionist as well, yet Republicans voted him in to oppose Obama. The problems is that the big names in both parties are all Keynesians.
  
  Report this comment
- brother_ed
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:49pm
  @THE BIG MICK
  
  I have felt that the differences are irreconcilable for quite sometime now.
  
  It used to be that there was the illusion of common ground, no more.
  
  It seems as if the regimes goal of ‘changing our language’ has come to fruition; I know longer understand what these people are talking about.
  
  I read MBE’s, KEATON’s and the others’ comments, and I am at a complete loss as to how to have a sensible conversation with them.
  
  We truly have entered a time when things are all upside down.
  
  The only thing I know to do is to prepare myself and my family for the coming storm – we all see it coming.
  
  I do not instigate – I do not want to be part of the hateful rhetoric – but I am aware of the confusion, misinformation, and the complete lack of civility that is on the rise (on both sides).
  
  I do not see a peaceful solution…the doctrines are diametrically opposed…the tension is building.
  
  Keep your head down, because when ‘the rusty wire that holds the cork that keeps the anger in, gives way’ (Pink Floyd) it will not be pretty.
  
  There are too many outside forces that will take take advantage of the situation (drug cartels, Islamists, Russia, etc.).
  
  Report this comment
- landowner
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:56pm
  So we are all supposed to share everything, like houses, money, food and everything. Hmmm…if there was only a name for an idea like that. Seems like I heard one once…..Oh yeah! COMMUNISM. DEMwit.
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:24pm
  a misallocation is of course an absurd statement and only reported on here to generate the desired angry mob response. who ever claimed their were not as many loose cannons and stupid individuals on the democratic side of the isle as there are on the right. And i’m sure they make outrageous statements for the purpose of getting attention and air time just like M. Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell. Ok in M. Bachmann, Sharon Angle and Christine O’donnell they do it because they are stupid and don’t know any better but the result is the same. This report of course is meant to cloud the two real issues that are and will continue to drag the US economy for years and perhaps decades to come. Those being the steady drop in real wages since the 1980′s and the concentration of wealth. Both of which directly depress spending and thus demand which lead to economic contraction and job loses. As it is demand, not the wealthy that create jobs.
  
  Report this comment
- JohnofOregon
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:17pm
  I think this guy got raped one to many times in Harry rieds office
  
  Report this comment
- Git-R-Done
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 12:04am
  Crook – Quit denying that Harkin didn’t say what he meant.
  
  Report this comment
- Rob in Katy
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 5:38am
  Oops, he slipped just like Maxine,
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrA9zj94NuU
  There is no secret if you are paying attention to what they do, other than in the media.
  
  Report this comment
- Obama Been Lauding
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 5:53am
  The mis-allocation of wealth is due to the government getting so much of taxpayer money, and spending it wildly, ineffectively, and investing in technologies that are not proven, and go belly-up.
  Part of the waste, is people like this, that haven’t passed a budget in “4 years”.
  What is wrong with having a “Balanced Budget Amendment”?
  
  Report this comment
- khadijahbintmuhammad
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:36am
  Preciesly.
  
  This “we simply have a wealth distribution problem” view, which has been parrotted by the far left for a few years now, ASSUMES first that all money is essentially owned by the State — and that they can pull it back from you whenever they wish.
  
  Harkin’s view is not socialism, however. It’s feudalism.
  
  Report this comment
- Trigus
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 9:59am
  This guy is about as bad as that democrat Johnson from Georgia. He thought guam would capsize and sink into the water if to many Marines where stationed there.
  
  There is no hope for US. 47% useless + 18% that do not care as long as they have their SB coffee = those with a IQ less then a lima bean getting elected.
  
  Report this comment
RaydocX
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:58am
@MBE,
so your answer is communism? where the few take the best and leave the dregs for the masses, hold themselves above the rules they make, and will do anything to keep that power, including lie to themselves?

when a capitalist lies to himself his company fails and hopefully he learns from his mistake and tries again.

This attitude is the pie in the sky belief that raising the minimum wage won’t pass through as higher prices or lower employment, and ignores the greater cost to the lower echelon in sales tax and payroll tax as well.

there IS compassionate conservatism… it’s why Romney donated more money and time than the President or his cronies, and even that is under siege by your side, Mary, one of the many ‘loopholes’ they want to close.

What we have is a misallocation of political power and government resources.

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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:05am
  So your answer is to sit around and wait for charity and hope that your hand is in the right spot when some wealthy guy throws out a few crumbs.
  
