Wednesday, October 04, 2006

From the department of Obvious Statements:

Lou Dobbs would like you to know that some people are rich, while others... well... aren't.

Thanks, Lou. I'dve had a hard time figuring that one out for myself.

As an aside, when somebody says "The gap between the rich and poor is widening!" it just grinds me to a halt. I think it's pretty frickin' obvious that if Jane Doe has $100 and Joe Blow has $0, the gap between them is going to widen unless Jane has a lousy night at Texas Hold 'Em. It's pretty easy for Jane to get more money, but it's fairly hard for Joe to get less.

Ah, well. Such is life in the land where generations have been schooled that life should guarantee equality of outcome, not equality before the law.

6 comments:

Zendo Deb said...

He sounds like my grandfather....

I used to pay X for a gallon of milk, and do you know what I paid for my first car???

Things have always gotten more expensive. Gas - his example - price rises were not unexpected even before the war in Iraq. (Here's a hint, they are coming down now, but WILL go up in the future!) Want to get rid of oil and gas? better start investing in nuclear (or is that nucular?) power and clean coal power. Hydrogen? Well OK - the cars today cost several MILLION dollars are unsafe in crashes. But you still have to generate the hydrogen. That takes electricity.

The left has always wanted to undo wealth. Command economies (communism) are built on the premise that wealth belongs to everyone - those who work and those who don't, those who work smart, and those who go through the motions. Rewards for a job well done are evil - according to Marx. Even prestige associated with a position - like doctor - should be destroyed.

"In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: 'If you don't work you die.'"
From 'The Gods of the Copybook Headings' by Kipling.

Anonymous said...

And yes, some people are prettier, run faster, smarter, and more physically adept.

Life's unfair.

Deal with it.

phlegmfatale said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
phlegmfatale said...

Well, Mr. & Mrs. Lou Dobbs live in some alternate universe, anyway. Did you hear in the news several months ago Mrs. Dobbs went to the airport to travel but totally forgot she had a firearm in her handbag and was promptly arrested? *nodding vigorously* Well, it's true. I mean how big and over-filled does one's handbag have to be in order for the weight of a handgun to not be missed or not noticed present?
An impoverished public hopes those stunning revelations keep rolling in.

NotClauswitz said...

The whole class-war analogy falls apart real fast today, it's not very useful or even descriptive except as a lever for Identity Politics. I can't think of anybody (apart from a couple Marxists) who think in terms of a "upper-middle-lower" class structure, and for them it's more a 19th century rhetorical device they're desperately holding onto.

Anonymous said...

If Jane Doe had $100 and Joe Blow had $10, and both become 10% richer, JD now has $110 and JB now has $11. The gap between them has gone from $90 to $99. I have never understood the reasoning which says that JB is now worse off rather than better off.