On Sharing

Learning to Share

Whenever someone suggests that the folks on the top, the 1% people, worked hard to have what they have, and shouldn't have to share or "redistribute their wealth " I say, nobody does it on their own, and beyond the infrastructure, the roads and capital they used, they had people to help them, and they need to share what they have. When Romney and his ilk talked about the 47% who were lazy, it struck a nerve. When I look around at the Yachts and Mansions and Mercedes and Maserati's and Lear Jets here in the U.S. of A. I think about Saddam Hussein and a number of other African and Middle East Dictators with 17 marble and gold encrusted palaces with a stable of Rolls Royces, while their people, the citizens of their countries live in mud huts, and I think how wrong that is…then I look what we have here in our own country. People living in broken down trailers, or tar paper shacks, while many dogs live in significantly better accommodations. This huge disparity is why I have no problem supporting “Tax the Rich” programs. So sorry m'lady won't be able to get her hair done this week, or her French Poodle's nails polished for the next social extravaganza, but everyone has to give a little.

Trickle Down Theory - Investors vs. Consumers

In closing here’s a brief note on Investment vs. Consumers. People invest for themselves. Whether it's in a bank, or a stock, or mutual fund, or real estate, it is for their growth, and for theirs alone (or their family). Consumers, on the other hand, when they have money, they spend it, it is for themselves true, the car or the television or the food or the fridge, but talk about "trickle down"… the cash they give the car dealer goes to the owner, and his employees who sell the product, and service the product, and design the product, and manufacture the product, and package the product, and ship the product.

When I was President of the Teacher's Association and lobbying for a raise for my fellow teachers, I made the point that given the raise, the vast majority of them would not be sticking it in the bank or the stock market, no, they would be buying things they needed right here in town. The money would be poured back into the local economy for food, and services, and building materials, and housing, all the products they needed that put that money right back into the community from which it came.