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Hello world!
Industry Role:
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 12,508
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I read that on thehun yesterday. I'm not qualified to comment on it but I do think it's important because it's central to the future of America.
A good short informative discussion here:
http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com...-bar-stoo.html
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What raises the hackles of our left-leaning friends after they finish this little story is that they see nothing wrong with the high earning tenth man being kicked out of the drinking group – in fact, good riddance. You see, they don’t believe the end of the story. Instead, they believe that the nine of them would magically get the missing $59 to distribute among themselves and, therefore, still be able to pay the bar bill.
The socialist believes in a fixed pie, a zero sum game, there is only so much to go around. It never occurs to him that the wealthy guy might have done something to make the pie bigger through his risky investments or starting a company or licensing an important invention or practicing a difficult to learn profession that gave him the high income, and the rest of them the benefits from the high taxes that he pays. These same folks never look at percentages or ratios of tax-to-income, they just look at the dollar amounts and feel cheated. And they always vote for the guy who promises to make things more equitable by making the high earners pay an even greater share of the nation’s tax bill.
And if the national tax receipts don’t quite make up for the cost of all the promised vote-buying programs (or the beer), then the same folks in government just get the added revenues from taxing your assets. They know that you don’t think there is an assets tax, and that you consider inflation as another example of the wealthy corporations just selfishly increasing prices so they can pay more for their CEOs and stock speculators. Beating up on the tenth guy is some of the hope and change promised us come January.
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Rebuttal scenario:
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DINING ROOM ECONOMICS ...
A group of ten people met outside their favorite restaurant. One was a retired CEO of AIG. He had "earned" 500 million dollars in the last 3 years through hard work and manipulation. One was a wealthy sports star who worked 18 weeks a year and received 20 million dollars a year. One was a small business owner who employed several people and provided desperately needed low wage jobs to the other 7.
"let's have dinner, but we must only eat according to what we can afford.'
The CEO had surf and turf with a nice 500 dollar bottle of wine. the sports figure had a nice steak and a round of shots of some fine sipping whiskey. The small business owner had ravioli and a nice glass of wine. The other seven each had a hamburger and water.
The next night, the ten met again for dinner. But before entering, the CEO brought up a point. "We shouldnt be borrowing money, and the smart people are debt free. So, tomorrow lets all liquidate all of our assets, turn them into cash, and meet again tomorrow." They then proceeded into the restaurant for their usual meals.
The next day, the ten met again Before going in to dinner, they surveyed their various piles of money, both large and small. The CEO then said, 'Nobody should be borrowing from others. And I've been thinking about this glorious war our brilliant president conceived, and I then remembered that it all has been paid for with borrowed money.
"We have all been equally protected from the shia-sunni civil war, and with long term care for tens of thousands of wounded soldiers, we have spent or committed to spend just about one TRILLION dollars. And it all has been borrowed. now, rough math says that 300 million americans owe about 3,000 each. so, here is my 3,000."
The sports star threw his 3,000 in, as did the small business man. The other 7 together had about 3,000 total, so they put that in, and promised to pay their fair share with future earnings.
The next night, the ten showed up, exepet for one. the chicken processor earning $7.50 an hour told the others that his co-worker, Mr. smith died the night before. He had made it to the hospital in time, but was refused treatment because he had no money (It had been tossed into the pot the night before to pay for the glorious war.)
The CEO then spoke up and said, "Well why didn't he have medical insurance. I do, and it covers everything. Sure was nice for me to get free lifetime medical care as part of my golden parachute company. BE PRPARED is my motto."
They then prepared to enter the restaurant. But only three could afford their steaks and drinks. The others spent their entire day's earnings paying back some of the 3,000 they couldn't come up with after liquidating all of their assets. So they went hungry. but that was fair, because the CEO "earned" his 500 MILLION through 5 years of hard work.
The next day, the CEO said to the remaining others, "I just learned that the TOTAL debt of the united states is about 10 TRILLION dollars. That means each of our share is about 30,000. Here is my part." The sports star threw in his 30,000 share. The small business man put in his last bit of capital, then told the other 5 they were out of a job. then the sports star and the CEO went in for a fine, fine, superfine meal and drinks. the others went hungry, but everything was equal per capita in this fine, equal system.
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However, this post resonated with me:
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The collectivist forever looks at how others are doing relative to themselves, and demands that government enforces various forms of equal outcome. The capitalist is busy trying to invest and produce while being pursued by other capitalists and the mob. It’s a tough game that should and does pay hefty rewards if played successfully. As others and I in this comment thread have pointed out, the collectivist gets an enormous benefit from this because he lacks the temperament, brains, or means to start something himself, and must therefore exist on the economic fringes, begrudgingly selling his labor. Others who celebrate the benefits of such wealth generation understand why people worldwide risk life and limb to get here, or emulate our system in some fashion. The alternative has always proven to be a disaster. Paraphrasing Churchill, ‘Capitalism is the worst way to run an economy, except when compared to any other way.’ I am not a market fundamentalist, and do see the need for government to provide a sparse set of firmly enforced rules for capitalists to play under so that a known, predictable, and trusted environment is created for all who want to play. Not enough rules, and a ‘Blade Runner’ world results. Too many rules and the pie shrinks so that socialist rationing and a poor QoL is the result. Most people of goodwill agree that there is some setting in the middle that provides an acceptable balance between equality and liberty. But to my knowledge, no one has yet found a better compromise than we in the US of A. I may not be able to say that a year from now.
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In other words, for all the griping about economic inequalities, America provides the best quality of life and opportunities than any other nation on earth. We can tweak our economic policies, but we must be very cautious not to tip the balance too much. |