Of course she was doing nothing less than spouting the same socialist garbage we spent the better part of the last 100 years fighting with Europe over. Another group of young Marxists could be found at the recently concluded G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy. These anti-capitalist protesters were found to speak freely of the coming revolution that would put down the capitalist machine once and for all and close the gap between the have’s and have-not’s. I guess Europe will never learn.
But frankly I expect better from you folks living stateside. Plenty of you are in favor of this same kind of distribution of wealth, even if it’s in a slightly more innocuous form (temporarily). Nearly half of you voted for Al Gore, standard-bearer for the American political party that advocates taxing workers to pay for social assistance to those who don’t have the money to do things for themselves. That’s socialism, folks.
America is rapidly becoming that socialist state – some politicians wants us to pay for everything for everyone: prescription drugs, preschools, health care plans, retirement plans, farm subsidies, corporate welfare, daycare, etc. Where do they get the money? From US – the middle class worker. We are already living in an overtaxed society where too much of our money is taken from us, and the overarching trend is to continue progressing that way, so that we could become like a Sweden or Norway, whose citizens pay nearly 80% of their income in taxes in order to receive poor services from inefficient governments that give them few if any choices in those services they received. It’d be like letting your cable company run everything.
Capitalism is a beautiful thing. Think of it – you possess a certain set of skills that you acquired through a life of hard work, effort and study. You then market those skills to the highest bidder, your employer. Your employer pays you for the execution of those skills, and with your remuneration you purchase whatever goods and services your heart desires. If you don’t want to spend your money, you can put it in the bank and let it double over on itself. If you want to get paid more, you reinvest in your skill set. If you have something people want, like an idea for a great software product, the ability to hit 40 homers and drive in 100 runs a year, or the country’s most popular radio show, you are going to get paid handsomely for it. If your skill, miming for example (apologies, mimes), isn’t in high demand at the moment and thus your ability to make the income your chosen lifestyle requires is limited (not a lot of mimes drive SUV’s, I guess), then you can study, work, work, study and become a member of a Boy Band. The point is, it’s all up to you, in the capitalist system. That’s the good news. The bad news, if you are lazy, stupid or both, you aren’t going to get very far here. Apparently the socialists among you aren’t willing to accept that.
This is the quintessential equation of the capitalist system that you all need to remember: MONEY = OPTIONS. As in, the more money you have, the more options you have. Poor folks’ options are limited. Thus, they are beholden to a greater number of forces outside themselves. Rich folks have options aplenty – in America they answer to no one. I think that’s really what bugs so many of you. But with every dollar you make, you can increase your options, too.
Think of it – who do you have to answer to? For most of us, it’s the bank (in the form of debts on homes, cars, credit cards, student loans, etc.), the boss (even if you work for yourself, you answer to your customers) and the government (in the form of the exorbitant percentage of our income that we hand over to them for very little in return). The idea, as you progress through your working life, should be to MAKE MONEY so that you can INCREASE YOUR OPTIONS and GET OUT FROM UNDER these entities that control your life. You can save your money and pay off your debts (better yet would be not to accrue debts, although that’s not as likely) so that you get out from under the thumb of the bank, you can earn enough to live independently so that you can retire early and get out from under the thumb of your boss, and most idyllically you can earn enough so that the sting of the taxes doesn’t hurt you as much, although that’s probably not going to be a reality until more of you start voting in politicians who are conservative with how they spend your money.
So there you are, my friends. I’ve just told you why socialism is bad, why capitalism is great, and how to be a winner at the financial game of life, assuming you aren’t lazy and/or stupid. Yeah you’ll suffer some setbacks (like leaky roofs and transmissions gone bad) but if you stick with it over the years, you’ll find that thanks to our capitalist economy, your financial picture is pretty bright. It really is that easy.
Remember the girl with the Marxist bent? I’ve often wondered what happened to her, but one thing I’ll wager on is that she didn’t head off to socialist Europe. I have a feeling she’s working away right here in the good old U.S.A. But she probably still voted for Al Gore.
I knew this girl who hated money. She despised it. She used to talk about how everyone should be allotted the same amount no matter what job they did. In her opinion, Athletes should make as much as teachers, who should make as much as cops who should make as much as artists, etc. She would talk of the gap between the rich and poor, with empathy for the poor and a heavy-handed disdain for the rich. I admired her spirit and the passion with which she held this belief.