The Goat Pen

Dude, everybody thinks America owes them something, especially the rich fucks who bend the laws to suit their purposes. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll stop being so angry at the rest of the people.

I grew up being taught to work hard and take care of myself, but I've also grown up and seen that really doesn't get you very far anymore because the deck is stacked against people like me. Luckily I grew up in a time where my hard-working blue collar parents could afford a home and healthcare for their kids. That shit is over now and it's not because of the lower income people in America. There's just a lot more poor people now and, despite claims that the economy is doing well, there seems to be no end in sight to the struggle.

So politicians like AOC and Bernie and Trump get traction from people who think they're going to make their lives better.

Saint wrote:I'd titfuck AOC

I concur. I would do dirty things to AOC. Those tits are marvelous.

She tries to hide them, which is annoying

Saint wrote:Dude, everybody thinks America owes them something, especially the rich fucks who bend the laws to suit their purposes. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll stop being so angry at the rest of the people.

I grew up being taught to work hard and take care of myself, but I've also grown up and seen that really doesn't get you very far anymore because the deck is stacked against people like me. Luckily I grew up in a time where my hard-working blue collar parents could afford a home and healthcare for their kids. That shit is over now and it's not because of the lower income people in America. There's just a lot more poor people now and, despite claims that the economy is doing well, there seems to be no end in sight to the struggle.

So politicians like AOC and Bernie and Trump get traction from people who think they're going to make their lives better.

there is a huge difference though

we were taught about equality from an early age - the idea the government owes everyone something -but essentially it owes everyone the same thing - How you define that is what used to separate democrats from republicans. Democrats may have felt *everyone* deserved health care from the government , Republicans may have felt the government owed *no-one* health care

but for the most part (and yes I realize there are exceptions - the safety net, social security, whatever) what was given or not given was a blanket across America

regardless of who has what, its bullshit that anyone can stand up and say in this day and age that there wasn't an opportunity for them to succeed because of their skin color, origin or sexual orientation. If they grew up in 1955, yea, I'll listen to what they have to say. - We grew up at the same time. I didn't have a hard working dad, I had a drunk with PTSD. He drank phenobarbital like we drink diet coke. People just have to admit that either they were born into bad situation or they themselves made bad choices - but its not the governments fault my dad didn't provide worth a shit, We had what we had, and I could have ended up living in a trailer excited about the idea I had enough credit on my sears card to one day buy an entry level washer, hoping a job at the plant in my shithole home town would open up and I could kiss enough ass to get it - or I could go do something with my life that was valued by society

living in a house with a crazy man wearing home made clothes and only eating shit we grew in a garden was all the motivation I needed to take whatever opportunity was provided to move the rock forward for me.

Every 17 year old in America lives a bus ride away from a community college, they can join the military and get an education paid or a learn a skill, they can be an apprentice for 3 years and get a $60K a year electricians job after passing a test. And its not just for 17 years olds, its for any person in America. *That's* what America owes us.

I tell them to just fucking stop talking about life is unfair and how hard shit is. Put in the work. Make the sacrifice it takes to get the reward. Make good decisions.

I was telling my son about the apprentice opportunity to become an electrician in the IBEW and he told me he didn't want to be an electrician. I was like "what the hell does that have to do with anything?" You tell me what you *want* to do that pays your no skilled ass $60K a year, and then we'll talk about it. Until that day comes, get your ass down to the IBEW hall.

eCat wrote: You better damn well believe I'm going to vote Trump. And tell me who the racist is again.

Ditto

eCait done pult hisself up by the bootstraips. Bootstraips!!

hedge wrote:eCait done pult hisself up by the bootstraips. Bootstraips!!

I've never wanted to pull that card, but all these socialist progressives are just bringing it out in people like me.

"I can't afford to buy a house like my parents" - Don't fucking live in San Jose, move to Bethel, Ohio and commute an hour each day to the city with your college educated degree - you can own a nice 3/2 on an acre lot with a 20 year mortgage that is less than 35% of your monthly income.

"Our parents didn't owe $80K in college loans" - Your parents didn't make the decision to go into debt in order to go to a "brand" name school. Try choosing a commuter college that serves a county instead of a state, and now you have a degree while living at home or in cheap off campus housing, and you owe $20K.

I could go on about them being able to be on their parents health care insurance until they are 26, society as a whole is more accepting of them being whatever they choose to be and technology has made our lifes dramatically better than 30 years ago - but AOC would still think we need more Mexican babies in America to make things right.

Opportunities to succeed today are much fewer than when we were kids, e. That's my point. We were by no means even middle middle class but my old man had a quarter of a million in the bank when he died after 40 years working for Orkin with no high school diploma.

And he wasn't a rarity. Now it's not even close to enough to work hard and save your money.