  My answer is to abandon the notion that profit is a reward for delayed consumption.
  
  Report this comment
- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:26am
  MARYBETHELIZABETH
  
  You have it exactly backwards,, “Communism” benefits the elites as all the power is concentrated with the few who collude with their cohorts to extort the masses. This is proven in history, nowhere in the world has there ever been a society that its leaders were not motivated by greed. Giving up your liberty to them is exactly what they want. The goal two classes, the indistinguishable masses controlled by the elites. That is Communism, social justice, Progressivism. They despise Capitalism as it is liberty to the masses and a threat to their power. Communism is a scam, sold as “equality”, it is really sameness, everyone is controlled and oppressed while the elites get wealthier and more powerful.
  
  Report this comment
- Strider26
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:28am
  @MBE
  Charity was once a product of the churches and the communities. Then the government decided to take on the burden to the taxpayers of providing charity. Now we have slugs living their lives in government housing, eating steaks, drinking booze, buying designer clothes, XBoxes, big screen TV’s and hidhg dollare cars and SUV’s that we can’t afford….while we provide those government dollars. You need to wake up and realize that there is no free lunches in life. Someone always has to pay the bill. You really need to read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Maybe you will see where we are going by reading it.
  
  Report this comment
- RaydocX
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:31am
  No, Mary, my answer is to continue to work to reach your goal, whatever that goal is.
  If you open a business, work to make it succeed and grow.
  Work with people you like, and who share your point of view.
  Government is there to help if there is a problem, a short term fix.
  The ‘progress’ being pushed upon America today is the ‘holding out your hand’ that you speak of.
  
  This country was founded and became great by letting people chase their dreams. And those willing to help the dreamers are rewarded, too. The gross inequities, such as those of the mine owners and the miners are no longer addressed by the unions, which are a modern mine owner.
  
  And while there are executives making far too much for what they offer their companies, and with too little personal responsibility when there are problems, that is an issue for the stock holders, the individual company’s employees, and their customers, not for you or I or the President to ‘fix.’ Every fix he has attempted has failed or had (presumably) unintended consequences that have hurt this nation and the recovery.
  
  Put simply, on the course we are headed, the austerity they scoff at will be our only option.
  And that will not help the middle class or the poor. At some point the poor can only help themselves to reach the middle class, by denying the caste system the Democrats are pushing.
  And knowing that our most poor citizens are richer than 80% of the world’s population blunts cries of ‘unfair’ dist
  
  Report this comment
- RaydocX
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:32am
  @unalien,
  well spoken
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:36am
  Marybethelizabeth, the facts of the 20th century tell us that no entity has killed, oppressed, or caused more suffering, than nations with strong, all-powerful, central governments. Governments are the means to mass murder and oppression. True, they are required… but… they must remain small and decentralized.
  
  Nothing is perfect, but individual freedom is best.
  
  Report this comment
- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:42am
  unalien you are misstating communism. In a communist system the people have the most freedom and the most individual control of their lives and livelihood.
  
  Even in the “Great Experiment” that is America the founders set up a representational system, limiting personal freedom.
  
  Communism has no such limits.
  
  I don’t understand your objections. On Wednesday Glenn Beck agreed with Rand Paul that we should align our foreign policy with the Chinese and Soviets.
  
  One big happy world family… looks like that’s what Glenn Beck wants.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:55am
  Marybethelizabeth, you described anarchy, not Communism. In all societies there must be restrictions on behavior. Someone must enforce those restrictions. The only question is, “Do you want that power in the hands of a few located in one city, or do you want that power in the hands of many located throughout the nation?”
  
  Centralized power. Or decentralized power. Which one has the most power to abuse?
  
  Report this comment
- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:56am
  MARYBETHELIZABETH
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:42am
  unalien you are misstating communism. In a communist system the people have the most freedom and the most individual control of their lives and livelihood.
  ————
  
  you better research that one, you may be confusing the utopian idealism and the reality
  
  While the “equality” sales pitch of communism is compelling to some, the reality is misery, death and oppression of the individual spirit. Communism destroys humanity one soul at a time.
  
  Report this comment
- tzion
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:58am
  Mbe
  In communist Russia there was zero freedom. You worked where you were told to, you couldn’t advance, and you often times couldn’t leave. The America system allowed people to live where they wanted, as they wanted, and let them choose their profession. The representatives existed to hold government accountable to the individual, increasing individual freedom.
  
