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.