snowbunny

So why aren't they paid for their work, and handsomely? More so than a CEO?

cavalierhome

No that is not true.

In fact the folks who work the hardest are usually exploited not rewarded.

They have names like Mendoza, not Wofowitz.

immigrants to America do most of the work and ALL of the hard work and get very little for it.

So hard work alone won’t get you success or rewards.
But hard work, some luck, and a GOAL might.

cavalierhome

They should be.

So should teachers.

Maybe not more than a CEO but a lot more then they are.

elfman

well then are you willing to write a bigger, fatter check at tax time to support this?

snowbunny

No.... because it's based on *his* dream. Apparently the Mendozas are not dreamy enough.

cindyabs

One thing I do have to say-this country was populated by immigrants ( with the exception of the native population, but that's another story.....).

Wolfowitz was not a Native American name, neither were O'Brien, Pedersen, Kaiser, LeFevre, MacDonald, Thomas, Patel, Perelli, Chu, Hara etc.

It has been a four hundred year process of layering, one layer comes in, moves up, another layer comes in takes its place and so on, building from the bottom. The majority of the immigrants, a LARGE majority did NOT come in with inherited wealth- mine sure didn't. My father was the first one to go to college in his family. When he graduated from high school ( a ceremony he missed btw because he was working in the mill), his father wished him luck period. He went off to college and survived by living up over the horses in the barn at the state university. He went off to war and came back using his GI bill to finish college.

cavalierhome

Sure. Absolutely. Show me the money ACTUALLY going to them and I am all for it.

cavalierhome

No you misunderstand.

In our country we treat people badly because they are from certain ethnic groups. That is just plain wrong because we are all immigrants.

Everyone should be given the exact same opportunity, free from prosecution and racism.

What they do with the opportunity is up to them. Opportunity is ALL America should provide not guarantees.

Home ownership for example is a privilege not a right. Poor immigrants know that. Poor immigrants work hard for everything they get.

SOME ignorant established Americans expect something for nothing.

Kaffy Mintcake

You're right, immigrants to this country work very hard ... but I think you'll find that some of the natives work pretty damn hard too.

cavalierhome

Yes American Indians do work very hard also..

I know what you mean... And yes most here work very hard.

paddingtongreen

Cavalier, I have to suss you out a little more. I was treating your persona as legitimate, but then another, different, Cavalier appeared; first was a laissez-faire capitalist, clearly someone who would exploit the hell out of anyone he could, and then a leftish liberal arrived, complaining about the exploitation of immigrants.

I suspect that either your father came from Mexico and he or you made it big despite the odds, or you are something of a troll, more subtle than most, say, a wind up artist.

cavalierhome

Ok..... Not really…

My name is Paulo dos Santos

I came to America from Portugal in 1970. Poor, very poor. ACTUALL Poor not American poor.

My first job (at 16) was working at the auto dealership my step dad worked at. He gave me one of his uniforms and took me to work with him... FOR FREE in hopes that they would eventually pay me.

Eventually they did. After about a year they could not do without me. But not before I was treated like garbage because I spoke with an accent and therefore I was considered stupid.

At the supermarket people would look at me with that look that says… “What is this piece of garbage doing in my neighborhood?”… I remember all that as if it was yesterday

I grew up, blended in and eventually went into the financial services business.

Today I own 2 corporations, a broker dealer and a registered investment advisory firm. Both are extremely successful. I have vacation homes in Europe, Lake George NY, and Florida, my NY home is a small Estate complete with a great world class subterranean wine cellar…

I have picture and vids if you like: http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/a...cellardone.flv

I have a boat and all the good things money can buy. I am by most standards rich. But I am always scared of failure. Of becoming poor gain. Maybe that is why I am so good with money (although I can't spell worth of $%#&).

I am the recipient of the best part of America. That thing called the American dream that seems to elude so many people although it is right there for the taking.

I am very lucky and thankful for my good fortune.

I fear for my little 8 year old boy, because the world has become such a piece of crap.

So I guess I am both. I am a capitalist as you called me. I very much believe that one makes his own luck and that failure is not an option unless you embrace it.

On the other hand, I remember my roots and I am in the unique position to know that just because you speak with an accent doesn’t mean you think with an accent.

Everyone deserves an opportunity. Everyone deserves an EQUAL opportunity. However once given that opportunity it is not society’s responsibility to insure ones success.

This post was about Obama wanting to pay off a piece of everyone’s mortgage.

That is so wrong on so many levels. But to me the biggest problem is that he is supporting Real Estate prices to save a bunch of people who wanted it all without earning it and that will keep that same real estate out of the range of those of us who come here poor and are trying to grab onto a piece of America.

No I am not a troll. I have been posting on the forum for a year or so now… Until now only in the Portugal forum.

I am proud to be Portuguese. I am equally proud to be an American BY CHOICE not accident of birth.

I hate to see what is happening to my beautiful America these days.

ellimere

If you work in financial services (I formerly worked at the 2nd largest Buy to Let lender in the UK) then can you say that all the money you've made has been from what you consider ethical dealings? That you were not part of the problem of over-inflated house prices and low wages? I know in the UK as I used to sit there looking at some applications I was sometimes despairing as it felt with each house going to a new landlord was bumping up the prices and making it impossible for people like myself who worked hard but in a low paid job to afford housing (heck, a lot of the places, based on the rent they said they would charge, I wouldn't have even been able to afford!). Maybe we need to change the way we view houses - not as something to be made money on but as they were intended - HOMES.

In an ideal world we would be able to take the time and find out if person x can't pay their mortgage but has a porsche and go from there but time it seems is one thing we don't have.

(Sorry, I'm not trying to attack you here - just understand more of where you're coming from)

cavalierhome

We are money managers. Not lenders.

The current housing crisis is in part a natural cyclical occurrence, and in part a bursting bubble due to human failure.

There is plenty of blame to go around.

Government at least in the US created a climate of hyper low interest rates enabling this to happen while they also failed to properly regulate the banking system.

Bankers and lenders share the blame because they felt they could make bad loans to people who should not get them because they could package those loans off.

Wall Street is to blame because they created and massaged all these systems and marketed them as if they were highly insured and safe.

Rating agencies are to blame because they were asleep at the wheel.

And finally consumers are to blame. To my knowledge no bank ever entered someone’s house put a gun to their head and MADE THEM take out a mortgage. People wanted to get things they could not afford so they borrowed from their home and now that has come to roost. Others purchased homes they could not normally afford. And a few tried to speculate for profit.

All of them, bankers, consumers etc, deserve exactly what is happening to them.

Trying to artificially fix this will only result in decades of pain for all of us. We can smooth things out, we can slow the rate of decline but we can NOT stop it. If we try we will bankrupt our country for nothing.

Optimus Prime

Let me guess. The "Money Managers" didn't get what they deserve though right?