  Report this comment
- naughtycal
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:10pm
  No mary,
  Thye answer is not to depend on the charity of others or the crumbs of government entitlement. The answer is to take charge of your life and do the best you can and to look at others who leach the system as what the are LEACHES. The answer is to bring back morality and with that good old fashion shame. NO EBT credits cards,or free housing. Bring back the days when food assistance was government cheese bulk staples like rice ,beans,peanut butter,powder milk,give those who need government assistances just the basics and place stringent requirement to recieve them. To make living on entitlement uncomfortable.
  1 basic food in the white generic government bulk.
  2 government housing set up in projects format with independent inspection
  3 random home inspection and personal itemized inventory assements
  4 strict no drugs or alcohol policies
  5 community service requirement
  6 basic educational advancement for those who don’t meet high school standards
  7 manditory birth control implants while collecting entitlements
  Violation of any rules(and keep them simple) will mean automatic removal of all entitlement for 5 years before reapplication is avaible.
  All these requirement are on those who are collecting entitlements but never put in the 30 plus years of work like retirees. Those who actually worked their whole life but just never made enough to retire but did pay into the system should fall into an earned entitlement catagory.
  
  Report this comment
- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:11pm
  unalien so you don’t believe in American Exceptionalism and that Americans have the ingenuity to make something work here that might have failed elsewhere?
  
  You would rather maintain America’s unique brand of ” misery, death and oppression of the individual spirit”?
  
  Report this comment
- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:16pm
  Naughtycal
  
  Communists don’t characterize their fellow countrymen as Leaches.
  
  Capitalists do.
  
  Report this comment
- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:18pm
  Thejerk Lots of Americans in jails.
  
  That’s how American Freedom works.
  
  Report this comment
- RaydocX
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:24pm
  communism states simply from each according to their ability to each according to their need.
  so if you only till one acre but your family needs the harvest from 5 that is supposed to be available to you. it’s a great theory…
  
  but it only works in limited ways… high functioning people do LIKE to have lesser functioners around, it is a nice contrast giving positive spin to their greater efforts, an ego stroke. But if the low functioner is too low, they become not just a drain on the production but a psychological drain, too… ‘why should i work hard when XYZ don’t’
  
  It’s human nature to stop working as hard, to seek the same extra benefits of those not doing the work. So fields and factories fall in production or go idle, while the demands increase.
  
  And all the while, those appointed to be leaders reap the cream of whatever crops there are.
  Those aspiring to that power cannot disappoint the leadership, and so provide rosy reports and unswerving obedience.
  Those holding power will use that power to maintain and increase it, and there is no individual right except for those holding the power.
  It eventually falls apart over a lack of production, overwhelming demand for the most basic services/ goods/ and an utter disconnect between what the leaders believe and what is.
  
  Here, we are seeing some of the same issues… taxes kill production and expansion, but those in power won’t see that. Regulation limits expansion and competition.
  
  Go back and take
  
  Report this comment
- AINT_SKEERT
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:28pm
  @MBE, When the one party rules, without a chance to turn it back. The welfare ends. “You will work, comrade”. (At the point of a gun.) And if you can’t… Bang… You have outlived your usefulness to the motherland.
  Why did they build the Berlin wall to keep people in, if they were so free?
  
  Report this comment
- tzion
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:29pm
  @MBE
  Only an insane person or an idiot would repeat a failed experiment and expect anything different to occur. Communism has never tollerated laziness, inability to work, or lack of productivity. The soviets gave land to people and if they didn’t meet their quotas they would be killed and someone else would be assigned. Communists support ending the lives of useless subjects.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:30pm
  Marybethelizabeth, though you did not address the issue, you’ve brought up another point that argues against yourself. All powerful central governments are the most egregious abusers of prison systems, ghettos, and concentration camps… and that is ignoring the ones that they kill rather than imprison.
  
  Sadly, you beg for oppression. Were you the only one to suffer the consequence of your foolish decision, I would not care. As it is, fools destroy life for others.
  
  Report this comment
- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:38pm
  MARYBETHELIZABETH
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:11pm
  
  You would rather maintain America’s unique brand of ” misery, death and oppression of the individual spirit”?
  ——————————–
  
  The oppression in America has come from the State expansion at the cost of individual liberty..
  
  Your solution of Communism “statism” is causing the very problem you seem to desire to solve
  
  Statism can only exist at the expense of individual liberty and freedoms, it does not enhance it. It devours it. There is very little capitalism left in America today… the problems are from Statism, not Capitalism.
  
