Some people will make more money than others. It’s not racism, sexism, or any other ism. And nothing will change that.
You can’t earn a billion dollars. You just can’t earn that. You can get market power. You can break rules. You can do all sorts of things. You can abuse labor laws. You can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that. And so, you have to create a myth that since you didn’t earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Congressperson
Democrat-New York
Ah, AOC, the gift that keeps on giving. A woman (assumed gender) who graduated with honors from Boston University. Majored in international relations, minored in economics (not that you would know). As far as I can tell, she’s never managed anything (other than the shots of vodka in a martini). A classic example of why you don’t confuse intelligence and education.
But I find this comment very enlightening. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, having almost no experience in the private sector, can judge if someone has “earned” their wealth. For someone who’s experience with wealth creation is being in office. A group of people enter the Congress relatively unwealthy. Then a few years later they are worth tens (or hundreds) of millions (paging Nancy Pelosi). Understandably she has no idea how legitimate wealth is created.
Wealth is created when someone (or a group of people) create a good or service that another person will spend money on. This process creates demand for related goods and services, and that process continues on infinitely.
I open a gas station, which also has a small store in it. A refinery makes money from me as I need them to keep my gas tanks filled for my customers. The gas truck driver is paid by the refinery, and that driver needs food for his family. The driver buys groceries at the local HEB. That company purchases foods from the grocery distributers in the area for its company. HEB employs truckers to transport foods to their stores. And their drivers need food for their family.
Are you getting a clue AOC? Allow me to enlighten you with an actual economist. From the Foundation for Economics Education:
Adam Smith recognized the nature and cause of wealth; it results from the development and extension of the division of labor. As Smith observed, “It is the great multiplication of the productions of all different arts, in consequence of the division of labour, which occasions, in a well-grounded society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people.
But this implies something AOC will never understand. As Ronald Reagan said, “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program.” You fail to achieve your stated goal (not to be confused with your actual goal, continuing to exist), you go back for another appropriation. Not how it works in the private sector. The person putting their name, fortune and work on the line must produce. If they fail, they go bankrupt.
A few examples of successful businesses. John Rockerfeller, the world’s first billionaire, founded Standard Oil. Jeff Bezos created an online book delivery service in 1994, now worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Sam Walton started with one local department store, and Wal-Mart now owns almost 11,000 stores worldwide.
Let’s get to the real target of her ire. Elon Musk is currently worth over 800 billion dollars. Last year Tesla announced a ten-year contract with the man for one trillion dollars. Yes, one hundred billion dollars a year. The check is not guaranteed, he must drastically increase the value of the company over that decade. A man I greatly respect was outraged, “How could this have been permitted!” I explained it is permitted because we live in a free society, and Tesla’s owners (the stockholders) approved the contract.
What will Tesla get in exchange for Mr. Musk’s services? If any man can “drastically increase” the value of that car company over the next decade, he can. That will increase the number of jobs, direct and indirect, from Tesla, as well as the wealth created and expanding out.
But in AOC way of “thinking” Musk (or Bezos, Walton, or Rockefeller) did not earn that wealth. Sould we be surprised? No, it’s par for the course with Democrats now:
Barrack Obama, “Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
I wonder if President Pookie knows roads and bridges are built by private companies, funded by taxes they paid.
Elizabeth Warren, “Well, this is class warfare, this is whatever. No. There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for.”
Fauxahauntus, you don’t seem to get it. Those taxes were paid by people who employ other people, i.e., sign the front of the paycheck. Not everyone can make millions flipping houses like you did.
Bernie Sanders has been an annoyance for decades. I will give him this, he is an open communist. But he is calling for taxing wealth, and thinks wealthy people will not leave to avoid this. Bernie, see Zohran Mamdani, Katie Wilson, Gavin Grusum Newsom, and JB Pritzker about how much they have lost in the last few years.
A fact that has to be relearned ever few decades. You tax economic activity too much, you don’t have much activity. A classic example is the budget act of 1995, which cut capital gains rates from 28% to 20%. Unrealized capital gains were released, giving the government more revenue at a lower rate.
A lesson liberals don’t get, 20% of a dollar is a lot more than 90% of nothing. Ms. AOC, it’s time you go back to that bar for a year, or two, or a decade or two. But work in the office, see how the money is spent, sign the checks on the front. Maybe then you’ll understand what economics all is about.
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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