On the one-year anniversary of the fizzling “Occupy” movement that tried to pit the so-called 99% against the 1%, and on the day in which a video of Mitt Romney talking about the 47% of Americans who pay no federal income taxes drove liberals and the mainstream media into fits, Foster Friess on Monday made an argument that society is better off with more rich people.
Friess is one of the wealthiest and most generous people in the world, and he wrote a piece arguing the world would be better off if there were more “fat cats” like him, less government, and more reliance on the free market.
Friess made many valid points, but his arguments became more significant after a video of Romney’s comments at a fundraiser in May was leaked to the left-wing publication Mother Jones.
Under President Barack Obama, the United States has seen more government and less wealth creation and, according to Friess, that has made the country worse off.
“What do wealthy people do with their money?,” Friess asked in the Newsweek column. “They can only buy so many cars, houses, and steak dinners. So we either give it away or invest it.”
Friess wrote that David Koch – a figure liberals love to vilify – gave $100 million for cancer research at MIT, Bill Gates more than $28 billion for global health programs, and Mark Zuckerberg more than $100 million to New Jersey’s public education system.
Compare those generous donations to how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars, which Friess says divides Americans by creating “animosities.” This is a system in which citizens dependent on government fight amongst themselves to get government benefits that will continue to diminish as the country goes more into debt and is unable to afford various government programs and services.
Friess cites some egregious examples of government waste: $700,000 to Thailand so study of pig flatulence could be used as a renewable energy source; $500,000 to study shrimp on a treadmill; $1.9 million to China to study the drinking habits of prostitutes on the job.
And he denounces Obama for bailing out Egypt to the tune of $1 billion, only to see a government headed by the Muslim Brotherhood that is “far less favorable to the United States.”
“The collusion of big business, big labor, and big government threaten the spirit of small business that makes America great,” Friess writes. “Success should stem from entrepreneurial creativity, not political connectivity.”
The crony capitalism Friess mentions has been rampant in the Obama administration. And under Obama, who told small business owners across the land, “you didn’t build that,” it is more difficult for Americans to have enough financial security to invest or become more charitable.
Those like American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks have also written about how conservatives are more liberal givers than liberals and how the free enterprise system is the more moral than any other. But with Obama’s economic policies, the free market system is eroding, and, as a consequence, there will be fewer people who will be able to create wealth and jobs and generously donate some of their profits to charity.
(photo credit to Sinclair News)
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