  Explain where free market Capitalism has oppressed individual freedom and liberty…
  
  Report this comment
- naughtycal
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:01pm
  M E,
  Communist don’t call their countrtyman leaches ,they call their leaches countryman.
  
  Report this comment
- Southerner01
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:27pm
  Mary,
  
  Why wait for a handout. If you want money, just become onne of the wealthy. That’s what’s cool about AMerica. You don’t need ot wait for a handout from anyone. All you have to do is create something people want.
  
  Report this comment
- Southerner01
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:31pm
  Capitalism is the freedom of responsibility for yourself.
  Communism is freedom from responsibility for yourself.
  
  Personally, I prefer the first, although I understand why immature people would still want the omnipresent parent to take care of them forever.
  
  Report this comment
- landowner
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:58pm
  I am so happy MaryEliz finally came out and said COMMUNISM is where we should go. Now I can ignore in peace. NO.
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 5:58pm
  marybethelizabeth
  In a communist system the people have the most freedom and the most individual control of their lives and livelihood.
  ***
  Then move to one MBE after all the experiments to establish communism there must be one that is communist.
  
  North Korea,
  Vietnam,
  China,
  Russia,
  Cuba,
  Nicaragua,
  Tanzania,
  Mozambique,
  Angola,
  Venezuela
  
  MBE that is 10 experiments in communism encompassing 16% or more of the world population & 10 of the 295 countries in the world. Plus you have as many or more socialist states.
  
  Why haven’t you moved? Why can’t you point to one & say it is perfect or near perfect or so much better than the U.S.?
  
  Report this comment
- LakeHartwellSailor
  Posted on February 16, 2013 at 8:14am
  @MBE
  
  So your answer is to sit around and wait for charity and hope that your hand is in the right spot when some wealthy guy throws out a few crumbs.
  
  My answer is to abandon the notion that profit is a reward for delayed consumption.
  
  Mary Beth…I am not a “rich guy”, but I find the fruits of my labor are disappearing quickly by a money grabbing government. I think you advocate out right Robbery By The Government. I find our government’s constant squeezing of the American Taxpayer of more and more money is no different then just adopting a policy for lazy people on the government dole to simply walk into any house they deem fit and start carting off the possessions inside.
  
  Sure, there are people who legitimently need help, but the line of demarcation of who needs “help” keeps getting moved….in the wrong direction. Let me ask you a couple of questions, how much do you make from a job? How much do you receive from government subsidies. I don’t expect an honest answer from you, but my guess is that you are one of those people who “sit around” waiting for crumbs as you put it.
  
  Keep your filthy hands off of my stuff.
  
  Report this comment
athiest-infedel
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:55am
The problem with socialism is you will run out of other peoples money to spend.

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- naughtycal
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:23pm
  If it wasn’t so serious you could laugh about what is happen today. So many Americans keep saying Weimar that could never happen here. Sort of like all those passenagers that thought Titanic could never sink. The reality is there are no absolutes and murphy’s laws apply to everyone. And the worst case scenerio is always a possibility.
  
  Report this comment
- doomytram
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:35pm
  The economy recessed last quarter and Obozo blamed the fiscal cliff negotiations? If the economy recesses this quarter, then Obozo will and has blamed the sequester? This means that if the US economy goes back into recession for the second or third time in 5 years, then it will all be blamed on the Republican House. Remember their were no spending cuts in the fiscal cliff deal, just tax increases. Remember that there are no real cuts in the sequester, just adjustments to base line budgeting. Remember that Ozero skool kids will get their lunch taken away in the public indoctrination centers. No change, just blame. We are living in a debt ridden ozero growth economy and we are following Europe. Europe is recession and we are in recession. Obozo blame the fiscal cliff and the sequester which have nothing to do with the economy but to destroy it. It’s blaming the messenger which Obozo is good at doing.
  
  Report this comment
RJJinGadsden
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:52am
BROKE? LOL, now that is funny. Its not that we as a country are broke, we are the deepest, widest hole of debt on the face of the planet. All because of our politicians who sought to buy their way to power with out money, but worse yet, money that not does not exist, but never will.

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- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:01am
  We are prisoners of the the Central Banking system. We, as a nation, actually borrow money, at interest, from private world citizens. How insane is that?
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:09am
  THE_JERK, It is almost as insane as practically everything else you ever say here.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:28am
  RJJinGadsden, do we, as a nation, borrow money “at interest” from a private bank? This is a yes/no question.
  
