The Gospel of Envy

dawgball

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http://forum.belmont.edu/cornwall/archives/009714.html

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship reports on the findings of a long-term study to spur entrepreneurial growth in Appalachia.

A new study sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) assesses the impact of the ARC's Entrepreneurship Initiative. This effort, which operated between 1997 and 2004, was the first Federal program that explicitly sought to invest in and support local entrepreneurship development efforts. Overall, the program invested $47 million into various projects, and these investments had a positive impact in terms of creating new jobs, attracting other new investments, and stimulating new business creation.
Here are the overall findings from the study:

Jobs created and/or retained 12,178
New businesses created 1,787
Students and teachers trained 11,634
Clients served by incubators 475
Actual private $ leveraged $72,802,868
Public cost / job created or retained $579 - $3,994
Public cost / business created or expanded $2,988 - $7,818:

What a wonderful story of how entrepreneurship is helping to turn around one of the poorest regions in America. What should be the next step to help these entrepreneurs? As we know from around the world, the best policy is to cut taxes and get government out of their way. But this is not the message we are hearing from the campaign trail, is it?

Sadly, Americans have not been educated in what sustains an entrepreneurial economy. Instead, we have created almost a knee jerk reaction in this country that assumes that once someone creates success and wealth through free enterprise, it should be taxed and shared with everyone else..

The positive impact of programs like this one will soon be overwhelmed by our steady drift toward socialism in the US.

Rather than celebrate the successful entrepreneur, we envy the fruits of their efforts.

As Winston Churchill warned, "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
 

IntenseOperator

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Sadly, Americans have not been educated in what sustains an entrepreneurial economy. Instead, we have created almost a knee jerk reaction in this country that assumes that once someone creates success and wealth through free enterprise, it should be taxed and shared with everyone else..

:mj05:

Truer words have never been written
 

AR182

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Sadly, Americans have not been educated in what sustains an entrepreneurial economy. Instead, we have created almost a knee jerk reaction in this country that assumes that once someone creates success and wealth through free enterprise, it should be taxed and shared with everyone else..

:mj05:

Truer words have never been written

couldn't agree more io...

thanks for the article dawgball...

also one of our candidates should come forward with a plan of getting healthy people off welfare.....
 
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smurphy

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This isn't really making any sense. You are suggesting that we need to get government out of the way - yet this was a government program that successfully triggered entrepreneurial efforts.:shrug:

Also, I wonder why this program started during the Clinton years was ended during the Bush years.:shrug:

And this envy/Churchill thing does not seem to apply at all. You are leading people towards the typical Socialism hype when it makes no sense at all regarding this program.
 

DOGS THAT BARK

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--but it does get you lots of votes

you could substitute "we're going to take it from productive and give it to non prouductive"
in every liberal social program pitch. It's their mantra -- same political agendas and voting demographics election after election. Its just a matter of time--
 

dawgball

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This isn't really making any sense. You are suggesting that we need to get government out of the way - yet this was a government program that successfully triggered entrepreneurial efforts.:shrug:

The positive impact of programs like this one will soon be overwhelmed by our steady drift toward socialism in the US.

Once again.... I am not saying NO government; simply less government. It's a great thing when one of the government backed programs worked. The point of this blog post (and for me posting it here) is that it likely will not be long before another government program will go too far and strip the positive nature of the successful one. Why? Because it's just not fair for some people to succeed and others not, correct?

Also, I wonder why this program started during the Clinton years was ended during the Bush years.:shrug:

Can you clarify your point?

And this envy/Churchill thing does not seem to apply at all. You are leading people towards the typical Socialism hype when it makes no sense at all regarding this program.

I don't mind simply disagreeing on certain items. :)
 

BobbyBlueChip

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This isn't really making any sense. You are suggesting that we need to get government out of the way - yet this was a government program that successfully triggered entrepreneurial efforts.:shrug:

It almost makes you think that some just went all the way down to the Churchill quote and missed the rest of the article. (including the guy who wrote it)

Government investment can absolutely work, just not by a party that thinks that government is inherently bad.
 

smurphy

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Once again.... I am not saying NO government; simply less government. It's a great thing when one of the government backed programs worked. The point of this blog post (and for me posting it here) is that it likely will not be long before another government program will go too far and strip the positive nature of the successful one. Why? Because it's just not fair for some people to succeed and others not, correct?

Who is saying that? What is an example of a government program that goes too far against entrepreneurs? What evidence is there that we are facing a pending bad program in the near future?

Can you clarify your point?

Not a point. It's a question. This successful business start-up program was created during the Clinton administration and cut off during the Bush administration. I would like to know why they felt the need to stop helping entrepreneurs in Appalachia when it was obviously going so well.:shrug:
 

dawgball

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What evidence is there that we are facing a pending bad program in the near future?

