Monday -- June 6, 2005
 WEALTH: EARNED, PRODUCED OR DISTRIBUTED?
 The New York Times is
reporting with great fanfare that
the gap between the rich and the poor is
rising. They seem aghast that the top .1 percent of income earners are raking
in an average of $3 million a year. Furthermore, That's only about 145,000
taxpayers. So much money in the hands of so few..they must have stolen it!
Another interesting
statistic...households with a net worth of $10 million or more, that group has
grown more than 400% since 1980. So there you have it...the rich are getting
richer! OH .. And
if you read the Times story you'll come away with the distinct impression that
the main reason these people are getting so rich is because of the Bush tax
cuts. In other words, they're getting richer because they're being allowed
to keep more of the money they earn -- instead of having that money taken from
them and redistributed to the poor, poor pitiful poor.
This is bad news?
If rich
people are getting richer, that means they're producing more profit or earning
more money. We'll call them the achievers. But this isn't how the class
warlords on the left see it. To them, the entire economy is a certain-sized
pie. If a rich person is getting richer, that means they have gotten wealthy
because they have stolen that money from poor people. Their piece of the
pie is just too big, and only government can step in and make things right ..
but cutting a smaller slice for the rich, and a larger slice for the poor.
Somehow it just doesn't occur to them that everyone can have a bit more if you just
bake a bigger pie! For those of you who went to government schools, you
bake a bigger pie by growing the economy!
While the New York
Times was focusing on the rich, here's what you weren't told.
Home
ownership is at an all-time high in the United States. Not just an
all-time high for the evil rich, but an all-time high for all income categories.
Also,
family net worth is at an all-time high. Again .. not just for rich
families, but for every income quintile. I guess the Times believes that
if you include this information in the story you somehow take away from the
"rich as evil" theme. It's also hard to paint the Bush tax cuts in an
unfavorable light when all boats seem to be rising on the tide.
Poverty is a mental
disease at worst and a behavioral disorder at best. The rich keep getting
richer because they keep doing the things that make them rich. Ditto for
the poor.
Everyone is where they are in life as a direct result of the decisions they have
made to put them there. If they've worked hard, they can be rich. If not, then
they won't be rich. Unless, of course, you're a Kennedy and get rich by
default.
MORE WEALTH ENVY
 Bringing the Nuze to the home base here, a little example
of wealth envy from the Atlanta environs. This is of particular interest
to me because I've been involved with Atlanta's
DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK)
for nearly 20 years. As with other airports around the country, there is a
very active anti-airport crowd living in the vicinity of PDK. These are people
who somehow didn't realize that they were buying their homes near an airport.
You can imagine their distress when, on move-in day, they see an airplane
landing or taking off over their home.
I served on the PDK Airport Authority for about 6 years.
I've had an airplane based there for over 15 years. During this time I've
had more than ample opportunity to study the anti-airport crowd. Sure,
there are some legitimate noise complaints. Hey, you moved next to an
airport. What do you expect? Gurgling streams and chirping birds all
day long? As I said, some legitimate complaints, but for the most
part there are other motivations behind the incessant complaining.
Number one: Wealth envy. You don't have to attend too many
anti-airport rallies to realize that money is the motive behind many of the most
ardent anti-airport "activists." On the one hand you have people who
bought their homes on the cheap because of the fact that they were located near
an airport, and who now believe that they can realize a big increase in property
values if that airport can be closed. OK .. at least they have some
financial motive behind their activism.
It's the other money-oriented anti-airport activists who
are so transparent. Those who oppose the airport not because of the noise,
not because of their property values, but because of a burning jealousy ...
bordering on hatred ... of those who have accomplished more, and those have
more than they do. These people operate under the assumption that all
private airplanes are owned by rich people. They fail to realize, or
refuse, if you will, that the average value of a piston powered privately owned
general aviation airplane is less than what you would pay for a new bass rig.
Airplane owners are millionaires. Period. End of story.
The thought processes of those envious of the wealthy are
interesting, to say the least: "Since they are millionaires, and I'm not,
that must mean that they're bad, because I'm good. If hard work and good
decision making was all it took to be rich, then I would be rich. I work
hard and I make good decisions. I'm not rich. That means that
there's something else to getting rich; something other than hard work.
They must be cheating. They're exploiting people. They hire crooked
attorneys who steal money from the poor for their clients." And on and on.
OK .. so what led to this particular rant? A story
in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last Friday detailed
yet another fight
from the anti-airport crowd against the airport. The anti-crowd says that the
airport is secretly allowing the airport to expand, and is shielding the
wealthy (See! The evil rich people!) from paying taxes on their airplanes.
Now .. is there any truth to the allegations? I don't know for sure.
I'm not on the PDK Airport Authority any more. What I do know is that the
anti-airport crowd has a rich history of outright lies when it comes to their
anti-airport activities. I particularly enjoyed their anti-airport
leaflets showing a 747 preparing to land on PDK's 6000 foot runway.
But as I was reading the story of a court appearance by the anti-airport crowd's
attorney last week I was struck by one statement in particular: Speaking
of the airport this attorney said "They don't want anyone to know these
multimillionaires are out there."
So, folks. There you go. Once again, it's not about
noise. It's about those evil, nasty, wicked, hated, exploitive, cheating,
crooked, snotty, self-involved multi-millionaires! "They're rich.
We're not! We aren't going to make the sacrifices necessary to become rich
like them, so they have to be brought down a few notches to our level!