  Report this comment
- Strider26
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:30am
  @RJJinGadsden
  Actually TJ is right about that one. Read up on the Fed.
  
  Report this comment
- Southerner01
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:33pm
  The country may not be broke, but the Government is. The problem is that lefties cannot grasp the fact that private wealth is not theirs to spend.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:02pm
  Southerner01, the last economic depression proves that the government will steal your private wealth. They confiscated gold from private citizens. They stole their freedom if they did not hand their wealth over to that government. Centralized power is evil.
  
  Report this comment
FlagWavingPatriot
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:50am
What we’ve got is a misallocation of brains problem.

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John.Galt
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:50am
As if wealth is “allocated.” Hey, dumba$$, by working hard I “allocate” wealth to myself…. GET IT?

NO? Well then ENJOY YOUR STARVATION!

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- CatB
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:54am
  Someone needs to tell these morons ….. it is’t your money! It does NOT belong to the “state” … stop stealing. The people WHO PAY are NOT the problem .. we have a country of takers .. aided and abetted by government … who are.
  
  Report this comment
marybethelizabeth
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:49am
Capitalism will always result in gross inequality.

People will invest. Some will win. Some will lose.

Then of those winners, more will lose.
and on and on.
That’s what got us here.

And if we stay on this road, things will only get worse.

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- KAMAKANA
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:01am
  What’s your point? Life was never intended to be fair and it’s INCREDIBLY naive to think that man can ever make it so. So you keep complaining and being frustrated about why human beings are mean to each other, and the rest of us will continue exercising our freedoms to become as successful as we want.
  
  Report this comment
- rambosharley
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:02am
  Well, we should try marxism, I hear it’s working out real well in N.Korea! lol!
  
  Report this comment
- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:08am
  MARYBETHELIZABETH
  
  and where is the equality in Communisms 100,000,000 plus deaths and massive poverty and misery..
  
  the free market lifts the most out of poverty, liberals confuse corporatism aka fascism with capitalism, a straw man fallacy
  
  True Capitalism has been subverted and eroded for a very long time, in fact, it barely exists, we are in a fascist paradigm, the collusion of the state with special interests aka Solyndra..
  
  The creeping Socialism/Progressivism has caused the inequality, not the free market
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:08am
  BARYMETHELIZABETH, Then there are the politicians who will pander to the “sit on their dead ass crowd” and promise them the world if you only vote for me. Greece proved it during the first known democracy. Which is why pure democracy does not work. If we were a true capitalist society, where all who “can” are willing to put skin in the game it would work and work very well. With those who refuse to put skin into the game, but would rather put a hand out are a drag on society. But, they are and have been for decades taught to do so.
  
  Report this comment
- seeker9
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:10am
  Failure is the greatest motivator against poverty. It’s been said “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” for 2 thousand years.Yet we have survived quitw well. Our capitalist system has brought more people out of poverty than any other system on earth. Penalize the successful with punitive taxes and reward the unsuccessful with free wealth is a plan of action doomed for failure.
  
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- The Big Mick
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:13am
  The Observant Student will note that 1. Lizbot here believes SHE is the one to define “equality” and what it should look like.
  2. What she is actually saying is: “In any form of human endeavor, some will be more skilled than others, the more skilled are more likely to be more successful and that will result in a diversity of outcome that CANNOT be PERMITTED.”
  One wonders if she has ever played any games.
  
  Newsflash, Lizbot: “It ain’t your money….so…..IT AIN’T NONYADAMNBUSINESS!”
  How is this any more Legitimate than demanding Society/Government command equal Attractiveness of All People, or Equal Intelligence of All People. Equal Height? Equal Skin Color?
  
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- Strider26
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:19am
  And it is the most successful system known to mankind. Socialism has been an abject failure in every instance. Perhaps you should be aware of a statement by Albert Einstein whom many consider a somewhat intelligent individual. He said “the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results”. I think that pretty well defines the mindset of socialists like yourself.
  
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- LTC911
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:24am
  If that is the case why is there an increase in millionaires every year by as many as 200,000 to 1 million. I guess your just another “gosh darn marxist”. The problem is not that people can’t go out and become millionaires, it’s that the brainwashed socialists and communists believe you should be given something for nothing. In other words for you folks on the left coast, “the have’s should give to the have nots”
  
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- ares338
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:27am
  Are you saying that everyone should win? You have the mind of an adolescent!
  
