ללא מחבר No Author

Do the Rightfully Rich Pay Their ‘Fair Share’?

Do the Rich owe Society anything?

Posted on
96899-004-c23da93f

Henry Ford

Leftists often claim that successful businesses owe society for all the money they have made. Those capitalist bastards took all our money and gave us nothing in return, right? This, of course, makes absolutely no sense. How did they get that money if not by selling us their products which we wanted? If anything, we got the better deal: a physical good or service in exchange for some paper (or an electronic ledger record these days).

Indeed, Henry Ford became a multimillionaire and was able to use his riches in ways he sought fit. But to get there, he provided millions with automobiles. Whether personally owned, or involved in transportation of goods and passengers, he made life easier for all of those people, who could then be much more efficient and productive. If anything, society owes him some of its billions in benefits for the paltry millions he earned.

And then the computer, pioneered by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, both billionaires (Jobs prior to his death), has not only created a multitrillion dollar complex of industries, it has vastly improved efficiency and innovation. Thanks to them, I am able to write this article now, hit a few buttons, and get it to thousands of people. It was not too long ago that I would have had to write it up, or maybe use a typewriter, and then have it sent off to be printed at my own expense for uncertain distribution, or to a publisher for hopeful publication.

the-strange-love-hate-relationship-between-bill-gates-and-steve-jobs

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

Do any of these gentlemen owe me roads and schools and healthcare? In a sense, they have already provided that with their product. Cars and computers make all three of those functions better than ever in history, computers in particular. And yet, many on the left still claim that entrepreneurs and businessmen owe it to society for all the money they have accumulated. This is nothing but jealousy and greed, the very thing the left accuses capitalists of. They have more stuff than you because they were successful at helping people via the market. That’s not fair! But it is forgotten that in exchange for taking some money from you and me, they have vastly improved the lives of us as consumers and the millions involved in the production of their goods.

From Jewish Libertarians, here.

Trump Is a Hypocrite – Surprise!

Candidate Trump: ‘I Love Wikileaks.’ President Trump: ‘Arrest Assange!’

By

Ron Paul Institute

April 25, 2017

“I love Wikileaks,” candidate Donald Trump said on October 10th on the campaign trail. He praised the organization for reporting on the darker side of the Hillary Clinton campaign. It was information likely leaked by a whistleblower from within the Clinton campaign to Wikileaks.

Back then he praised Wikileaks for promoting transparency, but candidate Trump looks less like President Trump every day. The candidate praised whistleblowers and Wikileaks often on the campaign trail. In fact, candidate Trump loved Wikileaks so much he mentioned the organization more than 140 times in the final month of the campaign alone! Now, as President, it seems Trump wants Wikileaks founder Julian Assange sent to prison.

Last week CNN reported, citing anonymous “intelligence community” sources, that the Trump Administration’s Justice Department was seeking the arrest of Assange and had found a way to charge the Wikileaks founder for publishing classified information without charging other media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post for publishing the same information.

It might have been tempting to write off the CNN report as “fake news,” as is much of their reporting, but for the fact President Trump said in an interview on Friday that issuing an arrest warrant for Julian Assange would be, “OK with me.”

Trump’s condemnation of Wikileaks came just a day after his CIA Director, Michael Pompeo, attacked Wikileaks as a “hostile intelligence service.” Pompeo accused Assange of being “a fraud — a coward hiding behind a screen.”

Pompeo’s word choice was no accident. By accusing Wikileaks of being a “hostile intelligence service” rather than a publisher of information on illegal and abusive government practices leaked by whistleblowers, he signaled that the organization has no First Amendment rights. Like many in Washington, he does not understand that the First Amendment is a limitation on government rather than a granting of rights to citizens. Pompeo was declaring war on Wikileaks.

But not that long ago Pompeo also cited Wikileaks as an important source of information. In July he drew attention to the Wikileaks release of information damaging to the Clinton campaign, writing, “Need further proof that the fix was in from President Obama on down?”

There is a word for this sudden about-face on Wikileaks and the transparency it provides us into the operations of the prominent and powerful: hypocrisy.

The Trump Administration’s declaration of war on whistleblowers and Wikileaks is one of the greatest disappointments in these first 100 days. Donald Trump rode into the White House with promises that he would “drain the swamp,” meaning that he would overturn the apple carts of Washington’s vested interests. By unleashing those same vested interests on those who hold them in check – the whistleblowers and those who publish their revelations – he has turned his back on those who elected him.

Julian Assange, along with the whistleblowers who reveal to us the evil that is being done in our name, are heroes. They deserve our respect and admiration, not a prison cell. If we allow this president to declare war on those who tell the truth, we have only ourselves to blame.

From Lewrockwell.com, here.

Why Do the Rich Want Higher Taxes?

Rothbard on The Rich, Progressive Income Tax and Financial Elites

Uploaded on Dec 16, 2011

Murray N. Rothbard presented this speech at the Michigan Libertarian Party Convention, held in Southfield, Michigan, in May 1989. This is an excerpt where he discusses The Rich, Progressive Income Tax and Financial Elites. Relevant in terms of those interested in Occupy Wall Street.

From YouTube, here.

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us

How to Win the Six Day War: By Moshe Feiglin

Apr-22-2017

At the end of last week, I was part of a televised panel called, “How many days has the Six Day War lasted?” One of the first speakers opined that Israel’s Six Day War miraculous triumph was a Pyrrhic victory. I answered as follows:

“Perhaps Israel’s victory in the War of Independence was pyrrhic, as well? Perhaps the declaration of the State of Israel was a crazy gamble that turned out to be a mistake? After all, we are still fighting wars until this very day.  Why should we only count the days since the Six Day War? Why not count since the War of Independence? And why should we only go back to the War of Independence?  Perhaps it was utter foolishness to build the State of Israel?

Obviously, all the above are vacuous ideas of people who have no idea what they are doing here. One thing, however, is true. The Six Day War has not finished. It cannot finish if we do not want to win, even though the victory was served to us on a silver platter – thanks to the heroism of the IDF soldiers and the blessing of Heaven. The Six Day War was a miraculous war. If you decide that you do not want to win and you do not want to apply sovereignty to the redeemed territories and if you declare from the start that you can’t wait to return all the territory that you won in the war, clearly the war will never end.”

The interviewer asked me if I mean to say that the way to end the Six Day War is to annex all the territory that we won then.

“Absolutely,” I answered. “For years we have been brainwashed that this is an impossible solution. But it is possible. There really is no demographic problem and there is no problem with international relations. The entire problem is in our heads. The problem is with our consciousness that tries to escape our identity and thus attempts to flee the Land of Israel. The problem is with our consciousness that can’t wait to be rid of that Cave of Machpelah and that Temple Mount and that entire ‘Vatican’, in the words of Moshe Dayan, who gave the Temple Mount to the Muslim wakf.  The problem is not the Arabs. The problem is the Jews – it is between us. We are afraid of those “cursed territories” because those territories carry with them the kernel of our identity, and it is that very identity that many wish to escape.”

From Jewish Israel, here.