Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
Dee Dee Myers was a panelist on ABC’s Sunday news show, This Week. She began to praise Obama’s economic program. George Will challenged the idea of using government to improve the economy.
See how Myers responded. It’s worth some reflection:
MYERS: Why is it that the rich keep getting richer? The well-to-do have seen their income and their wealth grow by unprecedented amounts. There's only a couple explanations for that. Either the rich people are really a lot smarter than the rest of us -- and I don't think any of us at that table would stipulate... or there might be something in the rules that's rigged and the government actually can do something about that, to try to level the playing field so that ordinary folks can get ahead again.
Note the false choice. Either:
- the rich are smarter, or
- the game is rigged.
Obviously the game is rigged (Myers takes for granted), and so we need government to reset the balance.
- - - - - -
Let’s try it again: why do the rich get richer? Because they have money, stupid.
It takes money to make money. In our economy, you make big money through investing. That’s a good thing. Investing creates jobs. Investing creates growth.
You make the biggest payoff when you start a business. You create and grow a business when you do your homework, and then make prudent and smart moves. Doing that requires guts, experience, know-how, and a willingness to interact with others to mutual benefit. Investment is a risk that has benefits for others. Since it’s a risk, the only way to entice it is to endow it with rewards. The system is designed to reward all of the virtues we admire.
It is certainly true that many people are well-off through no virtue of their own. But so long as the system still allows anyone to work hard and acquire enough cash to stake an investment, then the method by which others became rich shouldn’t matter. The only thing that should matter is whether someone can start a business.
That’s why unnecessary taxes and regulations are unjust. They make it more difficult for someone to start a business. They make it more difficult to make an investment. Instead of leveling the playing field, they make it harder for new people to get on the field.
It’s an act of justice to remove obstacles to economic growth. It’s an act of justice to make it as easy as possible to start a business and thereby help everyone.
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Comments:
Mar '11
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
As with the parable I shared last week, the Business Bear teams up with the King to go into cronyism together. He becomes the Business Buffet Bear, to keep the other business bears out.
Oct '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
KC. You have said it well. All other levels of prosperity flow from the LIBERTY which guarantees that the entrepreneur can create. We all, not just the entrepreneur, benefit from this dynamic. But, it is liberty that is the source of our prosperity. The entrepreneur is the vehicle of liberty.
Unfortunately, iWc is correct. It is the Buffet Bears that are now the definition of business leader, not the guy who imports Italian tile, or manufactures a better than Italian grade of tile.
Oh, and do not forget the beneficiaries of the great cultural imbalance. As long as the entertainment class is more important than the entrepreneur class, we will continue the downhill economic slide.
Mar '11
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
Interesting. Dee Dee says the game is rigged. So her solution is to re-rig the game rather than to un-rig the game. Very telling.
May '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
The game HAS been rigged - by the politicians. And they are trying to convince America that it needs to be rigged more. How can the game be "fair" if the referee is going to play, too?
Dec '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
What EJ, Casey and others said, just different words:
Feb '11
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
KC, I was struck by the same exchange. As usual you have an insightful and articulate take. My take, however, is a bit whiny: would it have killed any of the other panelists to challenge Ms. Myers on the spot? I know it's not always easy to produce a pithy response in the moment and commercials don't wait, but anyone comfortable with and basically knowledgeable of a conservative outlook should have had an immediate gag reflex. At the very least, why didn't anyone challenge Myers to get specific in how the game is rigged? It bothers me immensely when questions of basic principle and faulty argumentation go unchallenged, especially when it would be so easy to present a rational, if imperfect, response.
Mar '11
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
This is why we all miss Mr. Buckley.
May '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
Imagine a perfect Sweden in which your family circumstances made no difference whatsoever. Who would, on average, succeed?Hint, Dee Dee: it might have something to do with native ability. But, Dee Dee, I sympathize with your position. To admit this cruel truth would threaten your income.
Oct '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
Great post KC. It's the same thing with nations: capital tends to flow towards the richer nations. Many of you have seen it before but I love Margaret Thatcher's answer to this:
http://youtu.be/v2Vp1moqTKs
And of course here she gives a biting critique of egalitarianism. They would rather everyone be worse off so longer as the gap is smaller as opposed to everyone being better off with greater inequality.
http://youtu.be/rv5t6rC6yvg
May '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
KC Mulville:
Note the false choice. Either:
Obviously the game is rigged (Myers takes for granted), and so we need government to reset the balance.
- - - - - -
That’s why unnecessary taxes and regulations are unjust. They make it more difficult for someone to start a business. They make it more difficult to make an investment. Instead of leveling the playing field, they make it harder for new people to get on the field.
It’s an act of justice to remove obstacles to economic growth. It’s an act of justice to make it as easy as possible to start a business and thereby help everyone. · · 27 minutes ago
KC, Dee Dee is correct. The game is rigged. You just demonstrated it yourself. Problem is, it is the people Dee Dee is looking to to de-rig the system, who rigged it in the first place and who are now engaged in ramping up additional rigging that will continue to benefit the wealthy.
Aug '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
Who , in the enormous bullpen that is the democrat milieu, won't be appearing on the electronic rampart called ABCCBSNBCCNN on behalf on the loser in this new class war.
Dee Dee who who ?
pssst..nobody likes to be called a .......
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 2:17amAug '11
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
Liberals do not know how wealth is created. So they think wealth is a fixed quantity and, therefore, making money means taking it away from others. Fifty years ago, talking opening about how babies are made was unacceptable. Today, you cannot openly discuss how wealth is made.
May '11
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
I think I would want Richard Epstein on that panel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pq79lYauZo
Aug '11
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
Over the last 200 years of enormous growth in prosperity and human longevity (fueled by open society and economic freedom) there has always been a gap between the rate at which the rich and the not rich have improved their condition.
Nevertheless, the gap has widened whenever the government has colluded with the Business Buffett bears, through regulation and other forms of favoritism. When that happens the barriers to entry are too high and very few people can compete with the Buffett Bears and bring the Buffett Bear profits down. Who can afford to comply with Sarbanes Oxeley except the very rich -- the Business Buffett Bears. That is what is happening under the current administration
Aug '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
I don't even know if it is genuinely true that the "rich" keep getting richer. Maybe the richest people have more money than before, but the richest people include individuals who didn't come from wealth and yet who are wealthy.What percentage of the wealthy families of 100 years ago are still the wealthiest families?I don't know the answer, but I imagine that in America this changes more than in other countries.
May '10
Re: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
"What percentage of the wealthy families of 100 years ago are still the wealthiest families?I don't know the answer, but I imagine that in America this changes more than in other countries."I checked a few years ago and about 10 to 15% of the Forbes 400 change every year.