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- naughtycal
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:27am
  Yes mary, not everyone in a capitalistic system makes the same. But the over condition of those in a capitalist system improves. That’s why we the highest standard of living in the world. That’s why our poor have cell phones,flat screens and are 50 lbs over weight. When they talk about taxing the wealthy they mean us. Even Our citizen who are considered in proverty are considered upper middle class by global standards. WHY?……Capitalism.
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:03pm
  Capitalism isn’t synonymous with America.
  
  So lets talk about America and the Founding Fathers.
  
  They looked at people as a rabble, as a mob, as something necessary to protect themselves from and for them to protect it from itself. So they set up a representative form of government. A system of overseers.
  
  They believed in freedom, but not for everyone. America is fundamentally elitist.
  
  Communism is a system where each person has access to the same rights and privileges as any other person.
  
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- tzion
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:12pm
  What got us here was government encouraging bad deals. They wanted to make things “fair” by encouraging mortgages to those less fortunate and when housing didn’t go up enough for them to pay the money back, BOOM. It was a lack of capitalism that caused the mortgage crisis. True capitalists would never had made such bad loans.
  
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- tzion
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:20pm
  MBE
  The mob the founders spoke of were the ones who would oppress minorities for the benefit of the majority. Mob rule allows people to gang up on one another. By restricting the influence of the group they increased the freedom of the individual. But they also restrained the government to achieve the same goal.
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:22pm
  Strider26
  
  Who said it had to be done the same way?
  
  What conservatives want is no changes to Capitalism, a system that is broken. They fit Einstein’s definition better than about any other example you could think of putting forth.
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:27pm
  LTC the fact is Wealth is being concentrated. Fewer and fewer people control more and more good. When bread costs $100 a loaf, a million doesn’t go as far as it once did.
  
  That inflation is part of the Capitalist system, no matter how the means of exchange is indexed. It’s a product of the way Capitalism creates wealth. the wealth will always flow upwards and into fewer and fewer hands.
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:32pm
  tzion You bought the sales pitch. You repeat the propaganda well.
  
  Many of the posters here think poorly of their fellow Americans, calling them lazy, dumb, or leaches as above.
  
  But I don’t know anyone like that.
  
  That’s just some imaginary group or, if it exists, it is very small.
  
  Report this comment
- netminder
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:43pm
  Your correct, the road we’re on is Obama’s POS road and we are being ruined.
  
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- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:49pm
  MARYBETHELIZABETH
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:27pm
  LTC the fact is Wealth is being concentrated. Fewer and fewer people control more and more good. When bread costs $100 a loaf, a million doesn’t go as far as it once did.
  
  That inflation is part of the Capitalist system, no matter how the means of exchange is indexed. It’s a product of the way Capitalism creates wealth. the wealth will always flow upwards and into fewer and fewer hands.
  ——————————-
  
  You are wrong, inflation is created by the State confiscating wealth to alleviate Government debt. The Fed system controls the price and quantity of money, and everyone is forced to participate. This is not Capitalism, it is central planning by the State colluding with elite banks. Collectivist ideologies always promote Gov debt and inflation because it concentrates power and wealth through debt enslavement.
  
  Unfortunately, you have adopted an ideology without any critical evaluation and your conclusions are exactly backwards.
  
  collectivism enslaves the individual, free market principles free the individual
  
  It has been State intervention that has caused the problems that you blame on the free market.
  
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- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 1:06pm
  MARYBETHELIZABETH
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:27pm
  the wealth will always flow upwards and into fewer and fewer hands.
  ————-
  
  How much wealth does an individual have under Communism,,, NONE
  
  All the wealth is concentrated and controlled by the State elites and its cohorts, So collectivism is the problem, not the solution..
  
  It is a scam, a con, a fasle promise of utopia that delivers misery, poverty and eventually death.
  
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- landowner
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 3:01pm
  If my piece of the pie is bigger…it’s because I paid for a bigger piece or I worked for a bigger piece. I get the whole idea of commune, I was there in the 60′s and 70′s too. It doesn’t work because of those who don’t work. Stealing it from those that do? IS STEALING.
  
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- tzion
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:42pm
  @MBE
  You say you don’t know anyone who’s lazy? Maybe that’s because they have to fend for themselves to survive. Take that away and people lose motivation. It’s already happening. I once worked as a cashier for a short time period and I had plenty of food stamp customers. You want to know what they were spending our hard earned taxpayer money on? Quite often, it was soda and junk food. Now there were those responsible people who bought ramen noodles and such, but I know that if I were short on cash, soda would be the first thing to go. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against people who drink soda, but it is a pure luxury item that has no nutritional value.
  
