Today's attempt to justify selfishness

Enough to fund the government. 

Enough to keep the richest people in the world from turning everyone else into slaves.  

You do know we have less upward mobility today than during the dark ages, right?  Sowell might want to read what happened to the rich people after enough people were left starving in the streets. A time when it was illegal to sell less than 2 apples because the the poorest people didn't deserve to be able to even buy food legally.  

A far stretch you say?

Before the American and French revolutions, it was illegal to sell less than two apples in England. The poor people could not afford to buy two whole apples. Yet, to keep from starving, they would spend everything they had for a slice or two of an apple. Wonderful capitalism saw a great opportunity and a whole illegal industry sprung up.  

Pearly Kings and Queens

These illegal merchants would buy the minimum 2 apples, then sell slices on the street to the poor.

They are now celebrated in England as the Pearly Kings and Queens. The black market is celebrated because they saved the lives of millions of people.

In order to hide their crimes, they devloped a language called "rhyming slang". I find the word usages most interesting, but I won't bore you with it today.

So it is in Tennessee today. Nashville elected a progressive mayor who vowed to help alleviate our community's affordable housing problems. The state government immediately stepped in and passed a law to prevent Nashville from implementing any of her plans. The Republcians in Tennessee govenment refuse to help people get health care (even though 60-70% of the state wants them to), and now they refuse to help poor people to even have a place to live. Does this remind you of the dark ages?

As a side note, the very afternoon Republicans prevented our city from helping poor people, the leader of the state Senate, Ron Ramsey, was eating lunch at Swetts dinette - the city's most famous soul food place which is located in the middle of a poverty stricken area. Freud would have chapters to write about what Ramsey was trying to do to save his own soul.

Back to Sowell. He seems to believe that the wealthy have no obligation to society or their less fortunate neighbors. He insinuates that all rich people are rich because they work harder than anyone else. Once one considers the absurdity or those "absolute" beliefs, his statement becomes even more obscene.  

Sowell and his ilk might consider the wealth of Ted Kennedy. Was he filthy rich because he worked so hard or because he inherited enough money to buy his way into the a career job as Senator? The Senate, of course where they work only 118, or so, days a year!

I know a fellow in Nashville who considers himself one of the best real estate developers to ever grace the great state of Tennessee. How did he get to be such a great developer? He inherited 300 acres of land from his grandparents. His grandfather was a farmer who bought land between two busy roads, next to the railroad tracks. Not exactly the most desirable land 100 years ago. But it had OK dirt and was close to other farmers who did own the best land for their dairy cattle. He could sell hay and grains to feed his neighbors cows. A couple of generations later, his grandson inherited the land when it was worth $100,000 an acre. So congratulations kid! You just inherited $30 million worth of land that your granddaddy paid $600 for. Lucky for you, the inheritance tax laws allowed to you inherit it at a much appreciated value, so you didn't have to pay tax on the difference between 2 cents and $100,000 per acre when you sold it.

At least you had the sense (or lacked the money) to not develop it all at one time. Now that land is worth $500,000 or more an acre. Of course, your grand parents' farm house was of no use to you - even though your Daddy and Uncle grew up there, and your Grandmother lived there till she passed away. You probably didn't even know what a kind, gentle, wonderful woman your Grandmother was. So, of course, you bulldozed the house and all the great memories of your family that lived there. It was Just so much trash that was not fitting to use as a house for you and your little royal family and I think or your arrogance every time I drive by the old homestead and think of the cookies and milk your Grandmother always had laid out for me when I visited.

But, I digress from the subject at hand. How much should the rich people give back? Well, like the kids who inherited their granddaddy's moonshine fortune, or his farm, you owe everything you have to someone else. Even people like Ted Turner, who is a self-made man by creating an entire industry, understands it. He chided Bill Gates for not having any charitable activities. And now Bill and Melinda Gates have the biggest charitable foundations in the world.

Imagine, if you will, one family that owns as much as 43% of the citizens of this country. Imagine this family pays such low wages that the employees of each of their stores gets an average of $235,000 worth of government subsidized housing, food and medical care. Don't you think that family has an obligation to pay their employees something other than a poverty wage?

So, Mr. Sowell, the answer is easy. The 1% owe everything they have to this country and our society. It is only your belief system based on selfishness and arrogance that leads you to believe otherwise.

Your homework is to try to figure out just exactly what is being protected by our HUGE military/industrial complex. :)