By Jack Kneafsey

Here are some interesting excerpts from a recent article by Paul Roderick Gregory for Forbes, in which he answers the important question of what would have happened, if the “rich’ really gave back as Obama wants. His main concern is that had this happened over the years, then the country, as a whole, would have been significantly less wealthy, and the standard of living for most Americans would be lower. All of this would occur because the Obama mindset would have removed any incentive for entrepreneurial risk-taking.

President Obama tells us that the rich should give back to society. He even knows many wealthy people who want to give back more. (I guess they can’t until their taxes are raised). We learn from him that the rich owe their success not to business acumen and risk taking but to public roads, schools, the courts, food stamps, disability payments, workplace regulation, and other government services.

… With so much “going back,” there is little reason to go forward. The “rich” should just cash in their chips, stop building their businesses or starting new ones, pay their high taxes, and live off their wealth, unless that is taxed away too. After all, the government can “invest” their money in Solyndras,  Volts, and entitlement programs. As Obama claims, government investment has higher returns than private investment.  (????)

If Steve Jobs had paid his fair share back to society after he made his first ten million, Apple today would today be a relatively small company worth little and employing few. It would not be the world’s largest company in market cap, it would not employ 60,400 people worldwide, and we would not have the IPads, IPhones, Apps, and other innovative Jobs products, which improve the quality of lives and raise living standards. Apple shareholders would not hold shares worth a half trillion dollars.

And, Gregory concludes:

President Obama’s unfortunate remark that businessmen “do not build their own business” reveals a naïve ignorance of  the way the economy works. Despite their Ivy League credentials, his administrators are equally economically illiterate. They somehow believe that what we earn belongs to the government, which better knows what to do with it than  private persons, especially if they happen to be successful. Such thinking explains why we are having the worst recovery since the Great Depression.   (my emphasis)

This is a very enlightening article, and you can read it in its entirety here.

Be Sociable, Share!

•