"Somebody Made That Happen"
Rob Long ·
July 15, 2012 at 3:18pm
Here's all you need to know about what, exactly, Barack Obama thinks about business -- the small kind, the large kind, the family kind, the any kind:
It's almost too perfect, isn't it? And I especially love that turn of phrase -- "somebody made that happen."
It's always somebody for the left, isn't it? Somebody will pay. Somebody will do it.
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Comments:
Jul '11
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
The other thing "somebody made happen" were grants to cowboy poetry festivals in Utah. Somebody shut down the Keystone pipeline. Somebody passed the highest corporate tax rates in the industrialized nations. Somebody threw "stimulus" money around to the states, which then used it to shore up their currently unsustainable spending levels.
This "somebody" is a politician who will gladly spend trillions of dollars he himself doesn't have to stay in office, and then will chastise you for asking whether or not it's a good idea to pursue these policies.
This way leads to madness, and destruction. He's essentially arguing that you can't argue with him, simply because it's so. This is like a day spending roughly 185% of his income, then telling his wife and kids, "Hey, somebody made that happen".
Barry is infantilism run wild. He is the distilled product of demonstrably broken educational system/industry. Somebody made that happen, too - we did, by allowing it to continue unchecked as it traveled this path into lunacy.
Jun '12
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
CoolHand
James Of England
It does violate the CoC....
It might not seem important, but the distinctive Ricochet culture of politeness is maintained, in part, by a broken windows policy. The concept of acceptable breaches undermines the bright line rule, and it's an important line to maintain. · 21 minutes ago
Stop quoting the rules, it makes you look like an [expletive]. · 15 hours ago
LOL, Sorry I started this side argument! Luke, appreciate your sense of humor, brother, but I am well rebuked by James and Mollie. Never thought of Malcolm Gladwell's broken window theory (actually I can't remember if he coined that phrase or just popularized it) applied to blogs/internet posts, but the analogy is apt. I suffer from the effects of two and a half decades of Army Infantry and Combat Engineer influence on my vocabulary. There is a euphemism for fornicating which, in the Army, serves as noun/verb/adjective/adverb for responding to full on stupidity. I'm trying to break the habit but the POTUS' comment sent me into full [expletive] mode. I'm conscious of the hypocrisy I display by not taming my tongue (and typing). Please pray for me!
Dec '10
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
James Taggert himself couldnt have set it better;
[James] "You have always been opposed
to every progressive social measure.
I seem to remember that you predicted disaster
when we passed the Anti-dog-eat-dog Rule
--- but the disaster has not come."
"Because I [Dagny] saved you, you rotten fools!
I won't be able to save you this time!"
He had shrugged, not looking at her.
"And if I [Dagny] don't, who will?"
He had not answered.
h/t http://smous.biz/aynrand_atlasshrugged.html
Jul '12
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
Telling an entrepreneur that he owes his success to roads and schools is like telling a pro quarterback that he owes his touchdowns to referees and lawnmowers.
Jul '11
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
I have no dog in this hunt, but to say that when Americans elect a horrible president, you really go full-tilt derp.
Oct '10
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
What an economic illiterate. I can't imagine Clinton or even Carter spouting such anti-capitalist drivel. We know what to expect for the next four months as Obama tries to pander to as many groups as possible to build his coalition.
Oct '10
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
We should add to Rousseau and Locke one George Orwell. Leftists like Obama are all about which animals are more equal than others in the farm yard. While Union members and Pelosi's constituents get exemptions, Obamacare is said to be good for the rest of us. Now sit down and shut-up about the unemployment rate, separation of powers and other bourgeoisie concerns lest you become identified as a class enemy. Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism is the indispensable guide to this political season. It’s all one long déjà vu with the Left.
Oct '10
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
I couldn't help myself . . .
Jun '10
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
When I jacked in my safe salary and mortgaged everything to start my own business - someone else did that? I thought I did that.
Jun '12
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
"Success has many fathers, and failure is an orphan" - JFK
We all pay taxes for services such as roads and bridges, but very few people build successful businesses. So building roads and bridges doesn't create successful businesses, it just supports them. Who did create that business after all?
Where does this end? What percentage of future success is attributable to my fifth-grade teacher? Doctor? Lawyer? The farmer who grows my food? (Actually, free markets figure out the value).
Worse, the President is implying that by paying taxes, we are somehow paying back those who helped us along the way. So how does the government get that teacher her fair share?
If indeed we are all "partners in success" who reimburses entrepeneurs in the event their business fails? Where are all the "partners" when we are trying to raise capital, or taking on personal debt, or working 80-hour weeks??
That's not "fair".
Since fairness is so important to our President, perhaps he feels that the government should provide the seed money for all new ventures so that entrepreneurs are not unfairly burdened by the capital risk they take?
Yikes! Let's not go there.
Jun '12
Re: "Somebody Made That Happen"
His logic (to be generous and call it that) is completely invalidated by the fact that EVERYONE benefits from public resources of infrastructure and education (granted some enjoy private schooling). That fact still doesn't explain why some people build businesses and some do not. That happens because individual people take risks, put some or all of whatever wealth they have accumulated on the table (and/or have convinced a lender to loan them) and pour out their effort to create a product or provide a service that they hope others will want to buy at a price that allows the producer to make a profit. It is truly scary to think that the POTUS is now articulating themes that when I was in college were something you'd only hear from left-wing professors. It is amazing how thoroughly the left has gotten its message mobilized thoroughout society. We have to regain dominance of the narrative before its too late!!!