OT - You Didn't Build It

pacificpap wrote:

SleepingDVader wrote:You sound like Pelosi.

Businesses, they're so strong and independent and build everything by themselves, but they can't survive Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader of the most ineffectual body of government in the world, who couldn't even get her own party to pass legislation when she had the majority. Yes, she's coming for you, small business.

Can't argue any of that! Yessir, California's doing great! That's why your towns are going bankrupt. Keep voting for Nancy.

SleepingDVader wrote:Can't argue any of that! Yessir, California's doing great! That's why your towns are going bankrupt. Keep voting for Nancy.

You got me there; we have no successful businesses in California. Well, there's a filling station in Barstow that's barely hanging on, but pretty much desert other than that. We're certainly not the shining bright city on the hill that Louisiana is! Thank heaven (oops, I mean small businesses) for the South, your combined GDP is keeping the country afloat. Doing a heck of a job, y'all!

You got me there; we have no successful businesses in California. Well, there's a filling station in Barstow that's barely hanging on, but pretty much desert other than that. We're certainly not the shining bright city on the hill that Louisiana is! Thank heaven (oops, I mean small businesses) for the South, your combined GDP is keeping the country afloat. Doing a heck of a job, y'all!

I knew we'd find something to agree on!!! I'm curious to find out what ya'll are going to do next for a governor once Governor Moonglow's done fixing everything. Oh....and you're welcome for the oil and gas. Soon you'll be needing some of our rice.

The government in North Korea built highways. But not very many people can afford to buy a car to drive on them. This is what traffic usually looks like on a highway in North Korea.

So tell me again how businesses are thriving in North Korea because the government built all these beautiful highways?

Using North Korea as an argument against infrastructure spending is like using Westboro Baptist Church as an argument against Christianity.

SleepingDVader wrote:Oh....and you're welcome for the oil and gas.

Perfect example of a business highly dependent on infrastructure. Nicely done.

pacificpap wrote:

SleepingDVader wrote:Oh....and you're welcome for the oil and gas.

Perfect example of a business highly dependent on infrastructure. Nicely done.

The oil and gas business have pretty much built their own infrastructure and are independent of the federal government. The only thing the federal government does for the oil & gas industry is to over-regulate them and skim their profits without lifting a finger. So what infrastructure praytell, are you referring to?

the_nap_ster wrote:

To borrow: Using Iran as an example of a conservative country is like using Westboro Baptist Church as an example of Christianity.

pacificpap wrote:Using North Korea as an argument against infrastructure spending is like using Westboro Baptist Church as an argument against Christianity.

No one said they don't like infrastructure. We just are pointing out that good infrastructure is not necessarily synonymous with or necessarily the only cause of good business.

SleepingDVader wrote:

pacificpap wrote:

SleepingDVader wrote:Oh....and you're welcome for the oil and gas.

Perfect example of a business highly dependent on infrastructure. Nicely done.

The oil and gas business have pretty much built their own infrastructure and are independent of the federal government. The only thing the federal government does for the oil & gas industry is to over-regulate them and skim their profits without lifting a finger. So what infrastructure praytell, are you referring to?

Production infrastructure, sure, they built that, which of course they can afford to do never having paid any taxes whatsoever. So they built it, but we paid for it. The US government never met an energy company it didn't bend over for. Regulations? Like the regulations that stopped the Deepwater Horizon oil spill? Riiight.

Of course all the production infrastructure that our government basically subsidized wouldn't really be useful if there weren't roads and bridges for more than a third of the consumers of your wonderful oil.

They didn't build that. And what they did build, we paid for with tax exemptions.

pacificpap wrote:never having paid any taxes whatsoever.

Really, facts are important... Check their financials, please, before speaking.

BP plc, December 2011 End of year:
Income Tax Expense $12,737,000,000.00

Chevron Corporation, December 2011, End of Year:
Income Tax Expense $20,626,000,000.00

Exxon Mobil Corporation, December 2011, End of Year:
Income Tax Expense $31,051,000,000.00

(list goes on and on...)

MaxDarkside wrote:

pacificpap wrote:never having paid any taxes whatsoever.

Really, facts are important... Check their financials, please, before speaking.

You've selected facts to fit your narrative. Yes, they're great about collecting taxes on what they sell and whom they pay. But payroll taxes are workers' money; sales taxes are consumers' money. That they collect from others and pay those taxes is a fact, but hardly a pertinent one. Look, these are among the most profitable companies in the history of the world; the idea that they are oppressed by our government via regulations or taxes or really any means at all is, on its face, laughable.

It's good to know sleep apnea has no political bias. I think the only fact we're going to agree on is the need to breathe at night. Although I'm sure if Obama came out in support of that...never mind

pacificpap wrote:You've selected facts to fit your narrative.

I can tell you haven't bothered to check the facts. Those are CORPORATE income taxes, not payroll.

pacificpap wrote:

MaxDarkside wrote:

pacificpap wrote:never having paid any taxes whatsoever.

Really, facts are important... Check their financials, please, before speaking.

You've selected facts to fit your narrative. Yes, they're great about collecting taxes on what they sell and whom they pay. But payroll taxes are workers' money; sales taxes are consumers' money. That they collect from others and pay those taxes is a fact, but hardly a pertinent one. Look, these are among the most profitable companies in the history of the world; the idea that they are oppressed by our government via regulations or taxes or really any means at all is, on its face, laughable.

It's good to know sleep apnea has no political bias. I think the only fact we're going to agree on is the need to breathe at night. Although I'm sure if Obama came out in support of that...never mind

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Strength to Love, 1963