One of the main things that prevents me from doing the same is health insurance. Will I be paying $2000 per month instead of $200 that I'm paying now for a good coverage. What are my options? Can anyone shine some lights on this issue? (I know it's a US thing, as those in EU have free health plan and all that.)
$2000 month is high (depends on your situation though). I've also done this, on Cobra, my payment is 1100 for a family of 4. If you have low deductibles, it would be higher. You are probably also paying some part of your health insurance as it is (it will often come out of your paycheck pre-tax) You should check if that's going on. In 2014, Health Insurance operations commence in each state due to the Patient Protect…
I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
71–80 of 145 posts
Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not that I feel a particular way about it, but he is the President. People tend to care what he says. Just sayin.
The President? I had to look this up (I'm not American) and it looks like he was intending to refer to the public infrastructure that all businesses use rather than the businesses themselves. Anyway, I don't much care for the politics of any country but it's still a waste of time to pay too much attention to the minutia of political campaigning. Before November, both parties are going to say a great number of things…
But it was one of those statements that was trivial to use out of context and perfectly fit the Republican narrative about Obama's views.
I'm a Republican, and I've thought it was a pathetic tactic since I first heard it. But that's why I nearly stop listening to the news during political seasons.
Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
And, when you finally succeed, some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business. That your success isn't due to having worked hard (because there are tons of people that work hard) or because you are smart (because lots of people are smart). No, you had nothing to do with building a successful business despite your sacrifices, risk, uncertainty, sleepless nights, good and bad decisions, family…
Who would actually say that? Sounds like you've had some experience of this. A lot of conservatives misinterpreted something Obama said as meaning much of what you've said, even though if one reads the entire paragraph, the "that" in his sentence was infrastructure such as the Internet, roads and bridges.
They'll tell you your successful because you got lucky somehow (lottery of an idea, picked for a promotion, right place right time, etc). It wasn't because of something you did.
Likewise, their situation is usually because of external forces as well. Their boss doesn't like them, they didn't get hired for that good job because of X, they couldn't go to/finish/get good grades in school because of Y.
It's really kind of sad to see in person.
Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
And, when you finally succeed, some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business. That your success isn't due to having worked hard (because there are tons of people that work hard) or because you are smart (because lots of people are smart). No, you had nothing to do with building a successful business despite your sacrifices, risk, uncertainty, sleepless nights, good and bad decisions, family…
Who would actually say that? Sounds like you've had some experience of this. A lot of conservatives misinterpreted something Obama said as meaning much of what you've said, even though if one reads the entire paragraph, the "that" in his sentence was infrastructure such as the Internet, roads and bridges.
Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
And, when you finally succeed, some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business. That your success isn't due to having worked hard (because there are tons of people that work hard) or because you are smart (because lots of people are smart). No, you had nothing to do with building a successful business despite your sacrifices, risk, uncertainty, sleepless nights, good and bad decisions, family…
Who would actually say that? Sounds like you've had some experience of this. A lot of conservatives misinterpreted something Obama said as meaning much of what you've said, even though if one reads the entire paragraph, the "that" in his sentence was infrastructure such as the Internet, roads and bridges.
First of all, infrastructure is not built for a particular business or businesses. It's was built --with a HUGE emphasis on "was"-- because it was identified as a necessity for progress and other factors. Most roads in the US were built decades ago. The project started in 1956. It's interesting to read the "Financing" section on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System
This and the railroads were not built for any particular business but rather for reasons spanning from national defense to, yes, economic growth. The system was paid for and is being paid for by everyone in some form or another and everyone benefits from this.
Obama's statement, to paraphrase, went something like: "If you have a business...and are successful...you didn't build that". Some argue, probably correctly, that he was referring to infrastructure rather than the business itself.
In isolation that might be the case. But there was more. He also said a few things to the tune of, again, paraphrasing: "if you are successful...it isn't because you work hard or you are smart...lots of people are smart and work hard". And, right after that, he wen't into the "you didn't build that" paragraph. The implication is that your success is due to, in large part, to government.
I would argue that unscripted comments like this one tend to reveal how someone thinks. And the not-surprising revelation in this case is that Obama has deep socialists beliefs. How else would you even consider the idea of equating the success of any business TODAY with the construction of infrastructure DECADES AGO? You have to construct a certain model of reality before you'd even utter such words. Someone like myself, an entrepreneur through and through, would never, ever, even consider saying something like that. Government has never been the source of my success or failure.
His statement is like arguing that a fellow launching a web development business today owes his success to government because the desk he bought was shipped via railroad and the highway system. That statement would be deemed ridiculous to a ten year old, much less intelligent adults.
