This is from Neil Boortz. Everyone can jump on him or whatever they want to discredit the guy. This is only opinion but he is not a lib or a repub. He is a Libertarian.
WEALTH: EARNED, PRODUCED OR DISTRIBUTED?
The New York Times is reporting with great fanfare that the gap between the rich and the poor is rising. They seem aghast that the top .1 percent of income earners are raking in an average of $3 million a year. Furthermore, That's only about 145,000 taxpayers. So much money in the hands of so few..they must have stolen it!
Another interesting statistic...households with a net worth of $10 million or more, that group has grown more than 400% since 1980. So there you have it...the rich are getting richer! OH .. And if you read the Times story you'll come away with the distinct impression that the main reason these people are getting so rich is because of the Bush tax cuts. In other words, they're getting richer because they're being allowed to keep more of the money they earn -- instead of having that money taken from them and redistributed to the poor, poor pitiful poor.
This is bad news? If rich people are getting richer, that means they're producing more profit or earning more money. We'll call them the achievers. But this isn't how the class warlords on the left see it. To them, the entire economy is a certain-sized pie. If a rich person is getting richer, that means they have gotten wealthy because they have stolen that money from poor people. Their piece of the pie is just too big, and only government can step in and make things right .. but cutting a smaller slice for the rich, and a larger slice for the poor. Somehow it just doesn't occur to them that everyone can have a bit more if you just bake a bigger pie! For those of you who went to government schools, you bake a bigger pie by growing the economy!
While the New York Times was focusing on the rich, here's what you weren't told. Home ownership is at an all-time high in the United States. Not just an all-time high for the evil rich, but an all-time high for all income categories. Also, family net worth is at an all-time high. Again .. not just for rich families, but for every income quintile. I guess the Times believes that if you include this information in the story you somehow take away from the "rich as evil" theme. It's also hard to paint the Bush tax cuts in an unfavorable light when all boats seem to be rising on the tide.
Poverty is a mental disease at worst and a behavioral disorder at best. The rich keep getting richer because they keep doing the things that make them rich. Ditto for the poor. Everyone is where they are in life as a direct result of the decisions they have made to put them there. If they've worked hard, they can be rich. If not, then they won't be rich. Unless, of course, you're a Kennedy and get rich by default.
boortz.com: Nealz Nuze June 06, 2005