The problem with rich people
America creates rich Americans, not the other way around
JoeUser Forums
The problem with rich people in the United States is that too many of them think buy into the line that they are truly self-starters. That they "did it on their own". No American "does it on their own". Being rich means, first and foremost, that you happened to be lucky enough to be born in the United States. Think about what the United States provides a would-be rich person...
- The world's largest single language common market
- The world's largest, most educated single work force
- Free K12 education
- Low income help for college students
- A relatively safe environment to live and work
- A stable government that attracts foreign investment
- An uncorrupt court system
- A strong system of patents and intellectual property laws
- A reasonably healthy work force
- A work force that is able and willing to move for employers
These are not things created by rich people. They were created by all of us. Rich people take these for granted and delude themselves into thinking that they are somehow, magical, mystical and superior. As a result, they often have utter disdain for those who aren't as materially wealthy as they are because they equate wealth with moral and intellectual superiority.
What America's wealthy fail to realize is that without the existing benefits of the United States, they wouldn't be wealthy. Take Bill Gates or any other rich American and have them born instead in say Nigeria and they are going to be another impoverished person. Republican "states rights" nuts ignore that it is the weakening of federalism that has allowed Americans to get fantastically wealthy in the first place. If health and other benefits were on a state by state basis, that mobile work force we so rely on would disappear pretty fast. If states had any real control over business, the biggest advantage for American businesses, a huge home common market, would dry right up.
You may ask yourself, what makes America different than Niger? The difference is, amongst many other factors, the bullet points above. And those bullet-points are paid for by taxes. Taxes provided mostly from the rich admittedly but it is they, the rich, that have benefited the most from the massive public infrastructure they take advantage of in order to get rich in the first place.
The same right-wingers who are nostalgic for the "good old days" when there were no federal income taxes should look again at the results. Since federal income taxes, the life expectancy and standard of living of all Americans has risen dramatically. A rise that is largely thanks to the increased size of government. Consumers, feeling safe because of a basic safety net, are less likely to squirrel away every last cent for their elder days and instead consume today. The goods and services they buy today make their way up the economic food chain to the wealthy Americans who in turn think that it is their brilliance, rather than the United States and its people, that made them so wealthy.
I'm not in favor of taxing all income above $100,000 like some people are. I realize that the wealthiest Americans do need an incentive to take chances and do the things they do that help create much of this wealth. That's what separates me from them, however. People such as myself recognize that the rich have a role to play in our society. Too many wealthy people think that they are the store of the show and everyone else is just a cog in their machine. They don't understand that they benefit from all this infrastructure far more disproportionately than the average person. They are the star basketball player who mistakes their own talent for being the entire game while ignoring the importance of the rest of the team, the manager, the coaches, the trainers, the owner, the stadium workers, and the fans.
The reality is, the poor and the rich are all pieces of the same American machine and it's time for the rich to recognize that and quit resisting paying their fair share in taxes.