Yes, infrastructure benefits everyone. Millions of people use (and pay for it) every day to conduct their lives. Not one person owes their success to infrastructure alone. Once in place it is deemed a given. Infrastructure was a natural side effect of the exploration and expansion that took place in this continent. Today, there's far more that goes into becoming successful in life privately and in business than the pre-existing infrastructure.
There's a reverse side to this argument. If government is the source of my and your success because it built infrastructure (that we paid for). Then, they ought to also be responsible for my and your failures. You can't have it both ways. The infrastructure in Los Angeles, as an example, is in a dire state of disrepair. Just drive on the 405 or 5 Freeways --to name a couple-- and you'll know what I mean. I have not seen government make a concerted effort to really maintain and repair these roads in probably twenty years. I used to drive sports cars with stiff suspensions. Your bones would rattle when going over these roads. In sharp contrast to this, the last time I was in Munich, the Autobahn felt as smooth as a billiards table.
So, if government is responsible for your an my success then it is also responsible for your and my failures. I don't mean this seriously. It's a ridiculous argument, of course. Just as dumb and ridiculous as Obama's claim that businesses owe their success to "the collective".
If you built a country, and were successful, you didn't build that! It was the Spanish with their ships and all of their national infrastructure that enabled you to be able to have a successful country and, yes, enabled that guy today to open a taco stand and experience success. Ridiculous.
Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not that I feel a particular way about it, but he is the President. People tend to care what he says. Just sayin.
Except that the President didn't actually say that. Moreover, that characterization has been widely debunked even by the likes of ABC, CBS, and NBC who rarely call bullshit on anything . Aren't you embarrassed to repeat that false talking point here, especially when it has zero to do with the OP?
Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not that I feel a particular way about it, but he is the President. People tend to care what he says. Just sayin.
Except that the President didn't actually say that. Moreover, that characterization has been widely debunked even by the likes of ABC, CBS, and NBC who rarely call bullshit on anything . Aren't you embarrassed to repeat that false talking point here, especially when it has zero to do with the OP?
Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#78Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
And, when you finally succeed, some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business. That your success isn't due to having worked hard (because there are tons of people that work hard) or because you are smart (because lots of people are smart). No, you had nothing to do with building a successful business despite your sacrifices, risk, uncertainty, sleepless nights, good and bad decisions, family…
some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business. I though the whole thing was very similar to Carl Sagan's comment - If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - and I never thought that Carl Sagan was having a go at bakers.
We operate within the reality that we happen to live within at the time of our lives. The Vikings had one reality. They moved within it and flourished. People born in England in the 1,200's had a very different reality to construct their lives around than those born 200, 400 or 800 years later. That's just the way things work. You use the tools you have at your disposal.
It would be unthinkable to propose that someone in the year 1,200 invent the transistor. Lot's had to happen before the transistor could become a reality. Did they fail because of a failure of government to provide the necessary infrastructure? No, they failed because they would have been, quite simply put, way ahead of their time.
Did Fleming come across Penicillin because government built roads? Not really.
How about Madame Courie?
Tesla?
Hertz?
Newton?
IBM?
Dell?
Staples?
Coca Cola?
Did the engineers in the 1940's owe the development of the transistor to the roads, sewers and other services government managed for us? Of course not. Their success was the result of a myriad of personal factors, not the least of which were inspiration, intellect, drive and being in the right place at the right time. The infrastructure was there already. It wasn't built for them to be successful at this one task.
It is an insult to the human condition to propose that we owe our personal success to government.
Historically speaking, governments have caused humanity far more pain, agony, death and loss than almost any other human invention. Individuals don't go to war, governments do.
So, Mr. Obama, do we also owe the 50 million people who died in World War 2 to the infrastructure the US Government put into place: roads, railroads, phones, telegraphs, airports, etc.?
Of course not. Don't try to make connections where they don't exist. Politics sucks.
Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned
#80One of the main things that prevents me from doing the same is health insurance. Will I be paying $2000 per month instead of $200 that I'm paying now for a good coverage. What are my options? Can anyone shine some lights on this issue? (I know it's a US thing, as those in EU have free health plan and all that.)
I'm in the same boat as the OP, and was able to find health insurance for about $500/month for a family of 4. The main catch is that it's a very high deductible, so we'd have to spend at least $5000 per year out of our own pocket (or HSA) for the insurance part to kick in. If I were to keep my old employer's coverage through COBRA, it would be closer to the $2000/month number. But if you're saving $1500 per month in…