"Don't Hate Me Because I'm 1% Beautiful."

Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute, published an article in the Washington Post that brought home a dose of reality about class hatred.  He asks, “Do you hate the 1%?  Do you think they are evil blood suckers?  Well, if you are making $34,000 or more YOU are part of the world’s 1%.   This country has 5% of the world’s population but has 50% of the world’s 1%-ers.  And if you make $34K you are one of them.”  If you earn $34,000/year you are part of the world’s 1%.  If you are also one of the simpletons who think the 1% are worthy of contempt, derision and threat, then you are calling down a curse on your own head.   How does it feel to be hated because you are beautiful?

            In the United States, the 1% is swimming in a smaller and much healthier pond.  Still, the numbers are probably smaller than you might think.  If you want to be part of the 1% in this country you need a yearly income of $380,000.  That includes a lot of double income families who know they are as middle class as they come.  If you are talking about net worth instead of income (homes, financial instruments, property) the numbers become more impressive.   To be part of the 1% in net worth, you have to have accumulated almost 7 million dollars worth of, “stuff.” 

            Parenthetically, my husband and I are retired school teachers.  I have never seen even half of the $380,000/year required of the 1%.  You might think I do not have a dog in this fight, but I do.  I love rich people.  They are my constant hope for a better life; if not for me, then for my family.  If you make your money legally, I don’t care how much you make.  When the owner of Mystic Pizza made a success of his business, invested his money in AAA rated debt in Chile, and turned that into $1.5 million in ten years, he became an American success story, not a villain.   A blessing on his head! 

            That brings me to today’s news.  The Senate has passed its first budget in four years.  Excluding the votes of four pusillanimous Democrat senators that know a, “yea” vote would hurt their chances for re-election next year, the budget passed 50-49.  [Do Senators Baucus of Montana; Begich of Alaska; Hagan of North Carolina and Pryor of Arkansas actually think this thin pretense will not be seen for what it is by their voters?]  The Senate plan calls for $1 trillion in new taxes.  It says it will do this by closing tax breaks for the wealthy.  The Democrats are not defining the word, “wealthy.”  Make no mistake, sooner or later, if you can afford the computer you are reading this on, the word, “wealthy” will include you.

Actually, I think the goal of this administration is to use the word, “wealthy” as a pejorative, directed toward anyone not on the government dole. 

            Consider this, if you compare the income of a small business entrepreneur and a governmental executive of equal influence, the governmental employee will make 17% more.  The government bureaucrat risks nothing, he dares nothing, he creates nothing, but he makes more money.  This is not only wrong, it is dangerous.  Yet this administration is not cutting the bureaucrats, it is cutting the rank and file in this sequester because that makes better theater.   As always with this administration, style over substance.

            Respect success, cut the budget and keep the faith.