I was just reading a blog that recently dipped into politics and felt the urge to write about it. The quote that got me started was actually from a comment. Here it is...
"Unfortunately, the left paints corporations and wealthy Americans as "evil" because they "have more" and paint the picture that corporations are unfairly profiting off the backs of the unfortunate American worker toiling away for less than the Mendoza line in minumum wage."
I agree with the statement. I have heard people time and again talk about ideas along these same lines such as "Wealthy people are rich because they steal from the poor." and "Corporate America plunders the working class."
These type of statements are quite faulted, but more disturbing than their errancy is their huge base of believers. I have sat through a lecture (by a TA trying to get his PhD in English Literature) at University of Florida which was entirely about the evils of people with wealth.
The thought rests entirely on a few ideas. The main one is obvious -- wealth is static and cannot be created. So, for one person to be wealthy another must be poor. This is obviously wrong. We have all seen wealth creation in our lives. The evidence of this is looking around you and noticing that you have more things and use more services of value. We have better cars, computers, higher quality health care, nicer buildings, more variety in entertainment choices, the option of being entertain, etc. etc.
The next idea is that it is evil to have more than someone else. This is absurd as well. I know of people who have more strength, beauty, age, wisdom, experience, talent, skills, sense (thought that would be fun to throw in too), etc than I do. Many of those things are extremely valuable. Also, many of those things are things that a person is either born with (meaning that it should not be considered evil) or can develop without taking anything away from me at all. If it is wrong for someone to have more money than me than why isn't it wrong for another guy to be smarter than me or even older than me and thereby have more experiences than me. That is my argument by analogy for why having more of something is not inherently wrong. I have never heard an argument for differences in wealth as being inherently wrong, but I have heard claims to that position many times.
I think that these false ideas and attitudes about money are foundational to the way that many large groups of people see money and subsequently... taxation, government, and politics.
If you don't recognize that wealth can be created you will likely (and naturally) feel that wealth should be distributed somewhat evenly. However, if you do recognize that wealth and value can be created you will likely want to empower those who are best able to create goods and services of value and ultimately wealth.
Now, I want to address the evil corporation vs. average American worker picture that is often painted. This picture is really hilarious to me, because right now I am that average American worker. I work two jobs under one corporation and two Limited Liability companies. (Franchise = 1 Corp + 1LLC) However, I also managed to control myself when making purchases and using services for the last seven years, which has given me a savings. I used that savings to buy little pieces of major corporations. So, now I am BOTH the corporation and the "unfortunate American worker" working under a corporation and other companies.
This is something that any American can (and should) do, and it is something that many of the "unfortunate American workers" do whether knowingly or not through pension plans, 401(k)s, and other investments.
In light of all of this, I am really at a loss when I try to understand the view that corporations are evil and are keeping the average worker down. Many, many corporations are publicly held! The average worker can own a part of that corporation, and "get rich" too. There is nothing stopping these people, but ignorance of the options that they have in front of them or an unwillingness and lack of discipline to exercise their options.
I wish this view had some sort of name though, because I'd really like a nice, short title for this entry.
Posted by David at October 19, 2004 09:02 PM