This goes right along with other favorite liberal phrases such as “It is just not fair” and “it’s for the children” and it really sets me off.
First of all I am no where near the mythical “rich” level, pretty much no matter where one puts the slippery slope sliding scale of who is rich. But that does not matter, bad ideas and faulty logic are always wrong no matter what.
In order to “Give Something Back” one must first have “taken something away” to begin with. With notable few exceptions such as Bernie Madoff, and the US Federal Government which “Takes away” 40%+ (more if you follow BBCW one man many taxes) of my income and generously “Gives back” a portion of that in the Spring, most people who have accumulated wealth have done so by doing several things. They have worked hard. I have never met a lazy rich person, I HAVE seen several lazy worthless kids of rich people. But the creators of wealth did something. They have fulfilled some need. They invented a new device or technology, or they did something better and different than someone before them.
Did Ray Kroc invent the hamburger? Nope, but he did invent cooking it faster and delivering it to the customer faster and cheaper than anyone else. Thank you McDonald’s.
These people did not start out rich, but through their work they became wealthy. They did not go around stealing everyone’s money to get that way, they fulfilled a need and other people traded their money for their goods or services. They then in turn saved more than they spent (wow what a concept) and accumulated wealth. They then, in most cases, put that wealth in a bank, which tries to grow the wealth further, by making loans to people who need business loans to create something else… it is a VICIOUS cycle I tell you.
People who create things or fulfill a need PRODUCE something. And they employ people. Which is in its’ own way “spreading the wealth around.”
Wealth is not distributed it is created.
When a rancher puts a bull and a cow in the same lot, within a year ,if everything goes right, he has three head of cattle. He produced Something (well in all fairness the cows produced something). He did not steal a cow from his neighbor. No one had to take all the cows from the cattle baron and “distribute them”. The reason that so many people fall for this lie of Wealth Redistribution and believing that in order for one person to have wealth it must first be taken from another is because they are too far from the source of production.
McNuggets do not come from the box, Nancy. They come from a chicken. The chicken was raised in a chicken house, which was constructed by someone. The Chicken house is owned by a farmer and leased to a corporate entity. That corporate entity is staffed by thousands of people and likely listed on the NYSE. The chicken house is one of several and attended to by several people in the employ of the farmer. The chicken is fed grain, grown by another farmer. Using a tractor probably green in color made in Illinois or Iowa, using union labor. And using seeds and or yield increasing products developed in a laboratory probably in Texas or Missouri . The chicken grows up and is loaded on a truck driven by a truck driver. The truck was made either in TX, WA, OR, or PA most likely. Then the chicken is *gasp* killed, cleaned, deboned, pressed, battered, cooked, and flash frozen, by several people working in a processing facility (incidentally built and staffed by other people). Put on another truck, driven by another truck driver, leased from another trucking company employing all kinds of staff people to make sure your McNugget gets to the store on time. They are stocked, and eventually opened, re-cooked, and packaged in your happy meal by either a High School student, High School dropout, a seasoned citizen , or an immigrant. and handed to you out a window while you sit in your luxury SUV (oops I mean sustainable environmentally friendly Eco Box). Who made all this possible? The EVIL rich man. How many people did it take to get your brat a McNugget? More than 500 easily. How many people were stolen from in the making of your McNugget? NONE.
What have any of these people “taken” from someone that they need to “give back”?
To further drive the point home do this experiment. The next time you are at Mickey D’s there will be a cute little girl there of about 20, she might be your kid, heck try it with a middle aged man it will probably work. Lean over while he/she is just getting ready to eat his/her McNugget and ask, “why are you eating that poor ol’ dead chicken?” they will put it down and push it away 99% of the time. Eggs are even better…think about it.
I have been asked where pork comes from. I have been asked where CORN comes from. I have shown kids …scratch that… I have shown 35 year old adults cotton in the field or brought them a cotton plant and they were AMAZED “it is just like a cotton ball” No Kidding….no kidding, it just grows like that. Remember I live in “rural” “Podunk” Missouri and people don’t know this stuff. WE ARE TOO REMOVED FROM THE SOURCE OF PRODUCTION.
Wealth is created by the sweat of the brow and the relentless pursuit of improvement through thought. It is not created by the Government.
Money is the direct result of effort. Effort takes time. Time is the essence of life. We only have so much time on earth. So in a very real non clichéd sense Time is Money. The confiscation of Money is the confiscation of Time, is the confiscation of Effort and essentially the confiscation of our LIFE.
Barack Obama is not going to fill up your tank, or make your house payment lady! He MIGHT, nay he WILL, take money that some farmer, factory worker, or factory owner PRODUCED from their Effort, and give to you to pay your bills or feed your children, you parasite! argh… sigh..breathe in…breathe out…goosfraba…WoooSaaa