Correlation is not causation...?

I wouldn't take handouts unless I were absolutely pulling myself along on hands and knees and about to starve to death. Taking handouts is for people too lazy, sorry or scummy to take care of themselves.

Let's talk about this dentist for a moment. Having been around the proverbial block a few times, I've come up with what I call Husky's "999/1" rule. That is, for ever competent, educated, top tier provider in any given occupation there are 999 certified losers who are barely scraping along. Take the field of dentistry for instance, like any field there exist dentists who are merely "practicing a little dentistry" just to pay the bills. And some, will downright screw up your mouth FOR LIFE and then have the nerve to charge you for it. This writer is aware of a few of them; some of whom have been sued time and again for gross negligence.

Then you have the middle tier; these are the dentists doing just enough to get along. Out of this group of 1000 dentists, only one will rise to the top and is motivated to try and stay up on the latest dental technology for which his patients are the direct recipients of white glove/top tier dental services.

You won't find this super dentist in the yellow pages; no, you will have to acquire knowledge pertinent to the field of dentistry to know what questions to ask to assist you, the dental patient in determining where in the stack the prospective dentists stands in regards to the quality and knowledge of dental services offered. This requires work on your part because you have to break out the books and read, otherwise you are just like every other idiot who has a tooth ache and opens the phone book and tosses a quarter into the air to choose a dentist.

Once you know how to ask intelligent questions about the field of dentistry AND you lose your fear of taking the time to interview multiple dentist to find that one golden, white glove provider, your quest will be rewarded by finding a WINNER. This guy has 30 people on staff and has an airplane to take him and his staff to remote locations to investigate and train on the LATEST in dental technology. He isn't happy merely filling cavities for welfare recipients all day, he wants to be the best of the best and has made an investment in both time and equipment to deliver up the finest care.

And guess what news fans? He won't be cheap, get ready to roll out the check book. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. This is the kind of winner the government wants to knock into the dirt so that the other 999 loser dentists won't have any competition and more importantly, won't look bad providing VA hospital grade (that's a grade "F" for those who haven't figured it out) dentistry to the country's poor and indigent.

I think a feel a tooth ache coming on..........

Very incisor post, fang you. Now I have molar think about.

Funny how those that deride the trickle down economic theory here at PP are absent. They apparently don't want to comment on a real life scenario which wealthy people spending money employ others and that spending makes up nearly an entire industry- and that industry and it's jobs are negatively impacted by the tax code decided by the left.

Its not that its not true, its just that its not best for the country for the rich to continue to prosper and get richer and the middle class to fall further behind. Look at the countries with tiny middle classes and you do not see a happy picture...Chile comes to mind.

The wealthiest 1% now control 40% of all the wealth in the country I believe I read a couple of weeks ago.

The country has done best when the middle class prospers.

What exactly are you arguing? That it exists? No argument from me here, there are luxury industries whose customers are the wealthy. Whether they get tax breaks is a completely different scenario. If they can't afford a private jet with normal taxes, why should they get a break for the luxury?

If this "trickle down" theory would work, like the OP claims we would see an improvement of the middle class. The numbers show otherwise and there is only so much money to go around.

And that's why we call it a "recession" and not "prosperity."

But the recession is over. This is the new reality for decades to come, the legacy of the babyboomers.

I used to know a real estate agent that was the number one sales agent in his office for six consecutive years. He outsold everyone in his office and outsold pretty much everyone in his community during that same time frame. The other realtors would show up for the Monday morning sales meeting and talk about how the economy was bad, there is a major recession therefore nobody is buying houses, complain, complain, complain. And guess what? For them, the economy was receding and sales were OFF.

For Mr. Number One Sales agent though, life was and is different. He has money to buy new cars for himself and his family. He eats at some damn nice restaurants and shops at upscale clothiers. He dresses for success and the cars he drives say the same.

HE WILL NEVER BE OUT OF WORK BECAUSE HE KNOWS HOW TO TURN THE KEY IN THE LOCK AND SELL HOUSES WHICH EARNS HIM SOME NICE HEFTY COMMISSION CHECKS.

don't know if you have figured this out or not, but there are plenty of people who lease cars for business purposes and write off 100% of the lease payment as a business expense. Drive a new car for business and deduct, deduct, deduct. It's like driving for free. Plus, the new car dealer gets to stay in business leasing cars to these people which means they get to stay in business so that they can sell car parts to people like you and me.

In the history of the world, the existence of a large prospering middle class is just a tiny blip on the time line. It all came together with intense industrialization, unionization, and lack of global competition. Now it's all different, and we are seeing a return of the ruling class and the oppressed. That is, unless something drastic happens.

That is because top performers (the top tier 1%) busts ass a lot more than the second rate, johnny come lately, barely does enough to get by middle and bottom classes (that is why they are known as "middle" tier and "bottom" tier, 'ya see).