  That is the glimpse of communism. Communism can only be imposed on a large scale through the barrel of a gun. Socialist communes have worked on a small scale in certain cases, but these involve simplistic and highly idealized lifestyles. More importantly, all participants are there by choice and everyone knows everyone else. Examples include the Amish among others. Try to create that on a large scale and it will fail every time.
  
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Al J Zira
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:47am
Thank you Iowa for sending this to Washington. You guys are one of the reasons we’re in this mess.

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- Strider26
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:46am
  You are exactly right. We don’t have a politician problem. We have a voter problem. Until that is solved we will never get better politicians.
  
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barber2
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:45am
A ” misallocation of wealth ??” Just another Democrat wacko phrase ! What did Lenin and Marx call it ?! The ” Forward ” mess….

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gr8t2bfree
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:45am
With a commie commie here and a commie commie there, here a commie there a commie everywhere a commie commie………….

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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:51am
  Communism is the opposite of the failure of capitalism we are now experiencing.
  
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- Cavallo
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:05am
  No Mary, what we have now is Fascism, laced with corrupt banana republic like cronyism. Either way, via communism or fascism it all leads towards Marxist Statist tyrannical rule. Even if we seized every ounce of wealth of the “rich” it still would not pay for the moronic schemes that your centralized autocrats have developed.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:15am
  BARYMETHELIZABETH, Please tell us all about a single successful Communist society. In my lifetime I have observed too many of the results of those governments up close. Have also had the chance to see some of their collapses up close.
  Okay, I can think of an unusual Communist success. When Khrushchev told either Eisenhower or was it Kennedy? We will destroy you from within. So, Communism has been another major drag on American Capitalism. Communism is decay on society.
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:27am
  No it’s really Fascism. No it’s really Communism.
  No
  
  It’s really, really Capitalism.
  
  Report this comment
- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:42am
  MARYBETHELIZABETH
  
  Capitalism is the voluntary participation in exchange. Corporatism is not voluntary, Communism is not voluntary Socialism is not voluntary. Fascism is not voluntary and Fascism can only be enabled by the coercive and abusive power of the State over the individual. Fascism is statism, forced participation, the opposite of free market voluntary principles.
  
  Your premise is wrong…
  
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- TheGrtDcptn
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:49am
  ‘communism is the opposite of the failure of Capitalism’
  
  …communism is confiscation of wealth, nothing more than a death sentence by various means…
  
  Millions DEAD…PURE EVIL…!!
  
  Report this comment
kturn16
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:42am
Wow! Who keeps electing these stupid idiots?!

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- JacquesChirac
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:45am
  Stupid people!
  
  Sorry Iowa, but you can’t really tell me this guy makes you proud…
  
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- Maji
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:54am
  These people are so “a-moral”they will say anything
  and know there is nefarious group to back them!
  
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- chips1
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:36pm
  You will never know who the stupid people are because they are too stupid to get an ID.
  
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Patrick_Henry
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:42am
And so it begins….subtle, but dangerous….soon there will be talk about all the concentrated “wealth” in 401K’s, Stock portfolios, farmers who own “too much land”, Landlords that own “too many properties” and in “fairness”, Obama must take the people’s fair share and pass it around as the yahoos in Congress and the White House see as “equitable….seems Orwellian, but Harkin has just let the strategy slip out….

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- seeker9
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:58am
  And guess who he thinks should “allocate” the wealth. The politicians can allocate it to guarantee themselves and cronies wealth after taking it from people that have earned it. After all, the wealth belongs with the politicians. HA! Vote the marxists out!
  
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- JacquesChirac
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:00am
  BINGO!!!
  
  And I used to think Atlas Shrugged was fiction…
  
  We are sooooooo screwed…
  
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- Cavallo
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:23am
  @Jacque, I used to think the characters in Atlas shrugged were one dimensional and poorly written, until you start to listen to the rhetoric of the left and you realize what an accurate portrayal the villains actually were. It’s nauseating; like finding out that there really are monsters in the world and in their desire to eat your soul they tell you that it is for your own good, and the good of society.
  
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- JacquesChirac
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:26pm
  Cavallo – as my kids would say, “Word”.
  
