The current ‘green’ idea, is to tax the richest for about everything they have, and of course, to be really ‘green,’ we must kill all the cows, airplanes, power plants which burn natural gas, or coal, and on it goes. Then there is another idea, but let’s stick with taxing the rich, because they ‘have too much,’ or ‘more than they will ever need,’ and those yachts, mansions, and Rolls Royce’s, will have to go, so that all their money can go to the poor. Sort of like Venezuela, Cuba, or other communist or socialistic nations. Not that there is a difference between communism and socialism other than sequence maybe. Huge government first, then socialism, then communism, and then everyone equal and poor, and ruled by idiocy.
Not to be one to brag about anything, but I wrote a book 33 years ago titled, “I Hold These Truths,” and It has been reprinted several times, with a new cover. As far as being rich is evil, I am going to quote what I thought 33 years ago, and still do. The title of chapter 17 is, “What’s Wrong with Being Rich?” It goes as follows, in 1986:
“It is very chic now to hate wealthy people and condemn the old, long dead, super rich, such as the Vanderbilts and Carnegies. It is supposed to be some sort of sin for those people to have had such gigantic mansions, servants, boats, and private railroad cars. I happen to think it was a wonderful time in American history, and one to be cherished, not scorned. Those rich men weren’t stingy by any means. They did wonderful things with their money.
“Andrew Carnegie built hundreds of libraries, giving them freely to large cities and small towns alike. Few American cities or towns fail to have a Carnegie Library. Phoenix Arizona has one, as does tiny Silverton Colorado, population 500. Carnegie loved the sound of the pipe organ, and he gave away 6,000 of them to various churches, auditoriums and halls.
“Remember, those rich people got that way by discovering or inventing something, being there first with a good idea, or in some way being an excellent entrepreneur. There were no equalizing taxes then, and when those super rich men built their mansions and railroads, they furnished employment. It took skilled craftsmen to build those edifices, and millions of jobs were provided by the super rich, which unfortunately, do not exist any longer, thanks to government’s successful leveling of everyone. There are a few left who are living off the old man’s legacy, but the wealth has been successfully destroyed by government. Nowhere in the world have more homes been built and owned, than in America, even a hundred years ago. It was thanks to those pioneers who got filthy rich, but at the same time raised our entire standard of living.
“If the old Commodore had hundreds of servants, those servants had good jobs. If the Astors had a huge mansion, it took lots of people to build and maintain it for them. The problem is that we resent other people having more than we do, whereas it is far healthier to admire them, and even wish we had more, but certainly not to hate someone else for having more than you. Hatred of those with more, or condemnation of those more successful, is far too common today. Work and improve yourself, don’t waste your energy hating others.
“I look at those fantastic mansions, see photos of those grand life styles, and am amazed, not full of animosity. I wish we still had those times with us. I’d rather work for a benevolent Andrew Carnegie, than for a greedy, insatiable government, which taxes me into poverty. Those rich tycoons didn’t lower my living standards, but raised them with jobs and prosperity. Government has robbed everyone, virtually destroyed entrepreneurship, and constantly lowers our living standard.”
When those wealthy died, many times they left the surplus to foundations, with instructions to dispense as they lived and acted, but it has gone awfully wrong. The Ford Foundation, as an example, gives money anything their liberal directors decide, but usually to advance, not Henry Ford’s hard work and inventiveness, but give to those groups who, rather than encouraging work, entrepreneurship, and capitalism, which creates wealth, pursue their liberal ideas, which encourages big government, as the first step towards universal poverty and unhappiness. Government at the federal level, not counting other levels of government, is the largest employer in America. Federal salaries, benefits, hospitalization, and retirement, are paid by taxpayers. Government has always been a hindrance to prosperity, and the larger, more controlling, and invasive it becomes, the poorer we all will be, and no one has yet found a way to stop it. don@coloradogold.com