There is an article up on Marketwatch by Paul B. Farrell that claims the super rich and GOP are leading a civil war between the rich and “us.”
Wake up America. You are under attack. Stop kidding yourself. We are at war. In fact, we have been fighting this Civil War for a generation, since Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981. Recently (Warren) Buffett renewed the battle cry: The “rich class” is winning this war. Except most Americans still don’t realize they’re losing, don’t see the prize at stake.
Okay, Paul. Settle down. Step away from the talking points. You didn’t like Reagan. Let me guess: You don’t like either Bush, Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers, Michelle Malkin, and the current make-up of the Supreme Court – oh, and you threw away your Ted Nugent albums years ago. Hey, “Cat Scratch Fever” was a great song, but this is war! Sacrifices have to be made!
Paul’s column quickly moves down the line items on the left-wing’s laundry list of “who to blame” on the Right. Look at it. Read it. There’s nothing there that isn’t echoed on left-wing blogs.
But is this civil war really between the Rich and the Poor? Or is it between the Capitalists and the Entitlementists? (I made that last word up, but it seems like a good one, and “socialists” and “communists” have run their course as usable or meaningful words. But it basically means those who believe they should take or be entitled to a spoil of your earnings – their “fair share” of your labors).
Now, we all want schools, roads and firefighters. We all want to help out those who need some help here and there to get their lives back on course. This isn’t about that. This is about our national debt. More specifically, this is about the interest payments on our national debt. This is about our nation’s solvency.
The Washington Examiner has an article up today, that details what this means.
Servicing the nation's staggering national debt down the road will cost more than the current annual Pentagon budget -- including funding wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By 2019, the federal government will pay more than $700 billion a year on its debt load, currently ringing in at $12 trillion.
As the US debt level rises, more and more of the tax revenue has to be applied to interest payments on the debt. Should interest rates rise, as many believe, the debt will have to be refinanced at higher interest rates, consuming even more tax revenue. This leads to less money available for other things.
Many people have recent personal experiences on what this means. Folks who started using credit cards, received their bills and gladly paid the minimum monthly payment without much effect to their overall budget. But, as the credit card use increased, that minimum monthly payment went higher and higher. Eventually, the minimum monthly payment rose so high that people had to make a decision on whether to pay for the rent or house payment, groceries, or the utility bill. Bankruptcy became an option for many of these folks.
Bankruptcy is not an option for the United States. We can and will print dollars. That’s not a rosy scenario. The US dollar has already declined in value, and we can see what this means when we go buy groceries or fill up at the gas station. Printing more dollars and increasing the US debt leads to cheaper dollars.
Becoming wealthy isn’t about entitlements and taking away money from others. It isn’t about deficit spending. Receiving checks in the mail or increased government services is not the path to riches. Becoming wealthy is a personal choice based on the decisions we make as individuals. It is going to school, studying and getting good grades. It is about staying away from drugs. It is about investing in yourself, applying your skills to the best of your ability, appropriate risk taking, and working hard.
Paul quotes Warren Buffett, but I would urge everyone to read about how Warren Buffett became who he is. That is a lesson in hard work! Buffett is also one of this nation’s greatest philanthropists, and helps out many who need help. He is to be applauded for his efforts. Warren Buffett is a fantastic role model, but I think he mischaracterizes the current disagreement between the Left and the Right.
Paul, if there is a civil war here in the US, it’s not between the Rich vs. the Poor. It’s between the Capitalists vs. the Entitlementists. For all our sake, we should be cheering on the Capitalists. We should hope for equal opportunity that empowers people to achieve great things.