I could be better off if I had done things differently but I'm not talking about my own situation. I'm talking about how nearly everyone except those who shit money have it worse today than people did 20, 30, 40 years ago. And there's no simple solution to change it unless you can eliminate greed from human minds. Everybody is only out for themselves now, whether it be welfare scams or hedge funds

Our parents lived their adult lives with one car, 1200 sq ft house, no cable. They didnt go into a ton of debt because no one would lend them any money. They didn’t pursue their dream career, they pursued a career that would pay the bills.

Kids today can do great if they make the right decisions. My son took NC community college at 1,600 a semester for two years, finishing his final two years of an engineering degree at UNCC at 3,500 a semester staying at home. School did zilch in helping him land a job, he worked to find it on his own and is starting out better than I did.

Conversely, his smarter cousin went for a video gaming development degree at a $50k a year New England college, is now $85k in debt and very little prospects for employment in his field.

It’s all about decisions you make.

my wife's mother is visiting and she asked my wife where some rings she gave her were at. My wife thought they were in the safe, they are not and now, for reasons unknown to me, my wife is having a meltdown and expects me to come home and find these goddamn things

except I am behind on a project at work because I spent the first 2 days of the week trying to buy her a goddamned car

and my daughter just sent me a text implying I only care about myself and I don't respect people emotions.

She then added, do you ever have an emotion other than annoyed?

and I responded back "No, between you and mother, annoyed pretty much takes up my whole day"

girl hasn't been home from school 24 hours and she is already starting shit with me.

The girls always take mammy's side...

If you only cared about yourself, you sure as hell wouldn’t be living with them.

sardis wrote:Our parents lived their adult lives with one car, 1200 sq ft house, no cable. They didnt go into a ton of debt because no one would lend them any money. They didn’t pursue their dream career, they pursued a career that would pay the bills.

Kids today can do great if they make the right decisions. My son took NC community college at 1,600 a semester for two years, finishing his final two years of an engineering degree at UNCC at 3,500 a semester staying at home. School did zilch in helping him land a job, he worked to find it on his own and is starting out better than I did.

Conversely, his smarter cousin went for a video gaming development degree at a $50k a year New England college, is now $85k in debt and very little prospects for employment in his field.

It’s all about decisions you make.

No, it's also about the decisions that have already been made for you. Playing field is no longer close to level and it's getting tougher and tougher to just make it by. But keep looking for those examples and thinking things are AOK.

eCat wrote:my wife's mother is visiting and she asked my wife where some rings she gave her were at. My wife thought they were in the safe, they are not and now, for reasons unknown to me, my wife is having a meltdown and expects me to come home and find these goddamn things

except I am behind on a project at work because I spent the first 2 days of the week trying to buy her a goddamned car

and my daughter just sent me a text implying I only care about myself and I don't respect people emotions.

She then added, do you ever have an emotion other than annoyed?

and I responded back "No, between you and mother, annoyed pretty much takes up my whole day"

girl hasn't been home from school 24 hours and she is already starting shit with me.

You should probably hit TGIF after work and get shit-faced and show up at 4 a.m.

Text your wife that you pawned the rings to buy her a Mercedes.

Boy, I wouldn't want to be eCat today. He's got a houseful of riled women blaming him for something. What a shitty way to start the weekend.

I don't follow politics like you guys do. I could give a fuck about Trump, Biden, Aoc or whoever. I don't get the obsession with people in politics nor the people who follow it so intensely. Its a waste of time.

Follow your nose to my anus

I took the fambly out to Maggiano's last night. That seemed to change the attitudes about dad being a non caring piece of shit for the time being.

Saint wrote:

sardis wrote:Our parents lived their adult lives with one car, 1200 sq ft house, no cable. They didnt go into a ton of debt because no one would lend them any money. They didn’t pursue their dream career, they pursued a career that would pay the bills.

Kids today can do great if they make the right decisions. My son took NC community college at 1,600 a semester for two years, finishing his final two years of an engineering degree at UNCC at 3,500 a semester staying at home. School did zilch in helping him land a job, he worked to find it on his own and is starting out better than I did.

Conversely, his smarter cousin went for a video gaming development degree at a $50k a year New England college, is now $85k in debt and very little prospects for employment in his field.

It’s all about decisions you make.

No, it's also about the decisions that have already been made for you. Playing field is no longer close to level and it's getting tougher and tougher to just make it by. But keep looking for those examples and thinking things are AOK.

there are some things that are too expensive, health insurance is one of them One reason why housing is so expensive is because there is little incentive for a builder to build a traditional 3/2 ranch on a postage stamp lot when he can build a 4/4.5 with media room , home office and 3 car garage.

In California they simply won't build houses to meet demand which keeps housing prices overinflated.