Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sdgla who wrote (128399)	1/15/2017 5:34:00 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	2 Recommendations Recommended By abuelita dan6 Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218176

I've come to increasingly realize what a significant role your personal success or lack thereof plays in how people view the world. We had dinner with a 68 year old neighbor and his wife last night who still works as an assistant DA in Los Angeles prosecuting criminal offenses. They're both liberal Democrats and I was surprised to learn he had voted for Reagan over Carter as he thought Carter was a bad President. When I asked him why he had thought that at the time, it was mostly about his financial hardships at the time and nothing to do with Jimmy Carter. During that period I had been working for Chevron where with frequent promotions I had been receiving regular salary increases which totaled exactly 25% annually which was the cap the Board has put into place at the time. I had little interest in politics, but being successful I felt Carter seemed to be doing a terrific job - a former Naval Lieutenant and nuclear engineer who personally visiting Three Mile Island when they developed a problem. In retrospect I can see people like my neighbors who were not doing well financially at the time were looking for any plausible way to make things better. Having been around Ronald Reagan when I was young, I laughed when I found out he was running for President and naturally assumed few would vote for him. He was a dim-witted man who as an actor could move people's feelings when he read a prepared speech - an Obama without the smarts. But after he was elected I started watching him on television - my comment at the time was "Wow! That is weapons-grade bullshit." I can see the anger in people like my little brother who haven't been as successful in life as my sister or I. We see this being a result of his choices, like dropping out of college, but in his mind the fault lies in the government or in foreign nations like China. I can see the statistics of how badly the Middle Class has fared since Reagan instituted huge tax cut for the wealthy, but for those who have been hurt, they don't see the cause was Reagan's rigged system where the Middle Class pay far more in taxes than those like myself do. Like my little brother is due to China, or hardworking immigrants, or Obama or some celebrity they don't like. I understand all this and it's sad, but I don't see how an entertainer like Trump is going to change any of this, a he's promised to make the system even more unfair my lowering my taxes yet again. But people make their choices and pay the consequences.