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[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

Comments

[soliloquy76.livejournal.com]

His words, in context, referred to infrastructure, not businesses. From the speech:

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The entire paragraph provides ample context. The sentence in question contains an mdash, showing he was starting one thought, then briefly paused and switched to another thought. It's no wonder politicians use teleprompters these days. Everything they say is parsed, so any free-form speaking with broken sentences, like this one, are ripped to shreds. It amazes me how people can read this and not see the actual meaning, though.

[404.livejournal.com]

Everyone who pays taxes invests in those projects and reaps the rewards of said projects, even those who don't pay into them, but not everyone who pays taxes creates their own business or builds some new device.

And who is the somebody? The somebody would be taxpayers. The government isn't able to shower down fancy roads and infrastructure out of wishes, sunshine and farts. It takes money.

[soliloquy76.livejournal.com]

Again, not sure anyone is saying otherwise. The government fills in the gaps where the free market cannot. Mr. Gaster pays taxes, sure, but his tax contribution doesn't begin to make a dent in the infrastructure he benefits from. It requires our collective contribution in order to work.

I think you're still fixated on what the right wants Obama's words to mean versus what they actually meant.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Did the factory owner lay the bricks? Did he make the bricks, or dig the clay for them? Did he pour the cement for the foundation?

What does he think "build" means?

[404.livejournal.com]

Without the people working inside the building making or creating something, the building itself is just a collection of mason, concrete and bricks.

What's your definition of "build"?

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

To make, to construct. I do know that there's a sense where one builds one's business, but of course that wasn't what I was getting at.

Oooh oooh oooh and if there's no gravity, then everybody spins off into space! I love these hypotheticals!

[404.livejournal.com]

That's nice.