Tom Sheppard
11/22/2019
What do Bernie Sanders, George Soros, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Danny Devito, and Mark Ruffalo (AKA Bruce Banner) all have in common?
They all profess to embrace socialism, but they don't practice what they preach. In other words, they are liars and hypocrites.
Unlike Mahatma Ghandi, who literally gave his all to live his beliefs, these wannabe-socialists don't walk the talk. Not. At. All.
Granted, Elizabeth Warren claims to be "capitalist to the bone." Notwithstanding her very public claim, the policies she proposes are decidedly socialist. So, if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, I am going to call it a duck, or in this case she walks and talks like a socialist, so I am calling her a socialist.
Here is the real test they should all take to see if they are really ready and willing to embrace socialism. Let them give everything they own to charities for the poor (or the government) and make sure they work at least 40 hours per week while only getting an income of $45k per year, pretax. This means they give up their bank accounts, investments, real estate, royalties, and all other sources of income except their job, which will never pay them any more than $45k per year.
Why $45k? Because that is about the median pre-tax household income in the US. In other words 50% of the people in the US live on that, or less. The other 50% live on that, or more. The actual median may be more or less than that, and we can agree to adjust the number to that, but the point is that they need to live by what ordinary, working-class people can expect to earn, and no more.
Did I mention this would be pre-tax? Yes, taxes should be taken out of that gross pay. Take the same amount of taxes out that anyone in that income bracket would usually pay. That means their take-home pay is reduced by at least one-third, down to about $30k+ per year to actually live on.
Let them buy or rent a house, pay for their meals, cars, and transportation with this after-tax income.
Furthermore, regardless of what they do, contribute, invent, write, say, etc. limit their income to that $45k pre-tax ceiling. Anything they get paid above that number goes to the state. They never get to enjoy any fruits of their labor beyond what the $45k pre-tax income can buy.
"I wrote a best-selling book," Sanders told The New York Times in April. "If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too."
Bernie Sanders
Bernie, that simply isn't true under socialism. That is only true under capitalism. Under socialism, you don't get to keep the fruits of your labors. All the fruits of your labors go the government and the government bureaucrats give you back what they feel you need to live.
A socialist government owns you, and all you produce.
Ann Schmidt reports that "after receiving pressure to release his tax returns during his presidential bid, Sanders released 10 years' worth of returns ... According to those returns, the independent Vermont senator's adjusted gross income was $561,293 in 2018 and he paid a 26 percent effective tax rate. In 2017, his adjusted gross income was $1,131,925."
So, Bernie would go from an annual income of anywhere from $500k or $1,132k down to just $45k per year. On the low end, that means he would give up 90% of his income. On the high-end, he would be giving up 96% of his current annual income.
Given that his campaign workers had to go on strike just to get him to pay them $15 per hour, do you really think he would be happy to give up all that income and live on $45k per year? I don't think so.
How much would they be giving up?
According to my research, what follows are the estimates of net worth of the folks I named above, in ascending order.
- Bernie Sanders (Net worth estimate: $2 million)
- Elizabeth Warren (Net worth estimate: $12 million)
- Michael Moore (Net worth estimate: $50 million)
- Susan Sarandon (Net worth estimate: $50 million)
- Danny DeVito (Net worth estimate: $80 million)
- Mark Ruffalo (Net worth estimate: $20 million)
- George Soros (Net worth estimate: $8,300 million)
Net worth represents the total value of your assets less the debts associated with them. So, if you have, as many of these folks do, a house worth $1 million and it has a mortgage of $500k, the net worth of that house is $500k.
Under socialism, you would not only get that $500k mortgage cancelled, you would also lose ownership of and the use of that million dollar home.
All their private planes, mansions, luxury cars, fine foods, expensive clothes, etc. would be taken from them. They would all become property of the state and they could only buy what they could afford on their $45k per year (less taxes) salary.
Does anyone really believe that these very wealthy people would be at all happy about giving up ALL that they have earned and ALL that they may yet earn, for any reason, ever? No, they don't want to give that up.
They want YOU to give up your opportunity to ever become wealthy like them.
Capitalism = Opportunity
None of these people inherited their wealth. They all earned it by their skills and ingenuity in a capitalist economy that lets people vote with their money for the most skillful and ingenious by paying for goods and services. Under socialism, the economic mechanisms that allowed them to attain their wealth would not be available to them, or anyone else.
So, if they say they want socialism, and socialism would take away all that they have, and they don't want to give up all that they have, what is it that they really want?
Actors like Sarandon, Ruffalo, and DeVito would be paid by the government only what a bureaucrat decided was appropriate. Likewise movie directors such as Michael Moore. And, when their performances waned in value for the state, their privileges would be curtailed or revoked and they would soon find themselves living hand-to-mouth, like every other impoverished citizen. