(CCU Faculty) We often hear from President Obama that “the rich should give back.” But what have they taken? Nothing! What have they given?
- Jobs: if you have a job, thank an entrepreneur.
- Goods and services: things we all need to survive are provided by these entrepreneurs.
- More than their fair share of taxes: the richest 20% of Americans pay over 86% of the taxes, while the poorest half of Americans pay no income taxes at all.(Heritage Foundation)
- Charitable Giving: the rich give the lion’s share to charity, while Liberals have a poor record of giving to charity, believing it is the government’s job.(Nicholas Kristof, N.Y. Times)
Take Steven Jobs, for example. What has he taken from the rest of us? Nothing. What has he given? Tens of thousands of jobs, an expanded tax–base, the latest high-tech innovations making all of us more efficient and driving down prices.
Yet President Obama said recently that Steven Jobs has not adequately“given back”.What has Steven Jobs taken that he should “give back”? The jobs Steven Jobs provided are not the unproductive ones Obama claims he will provide in his many speeches. In fact,these “jobs” have not even been produced, as unemployment continues to rise.
Who are those who have taken?
- Government takes from the paychecks of the productive to fund theirunproductive schemes.
- Politicians take from tax payers to fund their pork projects, which buy them votes for reelection.
- The indolent take “entitlements” from the government. What “entitles” them to take from the rest of us who produce? “Entitlement” means getting what you deserve. What did they do to deserve the money others earned? Call it government enforced charity, not “entitlement”.
On Thursday night President Obama will tell us his plans to provide more jobs. Can he really create jobs? When the government hires someone, where does the money to pay these new government employees come from? From taxing the rest of us, from government borrowing more and driving us deeper in debt, or from printing up more paper money causing inflation down the road.
Each job saved or created by the Obama administration has cost us $533,000. (Dan Farber, CBS News) Jobs created by the private sector cost us nothing. In fact, for each unproductive job the government creates, two productive jobs in the private sector are destroyed. (Rick Santorum)
The best jobs program would be for the government to get out of the way of those who really produce jobs, by no longer punishing the productive to reward the unproductive, by lessening the regulatory burden on the productive, by providing the economic stability so that the real job–creators can anticipate future costs, plan the expansion of their companies, and hire more people.
If a government continually tries to soak the rich, they lose the very people who made their country productive. Millions in recent centuries came to America for opportunity. If our government now limits this opportunity, people will leave in droves. Millions fled the Socialist experiments of the 20th century to seek freedom and opportunity in the West. Why abandon what has proven successful, only to copy the failed policies of failed regimes which we thought were on the ash heap of history?