I would like to know why they felt the need to stop helping entrepreneurs in Appalachia when it was obviously going so well.:shrug:

Bad program or cutting a good one off. Don't they both have the same result?
 

bryanz

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Sadly, Americans have not been educated in what sustains an entrepreneurial economy. Instead, we have created almost a knee jerk reaction in this country that assumes that once someone creates success and wealth through free enterprise, it should be taxed and shared with everyone else..

:mj05:

Truer words have never been written

I'm all for free enterprise... I have worked for myself all of my adult life. When you have oil companies mascarading as free enterprises, with endless profits. Someone has to call attention to an enterprise that could not exist without the blood and tax dollars of the American People. Without the American People, that fund the American Military, there coud not be the free flow of oil out of the Middle East. That can not be denied ! Many so called free enterprises are not free !
 
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IntenseOperator

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I'm all for free enterprise... I have worked for myself all of my adult life. When you have oil companies mascarading as free enterprises, with endless profits. Someone has to call attention to an enterprise that could not exist without the blood and tax dollars of the American People. Without the American People, that fund the American Military, there coud not be the free flow of oil out of the Middle East. That can not be denied ! Many so called free enterprises are not free !

I'm not too clear on the topic, but I think many (esp myself) should get better informed on the "oil company" bashing. From what I'm hearing lately, they have no real influence on the price per barrel. It's all been driven up lately due to world wide forces they have no control over. If they were up to making such a business decision, they could possibly just give back some or all of their profits. This decision would have no affect on the cost. And are those record profits really record profits with todays value of the dollar added to the picture?
 

Tapir Caper

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let's not underestimate the Fed's role in all these. these boys have a license to print money, which they do with abandon. that's where inflation comes from - nowhere else. it makes our government a joke that a certain, unaudited private group of largely unknown people is allowed to PRINT MONEY while we have to work for ours.
 

Tapir Caper

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imagine you had a license to print money. and you printed, say, one billion dollars. then you ran around town and bought up 3/5 of the housing and cars and food. what do you think would happen to the price of the remaining stocks and stuffs?
 

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I don't think ANY of this is that easy or conspiratorial Tapir. If the gov does one thing with the value of the dollar, it helps one mass of people all the while killing another.
 

bryanz

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I'm not too clear on the topic, but I think many (esp myself) should get better informed on the "oil company" bashing. From what I'm hearing lately, they have no real influence on the price per barrel. It's all been driven up lately due to world wide forces they have no control over. If they were up to making such a business decision, they could possibly just give back some or all of their profits. This decision would have no affect on the cost. And are those record profits really record profits with todays value of the dollar added to the picture?

I don't question the price of oil/gas. I question the oil enterprise that could not exist without the American People. All I am saying is : since the tax payers and the Military prop up the enterprise that is oil. Americans should be compensated in some fashion. Exon could not exist without the American Government & the blood of Our Military. Let the price go to a billion dollars a gallon. Just compensate the real partners.
 

Tapir Caper

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I don't think ANY of this is that easy or conspiratorial Tapir. If the gov does one thing with the value of the dollar, it helps one mass of people all the while killing another.

almost everything in politics is conspiratorial, hence 'conspiracy theorist' is a term of abuse. "nothing in politics happens by accident," as FDR said.

it is not opinion, it is fact that inflation is caused by the Fed printing money.
 

Tapir Caper

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why is it illegal for you or me to print money?

because we can then use the money to acquire things we didn't earn, thereby raising prices and effectively stealing from everybody else.

nothing changes when the you or me is the government itself - except that it's legal for them to do it.

the media are part of the government, and as such they will ALWAYS side with the govenrment and blame the "greedy" corporations. you will never see our government referred to as a massive, greedy failed entity that terrorizes everybody it isn't borrowing money from, but that's exactly what it is.
 

bryanz

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almost everything in politics is conspiratorial, hence 'conspiracy theorist' is a term of abuse. "nothing in politics happens by accident," as FDR said.

it is not opinion, it is fact that inflation is caused by the Fed printing money.

There is nothing conspiratorial about the price of oil. They set it, we pay it, so they keep setting it. Our problem is no leadership, no energy policy for 50 yrs because government is in bed with oil. Simple ! The day that government gets out of bed with oil, we are ****ed. Exxon will go the way, so many other industries have. I can see a day when Exxon moves all of it major assets to Asia and The Chinese people will foot the bill so that their Military can guarantee the free flow of oil out of the Middle East. Sounds crazy, Right ? Exxon Mobile is not an American enterprise. They just benefit from Us. Exxon is a parasite, it can't exist without a host. I'd love to see their long term plans. Think about it !
 
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bryanz

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--but it does get you lots of votes

you could substitute "we're going to take it from productive and give it to non prouductive"
in every liberal social program pitch. It's their mantra -- same political agendas and voting demographics election after election. Its just a matter of time--

or you could substitute : lets take it from the wife of a soldier in iraq on his third tour, with two kids just making it and give it to exxon. We have military families in america that can't afford to pay for gas. some want to talk about the liberals redistributing wealth. redistribution is redistribution. left or right.
 
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