We'll close their airport!"
This wealth envy isn't confined to areas around airports.
I've seen an amazing amount of wealth-envy in my second home of Naples, Florida.
Naples is growing fast, and the median price of a home in Naples is the highest
in the state of Florida. The rise in home prices in Naples, and the influx
of wealthy retirees has brought what is almost a volcano of anti-wealth
sentiment to the surface. Every time a developer dares to step forward
with a plan for another project those who would love to hold a lynching party
for the wealthy come out of hiding. If you go to the informational
meetings or commission hearings you will hear a constant stream of "rich
developers this" and "greedy developers that." One of my favorites is the
"Haven't you made enough money?" line. It's as if they're saying "How dare
you make more money! I'm not making more money! Just who do you
think you are making all that money like that?"
This wealth-envy turned anti-development activism isn't
confined to Naples or to Florida. It exists anywhere in this country where
you see properties being developed for sale to the evil rich.
And so it goes. There's really not all that much new
here. This envy has always existed, and it has always been a motivating
factor for political activism. This envy drives voters to the polls to
vote for those who call for increased taxes on the rich. The 16th
Amendment to our Constitution -- the Amendment that brought us the income tax --
was sold on the concept of wealth envy.
Doesn't the Bible say something about the poor always
being with us? Someone should have added: "And they will always be
envious."
ADOPT AN ISLAMIC TERRORIST
Amnesty International is
at it again. The Executive Director of Amnesty USA William Schulz
accused the
United States yesterday of running secret prisons around the world in which
people are tortured or killed. Apparently Amnesty International doesn't know
what real human rights abuses are. So why are they attacking us?
It was reported last week
that a lot of the people running Amnesty are Democrats. They contributed
overwhelmingly to the Democratic Party in the 2004 elections. This
squares with their obvious position as Bush-haters. They also evidently are
trying to impress their bosses over in Europe with their anti-Americanism. But
back to the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. What would they have us do?
The United States was
attacked on 9/11, and several times before that over a 20-year period. For
years we tried to sweep Islamic terrorism under the rug and pretend it wasn't a
problem. But it kept coming back. Now we're doing something about it, and
people don't like it. Too bad.
Senator Joe Biden says we
should shut down the Gitmo prison. What would he have us do with the 500 or so
jihadists we have imprisoned there? Perhaps we should put them all up for
adoption? Send them around to live with liberals in a terrorist exchange
program. Then people could learn the "root causes" of terrorism and try and
reason with these bloodthirsty animals, which of course would never work.
The rest of the world
thinks we should turn the other cheek when it comes to terrorism. Let's hope
that idea isn't catching on at home.
HOWARD DEAN AT IT AGAIN
 You thought it was fun
when Howard Dean was running for president....it's starting to get just as good
with him running the Democratic Party. In fact, things are getting so out of
hand,
other Democrats are starting to publicly disown him. For instance, The
Tort King, John Edwards, came out of hiding over the weekend to say that Dean
didn't speak for him. Same with Joe Biden.
So what is Dean up to?
Last week, when talking about the difficulty of working Americans waiting in
long lines to vote, he actually said this: "Republicans, I guess, can do that
because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives." Whoa
boy. But it gets better.
In a speech to Democratic
supporters, Dean said this: "I would make the argument that America is safer when
Democrats are in the White House, than when Republicans are in the White
House." The more he talks, the deeper the hole gets.
At some point, the
Democrats will give him the boot. Until then, we get to enjoy all of the fun!
REDNECK SCRAP BOOK
You know, I'm not really sure
what's going on here. But it comes with the caption Redneck Jet Bike.
More from the redneck scrap book.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
Like the runaway bride,
here's another example of somebody who split and didn't want to be found.
Shouldn't we ask ourselves whether or not it's worth it to expend public effort
and resources when somebody "goes missing?"
Here's the latest claim
of the environmentalist wackos...Louisiana
is about to fall into the Gulf of Mexico.
Oh well, they could probably use the rinsing anyway.
You know how when you buy
something online from a company that doesn't do business in your state? No
sales tax!
Well, not anymore, if the states get their way.
Like all governments, there's no limit to their hunger for revenues.
Here's an interesting
tactic from the left.
John Kerry is blaming George Bush for the supposed "abuse" at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. So according
to The Poodle, the president was down there at Gitmo flushing Korans down the
toilet. Right.
Why is Amnesty
International making their ridiculous charges against the United States?
Debra Saunders says it's because of nothing more than their blind hatred for
George W. Bush.
Are the opponents of
funding for embryonic stem cell research really holding us back from the
miracle cures to diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer's?
Steve Chapman breaks it down.
Why does it seem like so
many airlines are losing money and always on the verge of bankruptcy?
George Will says it's because Washington D.C. keeps poorly run airlines in the
sky.
Dan Rather is still
living in a dream world...he's still not admitting that the Bush National Guard
memos are fake.
The Media Research Center reports.
Bill Cosby has dared to
take on the establishment mentality of the race pimps...but he's right.
Star Parker talks about a new book that defends The Cos.
Does the Imperial Federal
Government of the United States guarantee your Social Security benefits?
Nope...they're not required to pay you a dime.
Michael Barone has more.
Morning Sickness: Teen beat to death with hammer...killer
set free.
Wikipedia is the online
editable encyclopedia Neal talked about today. Here is the
entry on Neal. | 
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