Saturday, May 1, 2010

Obama's Socialism Vs. Freedom and Capitalism and Efficient Charities - Only One Can Survive

Recently, President Obama has been pontificating that maybe some Americans make too much money. This flies in the face of the American tradition of freedom, capitalism and allowing each individual to work as hard or as easy as they want to achieve their individual dreams. Also, it is just plain stupid socialism for any number of reasons.

First, recall that the very rich in this country pay more than 70% of the taxes to the Federal government, allowing the rest of us "non-rich" to pay less in taxes. If the rich make less, and government spending does not go down (unlikely to go down under this administration) the missing tax money has to come from somewhere.

Second, when you inhibit peoples' ability to make more money for working harder and displaying more initiative, the country and society is likely to advance less slowly. Why bust your butt for some faceless government bureaucracy that will just take away the fruits of your brain and labor? Too much money is a relative term to every individual, you cannot have a politician or group of politicians deciding that for you. It is impossible to do and just restricts individual freedom.

Third, consider the following real life examples of rich people behavior:
  • Actress Sandra Bullock has contributed one million dollars apiece to the Red Cross for 9-11 needs, tsunami rescue efforts, and Haiti's earthquake survivors. She has also donated many thousands of dollars to a Hurricane Katrina ravaged High School in New Orleans.
  • Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have donated millions and millions of dollars to numerous charities, with just their 2006 total charitable donations exceeding $8 million. They have also donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders and $1 million to Global Action For Children. They have also have been involved in rebuilding New Orleans and Ms. Jolie has served on any number of United Nations charity efforts.
  • Tiger Woods and his father, started the Tiger Woods Foundation several years ago to support youth education and youth activities. Regardless of what one may think of Mr. Woods private life, after the recent press reports, his foundation has been successful in supporting the youth of America.
  • In June, 2006, famous investor Warren Buffet donated 85% of his wealth, at that time estimated to be about $37 billion to a handful of charities including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  • Speaking of the Gates Foundation, it has been involved in numerous causes around the world including vaccines and immunizations, HIV research, infectious and tropical disease research, micro financing in poor countries, anti-poverty programs, green agriculture in Africa, national disaster relief, United States libraries, and education.
It is highly doubtful if these people would have been able to be so generous and would have positively touched so many people if someone like Obama had decreed that they "made too much money." In a cost benefit analysis, there would be no doubt that the efforts, funding, and visions of these people above and other rich Americans (go to www.looktothestars.org to see detailed information on how other rich Americans waste their excess money on worthwhile charities) do much more good with far less money than the wasteful Federal government does with the over three TRILLION dollars it spends every budget year.

You cannot have it both ways. Either American capitalism continues to provide the tremendous earning and growth opportunities it has traditionally done, supporting multi-billion charitable efforts, or Obama types introduce a socialism into the job market, stunting earnings potential, slowing down innovation, and causing the money to dry up for worthwhile and efficient causes for the needy, both here and around the world. We all know that the political class would never be able to duplicate the good deeds and efficiency that Bullock, Jolie, Pitt, Buffet, the Gates and other lesser known affluent people contribute to society. Freedom and capitalism and incredible charitable work are all linked together, break one link and the whole process crashes.


Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

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