Note: This is not written by me, this is a post from Erik's blog that I wanted to share for the free thought.
If you enjoy reading this make sure to check out Erik's blog at : http://the-daile-grind.blogspot.com/
Republican or Democrat?
I look shitty in red. But I grew up in South Dakota. I'm a Kansas Jayhawks fan (colors: red and blue) which makes it even more confusing. Who do I really belong to? Am I a Democrat or Republican?
I found a new way of thinking about it (from a financial perspective) at school yesterday.
In history class, we are reading a book about higher education, and how the public universities of America are beginning to copy the structure of corporations. Anyone with some sense knows that corporations have one underlying goal - making as much money as possible, right? Now if you were paying attention to those first two sentences, you would maybe conclude that I'm attempting to say that our public institutions are making money off of the students they are supposed to serve. At the University of Minnesota, we have 12 administrative officials, all with six-figure salaries and much more in expenses (office personnel, benefits, travel, etc.). What do these "officials" actually do? I pay the U almost 20,000 dollars a year in order to receive the best possible education I can. Little did I know, my teaching assistant in Short Calculus decided to speak Asianese and I received a glorifying (wince) ... C-.
Bottom line: Why was this guy who could hardly speak English and probably making next to nothing in wages teaching my class? I pay big money for a big time degree from some big time professors.
My money instead is going to administrative officials, outlandish buildings (if you haven't seen the state of the art STSS building on the U of M campus, please google now), and our ever shittier athletic program. My university is acting like a business and finding the cheapest labor possible to teach it's students, and then spending wildly in many other unnecessary areas.
You can see a strong correlation in these administrative officials to the rich, old white guys who many deem "Republicans." These guys have tons of money, and why shouldn't they share with everyone else? They are all greedy right? Wrong. What many people fail to realize is there are two sides to everything. For as many rich, white, greedy guys, there are those who are highly talented, and have worked incredibly hard all their life to be where they are at right now. I'm spending a bunch of money right now to eventually become one of them, but many of my peers despise these people. They want to tax them, they want our society to become more even. How do you create a system where you take all the money from the undeserving and not from the hard-workers?
Same goes for the other end of the spectrum. There are people out there who desperately need help. Who have just run into bum luck, or been put in situations that they couldn't have helped. Taxing the rich will certainly help these people, and deservedly so. But what about those less deserving? Those who blow money on cigarettes and booze instead of taking care of their families? Who disregard their children, and can't seem to hold a job? Do they really deserve someone's money who has spent 25+ years working hard for his family and his company and is now reaping the benefits?
I understand it's a vague point and a skewed example, but definitely relevant. While I'm sitting in class wondering who I should be supporting, I don't even know how I feel about it! In a perfect world, we would all work hard, and give a little bit too. We wouldn't have economic problems, or be fighting about taxes.
An uneducated and uninformed solution would be to get rid of the tax cuts for philanthropy, to tax those who inherit assets and monies even higher. Why should someone be reimbursed for giving money away to help others? They should do it out of the bottom of their hearts.
Financially, I'm a Republican. You work hard and you get rewarded for it. Everyone should be held accountable for their actions, and their decisions. Rise and grind every day of your life, don't take no for an answer or give up. If you want to have money and security, all you have to do is have a serious goal and work hard. Anyone can be successful if they put their mind to it, and that is the bottom line.
-E
I found a new way of thinking about it (from a financial perspective) at school yesterday.
In history class, we are reading a book about higher education, and how the public universities of America are beginning to copy the structure of corporations. Anyone with some sense knows that corporations have one underlying goal - making as much money as possible, right? Now if you were paying attention to those first two sentences, you would maybe conclude that I'm attempting to say that our public institutions are making money off of the students they are supposed to serve. At the University of Minnesota, we have 12 administrative officials, all with six-figure salaries and much more in expenses (office personnel, benefits, travel, etc.). What do these "officials" actually do? I pay the U almost 20,000 dollars a year in order to receive the best possible education I can. Little did I know, my teaching assistant in Short Calculus decided to speak Asianese and I received a glorifying (wince) ... C-.
Bottom line: Why was this guy who could hardly speak English and probably making next to nothing in wages teaching my class? I pay big money for a big time degree from some big time professors.
My money instead is going to administrative officials, outlandish buildings (if you haven't seen the state of the art STSS building on the U of M campus, please google now), and our ever shittier athletic program. My university is acting like a business and finding the cheapest labor possible to teach it's students, and then spending wildly in many other unnecessary areas.
You can see a strong correlation in these administrative officials to the rich, old white guys who many deem "Republicans." These guys have tons of money, and why shouldn't they share with everyone else? They are all greedy right? Wrong. What many people fail to realize is there are two sides to everything. For as many rich, white, greedy guys, there are those who are highly talented, and have worked incredibly hard all their life to be where they are at right now. I'm spending a bunch of money right now to eventually become one of them, but many of my peers despise these people. They want to tax them, they want our society to become more even. How do you create a system where you take all the money from the undeserving and not from the hard-workers?
Same goes for the other end of the spectrum. There are people out there who desperately need help. Who have just run into bum luck, or been put in situations that they couldn't have helped. Taxing the rich will certainly help these people, and deservedly so. But what about those less deserving? Those who blow money on cigarettes and booze instead of taking care of their families? Who disregard their children, and can't seem to hold a job? Do they really deserve someone's money who has spent 25+ years working hard for his family and his company and is now reaping the benefits?
I understand it's a vague point and a skewed example, but definitely relevant. While I'm sitting in class wondering who I should be supporting, I don't even know how I feel about it! In a perfect world, we would all work hard, and give a little bit too. We wouldn't have economic problems, or be fighting about taxes.
An uneducated and uninformed solution would be to get rid of the tax cuts for philanthropy, to tax those who inherit assets and monies even higher. Why should someone be reimbursed for giving money away to help others? They should do it out of the bottom of their hearts.
Financially, I'm a Republican. You work hard and you get rewarded for it. Everyone should be held accountable for their actions, and their decisions. Rise and grind every day of your life, don't take no for an answer or give up. If you want to have money and security, all you have to do is have a serious goal and work hard. Anyone can be successful if they put their mind to it, and that is the bottom line.
-E
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