Let’s also realize making money is a zero sum game. There’s only so much money to go around. Not everyone can be billionaries and millionaires etc.

We have to work that off and PA installment loans really no amount of taxes or programs etc is going to bring that forward.

I mean the line of credit is what got us into trouble in the first place

No what will happen is eventually we’ll soak up all the empty houses out there. And new construction will bloom again some spring. And that will bring about jobs and get the economy started again. This cure all is called TIME. That’s the only cure for the bust that follows the boom.

What is really happening now is no different than what happens when you borrow too much on your credit card than you can pay back in a month

Now that isn’t to say that I don’t favor doing something about the gap between what the richest make and what the blue collar worker makes. The gap is ridiculous.

Too many make money in areas where they can always go to the piggy bank and charge more. The judicial system is getting ridiculous. And all they do is make the law more complicated to serve their own interest. There is little incentive to be efficient there.

Same with taxes. Accountants keep the taxes as complicated as possible to serve their own interest. Health care is the same way. And notice these industries are government related and terribly inefficient.

Maybe preaching to the choir (fans of Mark C need to be pretty independent thinkers), but ABSOLUTELY!! I love giving people work, and paying them well for it!

Mark, This is mom and apple pie. Everyone starts out thinking they can and will get rich. They are bombarded with stories of work hard and “follow your dream”. But there are plenty of other factors at work. For one thing, the system we have doesn’t allow everyone to get rich. Even when regulated to allow in the entrepreneurs and keep out the phonies and crooks, there will only be a small percentage of wealthy people. The critical factors are timing, preparation and confidence. A great idea can be ahead of its time and fall flat. It can also fall flat because the creative individual doesn’t have the background and education to successfully develop the idea and ends up with a struggling ice cream shop instead of Ben and Jerry’s. Finally there’s confidence. This falls into two parts: the self confidence to decide that their idea is the right one in the face of objections and to continue to pursue that idea beyond the first rejections. The second part is having the confidence to abandon security and step into the unsafe and unknown world of the entrepreneur. This gets harder as one gets older. Of course, there are just plain bad ideas that are not thought through or totally impractical for all sorts of reasons. This is why there are so few successful entrepreneurs and those individuals (you are one of them) are a limited breed. Any socio-economic system that is successful MUST have and reward these individuals. I agree that this should be everyone’s goal, but I also know that everyone will not and cannot be a successful entrepreneur. The system also must allow those who are not entrepreneurs to be able to be good at some more modest activity that is a service (like a mechanic), trade (like a plumber) or a profession (like a teacher or doctor) and not demean their abilities or self worth because they are not rich. On the other hand, rewarding those whose activities result in only self-enrichment without value added – the paper traders among us – or those who manipulate the system or just plain lie (like Madoff) to enrich themselves at the expense of others will result in a system that will not only discourage the entrepreneur, but will fail in the end. Your advice is golden for those just starting out, but time and experience will sort out the true entrepreneurs among us. The rest should not be rejected or discouraged because their idea didn’t work.