one reason I never wanted my own business is because I'm not willing to work that HARD.

So if government and other people are responsible for a business, who's responsible when a business fails? The government and the people?

You basic argument is fundamentally flawed. You are trying to support a definitive statement with conditions. To take an example a statement if you have a rectangle you don't have a square. Then you argue a 2x4 isn't a square, sure that's true but that doesn't mean I don't have a 4x4.

See this statement that if you own a business you didn't make it successful is a definitive statement. There are lots of people who took their own ideas and resources and built a business. Sure when it got big enough they may hire more people, but they can only do that because they are successful enough to grow.

I think the original OP's quote was open for opinions. My opinion is that Obama's statement is a ridiculous thing to say. If any credit is due, the entrepreneur gets the credit for their blood, sweat & tears, not the government.

I think what Mr Obama was getting at was public roads shipped your goods on roads that are safe from hijackings, things imported from seas safe from pirates.

Employees who are educated in public schools, police that protect your investments etc etc.

Some people just don't get it and never will.

I understand what Obama meant.There is an element of truth to his statement. I think it undermines the true spirit of entrepreneurs. They took the RISK, not the government. Did he balance his statement with praise & encourage the business owners?

Maybe that is true but it wasn't what he was implying. He was implying people don't make their own success and thus by some charisma try to make it look like successful people didn't drive their own success and that unsuccessful people are where they are because they didn't have their own help. Sure he didn't say that but people will interpret that. The idea that people don't drive their own success is ludicrous.

Oh I get it now.

Does anyone think it's a coincidence that he gave this speech in a town thats average houshold income is 30k when the national average is 50k

Lol. I would not take the risk of being a politician. Every word comes under scrutiny. Ugh. Now that is fortitude! I would not like to be so publically open to the continual criticism of people. :-)

They wouldn't have the opportunity to take risk without the government educating people, maintaining safety and standards etc etc.

Do businesses not benefit from yesterdays teachers? today's roads?

He was saying it takes a village and he was right.

Election year spin for sure.

It will take much more than that to get that 1% tax dodging Romney elected.

Nope,using the Old Statist-Garbage to steal more Money from the productive People!
But now they are up on his ********!

I say start a revolution!! Lol. Problem solved? Never....

yep,Obama's Electionyear Spin for sure!
Right out of Frank Marshall's Playbook!

Quote taken out of context.

Mitt if this is the best you got. Yer in a heap o trouble boy!

Sounds pretty bad — and it is, if you leave out the sentences directly before and after, which make it crystal clear Obama wasn’t talking about building businesses at all. The “that” in “you didn’t build that” referred to roads, bridges, infrastructure, education, emergency services and law and order — all services that protect and enable business owners along the way toward creating a successful operation.

Here’s the full passage:

“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 point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for president — because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.”

Obama is referring specifically to government investments like the Internet, which enabled the rise of countless successful businesses even though the businesses themselves “didn’t build that” any more than UPS built the highways it uses to deliver its packages or Steve Jobs built the courts that protected his patents.

Well said Sir and for a change we are in agreement. Now I am off to deliver some cherry tomatoes to my best girl shuck some corn and have a summer feast.

I read that full quote online. I still dont like it.

And where does the money come for the infrastructure the teachers the police and firefighters.......
Oh TAXES
I'm thinking the people who built these businesses payed their taxes to have these services. And also don't those who aren't business owners use those services and benefit from them?
How many people who don't pay taxes get these services? All of them. Should those who don't pay taxes not be afforded said services?

Yep....There's no need to take anything Obama says or does out of context in order to discredit him.....He's perfectly capable of doing that all by himself....