The Super Rich – All Thanks To The Government
JaguarSocialist
2012/08/16 16:33:11
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/08/15/the-super-rich-all-th...
Going over the Forbes 400 Richest People list after an earlier Addicting Info article discussed how six of them paid $0 for income taxes for 2010, we decided to examine who these people are, how did they make their money, and are they “self-made-men” as the objectivists would have us believe or did they use the public commons, regulated and ensured by the government, to make it happen? This is what we found.
The single largest group of members made their money either inheritance or from the financial markets. They gained their wealth without producing a good or service, only by either being born, or by facilitating transactions as a middleman. The few who did gain their fortune through development of a business did not do so in a vacuüm. Let us look at the top-10:
Bill Gates — The big cheese, numero uno, richest man in America. Built Microsoft after dropping out of college. You’d think he would be a clear case of someone who did it without government help, correct? If you think so, you’d be wrong. Microsoft got its start thanks to the MITS Altair 8800, developed by two Air Force mechanics in their spare time using skills they’d learned while working for the US Government.
Warren Buffet - ...he is more beholden to the government than most, as the very stock with which he makes money only exist due to the laws of the land.
Larry Ellison - His database product, Oracle, began life as a project begun for the CIA...
Charles and David Koch - ...family’s fortune came from access to the federal government-run postal roads used to deliver his grandfathers newspaper, and from the federal government gained land grants and a charter which enabled his grandfathers investment into the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway...
Heirs Of Sam Walton - Without the almost half-trillion invested into the US Interstate Highway System, Walmart would have remained little more than Walton’s 5 and Dime in Bentonville, Arkansas.
George Soros - The government, both in the UK and here, secure his transactions. Without them, he would literally have nothing.
Sheldon Adelson - As with Buffet and Soros before him, Adelson depended on both Federal and State Governments to guarantee his ability to engage in financial transactions through contract enforcement as well as judicial services.
Going over the Forbes 400 Richest People list after an earlier Addicting Info article discussed how six of them paid $0 for income taxes for 2010, we decided to examine who these people are, how did they make their money, and are they “self-made-men” as the objectivists would have us believe or did they use the public commons, regulated and ensured by the government, to make it happen? This is what we found.
The single largest group of members made their money either inheritance or from the financial markets. They gained their wealth without producing a good or service, only by either being born, or by facilitating transactions as a middleman. The few who did gain their fortune through development of a business did not do so in a vacuüm. Let us look at the top-10:
Bill Gates — The big cheese, numero uno, richest man in America. Built Microsoft after dropping out of college. You’d think he would be a clear case of someone who did it without government help, correct? If you think so, you’d be wrong. Microsoft got its start thanks to the MITS Altair 8800, developed by two Air Force mechanics in their spare time using skills they’d learned while working for the US Government.
Warren Buffet - ...he is more beholden to the government than most, as the very stock with which he makes money only exist due to the laws of the land.
Larry Ellison - His database product, Oracle, began life as a project begun for the CIA...
Charles and David Koch - ...family’s fortune came from access to the federal government-run postal roads used to deliver his grandfathers newspaper, and from the federal government gained land grants and a charter which enabled his grandfathers investment into the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway...
Heirs Of Sam Walton - Without the almost half-trillion invested into the US Interstate Highway System, Walmart would have remained little more than Walton’s 5 and Dime in Bentonville, Arkansas.
George Soros - The government, both in the UK and here, secure his transactions. Without them, he would literally have nothing.
Sheldon Adelson - As with Buffet and Soros before him, Adelson depended on both Federal and State Governments to guarantee his ability to engage in financial transactions through contract enforcement as well as judicial services.
“Sometimes I need what only you can provide: your absence.” –Ashleigh Brilliant
O.E. dumb "silent, unable to speak," from PIE *dheubh- "confusion, stupefaction, dizziness," from root *dheu- (1) "dust, mist, vapor, smoke," and related notions of "defective perception or wits." The Old English, Old Saxon (dumb), Gothic (dumbs), and Old Norse (dumbr) forms of the word meant only "mute, speechless;" in O.H.G. (thumb) it meant both this and "stupid," and in Modern German this latter became the only sense. Meaning "foolish, ignorant" was occasionally in M.E., but modern use (1823) comes from influence of Ger. dumm. Related: dumber; dumbest. Applied to silent contrivances, hence dumbwaiter. As a verb, in late O.E., "to become mute;" c.1600, "to make mute." To dumb (something) down is from 1933.
By the way, dumbass, I have gone far in my life. Before 60 years of age, I'm retired, living the comfortable life, traveling the world to play golf at some of the best golf courses in the world and, in general, laughing at right wing idiots like you.
The following is excerpted from the Baltimore City Paper and includes an excellent primer on how business works.
http://blogs.citypaper.com/in...
"Critics of the millionaire tax say they’ve never heard of a poor man hiring a worker. Only the rich do that; therefore, to render the wealthy less so by taxation is to destroy jobs.
"The theory presumes that the wealthy hire people out of charity. In this model, jobs are bestowed upon lucky workers by the industrious entrepreneur, who derives his own wealth from some magical practices (having nothing to do with the workers he may hire) which are anyway unfathomable to outsiders.
"To hear self-proclaimed capitalists make this argument is irritating, because it suggests they don’t understand how our economic system is supposed to work. They have the process exactly backwards.
"In a capitalist system, investors make money not despite hiring workers, but because they hire workers who, if they are adequately managed, create value in excess of the wages and benefits they are paid. This value is called “profit,” and the business’ owner gets to keep that, after paying taxes.
"In a properly functioning capitalist economy, rich people don’t 'create jobs' for workers; workers, upon having jobs, create ric...
The following is excerpted from the Baltimore City Paper and includes an excellent primer on how business works.
http://blogs.citypaper.com/in...
"Critics of the millionaire tax say they’ve never heard of a poor man hiring a worker. Only the rich do that; therefore, to render the wealthy less so by taxation is to destroy jobs.
"The theory presumes that the wealthy hire people out of charity. In this model, jobs are bestowed upon lucky workers by the industrious entrepreneur, who derives his own wealth from some magical practices (having nothing to do with the workers he may hire) which are anyway unfathomable to outsiders.
"To hear self-proclaimed capitalists make this argument is irritating, because it suggests they don’t understand how our economic system is supposed to work. They have the process exactly backwards.
"In a capitalist system, investors make money not despite hiring workers, but because they hire workers who, if they are adequately managed, create value in excess of the wages and benefits they are paid. This value is called “profit,” and the business’ owner gets to keep that, after paying taxes.
"In a properly functioning capitalist economy, rich people don’t 'create jobs' for workers; workers, upon having jobs, create rich people."
You continue referring to me as "princess." Are you gay or just have fantasies about men at SH?