In response to:
The fact that the Obama meme of "you didn't build that" won't go away, gives me hope.
Here is one more angle to the idiotic "argument" (ironic quotes intentional): It is a fabulous example of the "straw man" fallacy (that is, concocting an argument no one makes, then refuting it).
NO ONE--not even I, an ardent Capitalist--argues that "I did it ALL ON MY OWN."
The ESSENCE of Capitalism is, of course, the specialization of labor. It is UNDESIRABLE to "do it all on your own." The very ESSENCE of Capitalism is VOLUNTARY COOPERATION amongst various parties, trading values for mutual gain.
So of course, in a narrow sense, Thomas Edison did not "do it all on his own" when he invented the light-bulb....
Obama's desperate protests that his anti-business rant was taken out of context are betrayed both by that very context and because they are a part of a piece -- just one more component of his war against the American entrepreneurial spirit.
He would have us believe that his words "you didn't build that" referred to roads and bridges and not businesses.
Given his accompanying statements -- "you didn't get there on your own," etc. -- that is an absurd construction. But even if that's what he meant, why would he have felt compelled to point out that businesses don't...
In ESSENTIAL TERMS, he DID "do it on his own." In another sense entirely, he VOLUNTARILY COOPERATED with other self-interested parties to create a superior product.
Probably the LEAST IMPORTANT factor in his ability to make the first light bulb was "roads and bridges."
Obama gives us a fascinating lesson in logical fallacy.