If you haven’t already, take a moment to read Leon Cooperman’s open letter to President Obama here : LINK
One sentence really stood out for me:
“As a result of my good fortune, I have been able to give away to those less blessed far more than I have spent on myself and my family over a lifetime.”
Now, I wish he’d said “as a result of my hard work” — instead of “good fortune” — but the point is made. He gave away far more than he spent on himself and his family. This is typical. Whether we are talking Bill gates or Andrew Carnegie the U.S. has a long history of giving more to charity, at a higher rate, than any other country on earth. Studies also show that conservatives give more that liberals. LINK
It is clear that a big part of the problem, and the core of class envy protests like OWS, is a total misunderstanding of economics and what successful people do with their money. More important than what they give away is what they do with what they keep. They don’t bury it in the back yard — they invest it! Even if all they do is buy stocks that capital is what companies use to grow and expand AND HIRE MORE WORKERS.
“Tax the rich more” ensures that they’ll have less to invest — and that means fewer jobs and a stagnant economy. It really is that simple. The problem is that politicians can’t claim credit and buy votes ensuring their cushy lifestyles this way, so they keep offering us “jobs bills” and other useless crap. It’s really worse than useless though. It ensures that we’ll keep adding to our debt problems and keep choking the economy.
I wish Newt or Mitt were articulating this key issue.
They’re not.
Pat Duggan
