You're a little late to the gate realizing how dependent architects are on the wealthy of this country, and also, I might add, the federal government. I'm not sure it's ever been that different--yesterday we toured the home and gardens of F.A. Seiberling, Stan Hywet, in Akron, OH. 65,000 sq. ft, 23 bathrooms, and preserved to be the absolute latest in everything, ala 1915. There were 3,000 separate blueprints and drawings. A special railroad spur to bring in building materials and workers. We were told the landscape architect walked the 3,000 acres (now only 70) for a year just to site it properly. It boggles the mind to think of the thousands and thousands of jobs he created globally in the rubber industry, as well as right there in Akron. And in those days there was no income tax deducation for "doing good"--he just did it. And after the recession following WWI in the 1920s, he went bankrupt from a bad business decision, and started all over at age 62. His next company wasn't as successful as Goodyear, but it did become 7th in the nation in rubber.
There are some good, sincere people wandering around the Occupy movement--I've visited (on the web) about 15 cities/states from Nova Scotia to Missoula to West something Missouri. For the most part, they know nothing about the laws, codes, zoning and tax structure of the business world; they are completely ignorant on the taxes paid or percentage the wealthy contribute to the government or the economy or their own lives; they've taken out student loans for degrees like social work or English that can never be a ROI ($250,000 at Columbia) and racked up huge debts for living expenses; they want "fair" but can't say why Tiger should be paid more than his caddy, Oprah more than the camerman who may work even harder; they are clueless about how dependent they are on the successful, smart, risk takers like Steve Jobs who dropped out of college. They have more greed, envy and lust for material goods than any wealthy person I've ever met.
I'm disappointed you're going down this rabbit hole filled with swampy socialist dreams, when the upper 10%--probably even the upper 20% have created work space for you in their lives. Which from your web page and blog looks a whole lot spiffier than our life.
Friday, October 21, 2011
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7 comments:
I haven't heard a single complaint about the wealth of celebrities, or the accountants they hire to keep their taxes low. Do you have a link to an Occupy site that is complaining about this?
Brian, you appear to be homeless. Is no one reading your blog? You're giving Obama credit for killing Qadaffi--our mr. Peace Prize president?
Lowest quintile, federal taxes: .4%
second quintile, " 2.3%
third (middle) quintile " " 7.7%
fourth quintile " " 17.0
Top (fifth) quintile " " 72.4%
The richest of the rich, like top 1/100th don't stay there--only 1/4 after a decade are still in that position. But the bottom? About 1/2 in the bottom quintile moved up to the next quintile 1995-2005. That's not difficult to understand, since at the bottom you have the young and those just finishing school.
The primary cause of poverty in the USA isn't greedy corporations, but unmarried parents. If fathers married the mothers of their children, it would do more than any protests around the globe to end poverty. (Although there would still be a gap and greed.) But Occupy was never about poverty, it was always about income gap, aka greed.
Brian--the poverty stats come from the Clinton administration, forgotten which cabinet member, but it's stunning. No conservative could have ever come up with it without the kind of indignation you display. And I have no idea what link you're referring to since you have the habit of reading about every 3d sentence and then filling in with your own prejudices against Christians. And when you call me names, you too will be deleted.
My notes to Brian are to an internet stalker--seems to be fairly crippled with hate, especially for Jesus. His comments (about 100) have been deleted and he's been reported to his ISP and Google for violating their terms of service.
I miss Brian!
Just google him, and maybe he'll harrass you.
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