Class Warfare Works Both Ways

President Obama is trying to create a culture of makers vs. takers in this country, using the unauthorized force of government to redistribute wealth from the ones who produce it to the ones who don't. What he doesn't understand is that wealth redistributes itself! What does he think the rich do with their money? Smoke it? No, they spend it! They invest it! That spending and investing creates jobs, creates wealth, and distributes it to those who need it and want it. It isn't rocket science. Of course, it does mean that everyone has to contribute something to society in order to get a piece of the pie. Just by participating in the free market, I'm paying my "fair share". Slackers get bupkis.

Don't. Stop. Thief.

I'm not rich. I'm not even halfway to the magic $250,000.00 or whatever annual income it is that supposedly makes one rich. But I do not condone taking by force what anyone else has rightfully earned. That's called theft, and it's illegal unless you're the government. And it isn't sustainable. Too bad the takers won't even understand what caused the economic death spiral we're facing. No doubt, they'll blame it on the steadily diminishing "rich", whomever they are. In a shrinking economy, everyone has to work harder just to stay even, including the takers, who will be getting less money for nothing. In the end, the only rich people will be government employees and holders of high office -- who produce nothing, just like it was back in the USSR. I'm afraid there's no way to fix this at the ballot box anymore. The makers will have to subvert the establishment.

This class warfare works both ways. I work hard to obtain enough wealth to get what I need, and maybe a little more to enjoy life, and maybe put something away to live comfortably in my declining years. I will be most resentful of those who sabotage the economy by encouraging government forcibly to redistribute my earnings to someone who thinks they're entitled simply because I'm more industrious, more talented, luckier, or less lazy than they are. I'll happily and voluntarily share what I can afford with anyone who is down on their luck, and doesn't think I owe them anything. But the ungrateful takers can kiss my jump in a lake. I'm not uncharitable, but I'm no chump, either.

Update: Denny reminded me of this:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

~ Robert A. Heinlein