Tuesday, October 11, 2011
The "Occupiers"
After several weeks now of the "occupiers" on Wall Street, in DC and dozens of other cities, it seems to me, based on the statements I've heard on TV and radio, and on the signs I've seen on TV and the Internet, that the "occupiers" are a bunch of spoiled brats who want something for nothing, and they don't want "the greedy rich" to have anything more than they do. The fact that the "greedy rich" have worked hard and risked their own money to invest in their own businesses or others doesn't matter--the "occupiers" want the same thing with no work and no risk. I have to ask, what are they smoking?
The problem with "something for nothing" is that if it happens it all it doesn't last very long, because pretty soon there's no "something" left and those who can produce the "something" won't do it for "nothing". That, in a nutshell, is the lesson of Atlas Shrugged.
The ultimate "something for nothing" behavior is looting and robbery. I somehow doubt those "occupiers" would enjoy living in a society where the only law is the law of the jungle. Nor would they enjoy living in a society where the government tells you where to work and what work to do, and where everyone has the same standard of living irrespective of talent, ability, drive and ambition, which doesn't really exist and hasn't ever existed, because there are always "fat cats" of one kind or another, whether business tycoons, dictators or royalty. In short, that society would be made up of slaves and slave drivers. At least in today's America, the "fat cats" came by their wealth without murdering or imprisoning anyone. Idi Amin, anyone? Or maybe Mugabe, or closer to home, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez? I hereby invite anyone who thinks those societies are better than the USA to move there--permanently.
The problem with "something for nothing" is that if it happens it all it doesn't last very long, because pretty soon there's no "something" left and those who can produce the "something" won't do it for "nothing". That, in a nutshell, is the lesson of Atlas Shrugged.
The ultimate "something for nothing" behavior is looting and robbery. I somehow doubt those "occupiers" would enjoy living in a society where the only law is the law of the jungle. Nor would they enjoy living in a society where the government tells you where to work and what work to do, and where everyone has the same standard of living irrespective of talent, ability, drive and ambition, which doesn't really exist and hasn't ever existed, because there are always "fat cats" of one kind or another, whether business tycoons, dictators or royalty. In short, that society would be made up of slaves and slave drivers. At least in today's America, the "fat cats" came by their wealth without murdering or imprisoning anyone. Idi Amin, anyone? Or maybe Mugabe, or closer to home, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez? I hereby invite anyone who thinks those societies are better than the USA to move there--permanently.
Labels: Cuba, dictators, Economics, Occupy Wall Street
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