  BTW – I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve been using your Mein Kampf quote on leveraging kids for the past couple of weeks. Very, very good, and unfortunately, very, very scary. You had to love the emperor’s campaigning for pre-schoolers yesterday, no?
  
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Watcher1952
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:41am
But why are these type of people getting re-elected……They have no idea what the average AMERICAN is going thru at present. You have Pelosi…Reed….Harkin and others that can stand there, look you straight in the eye and lie. Barack Hussein Obama does the same thing each and every time he opens his mouth. The Republicans won’t stand up and call them liars to their faces….or make them prove anything they say…..AMERICA is in trouble…..Lock and Load

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searcher619
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:41am
WTF does personal wealth have to do with the spending habits of our politicians?

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- Gonzo
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:20am
  Simple, they feel they have a right to our personal wealth to fund their spending.
  
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General K
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:40am
POS in the state of the union address we need to up the minimum wage it seldom gets to the low earners the prevailing rate of the unions go by the minimum wage to calculate how much they can rape anyone that employs them for. Their biggest employers are namely the US and state Governments to rebuild our infrastructure. Another shell game. Here we go again.

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Mike Benton
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:37am
You can’t have a free enterprise system without enterprising people. We have too many people who have dropped out, stopped pulling their fair share so it is no wonder things are out of balance.

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UNALIEN
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:35am
Mixing ignorance and arrogance is the elixer of “Modern Liberalism”

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J.C. McGlynn
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:34am
This man does not know the difference between people earning their keep and government taxing it. He thinks all money from any source belongs to the feds, not those who earn it.

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- objectivetruth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:42am
  Precisely.Its also the reason some have dropped out.Why bother?They will tax it away pss it away.That is if we can even earn it to begin with.Nothing is ever enough with these jokers.Oh wait a minute yes there is.When they have nothing left to tax.
  
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Mike Benton
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:33am
It’s more like the miss use of our wealth.

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perry1980
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:33am
This is a perfect example of Liberalism thougth process and why we are in the mess/debt that we are in right now.
Expose these IDI0TS

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- Triple7
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:39am
  It isnt liberalism. It is Marxism.
  
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13th Imam
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:30am
America doesn’t have a spending problem/ It has a problem with Taker Leeches electing Communist DEMOCRATS who dole out monopoly money to Green scams and union goombas. And now we need better roads and bridges, AGAIN.

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- The_Jerk
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:39am
  Sen. Tom Harkin has the progressive disease that leads them to truly believe that they know best how to spend your money. They know best how to allocate the fruits of your labor. They have the slave master mentality.
  
  Report this comment
- Gonzo
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:42am
  Well now, it’s been almost 4 years since the stimulus package. Those bridges don’t last forever, you have to rebuild them every three or four years, right? Sarcasm off.
  I know it shouldn’t surprise me, but I still can’t believe nobody in the media nails him on that stuff. He blows a trillion on infrastructure a few years ago and now acts like it never happened. Now he’s calling for healthcare reform again as if Obamacare never happened. It’s like living in bizarro world!
  
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Beachmastermax
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:29am
“Misallocation of Wealth”? Communistic to the core.

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- pragmaticpatriot
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:38am
  The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.
  – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
  
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AmericanStrega
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:29am
The following link is from FOXNation. It goes along the lines of what the Dem Sen stated in the article above. Haven’t seen this on The Blaze yet. Thought I share it:

http://nation.foxnews.com/nancy-pelosi/2013/02/15/pelosi-pay-cut-congress-beneath-our-dignity

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Gonzo
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:28am
I concur. Far too much wealth is allocated to the government.

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Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:26am
Democrats have a misallocation of intelligence problem. None of them have any, so they want to tax the intelligence of others.

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- bharris0
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:32am
  You hit that nail on the head. They certainly don’t understand basic economics, finance, U.S History or U.S. government.
  It is hard to believe they are so many stupid people in this country that call themselves democrats.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:54am
  Spot on!
  
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- objectivetruth
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:11am
  I concur.I’ve started to look at them as though it were the movie Dawn of the Dead.They don’t merely want to tax intelligence due to not having any of their own.They want to eat your brainj.RUN RUN once they get ahold its like a pit bull with Rabies.They will never admit the truth.Its corruption greed extortion bribery money laundering gun running in bed with the enemy of the state.Al Capone would be proud.Well no he really wouldn’t even his gang wasn’t that stupid or greedy.
  Remember this if nothing else.The largest organized crime syndicate in existance.Governments worldwide.
  
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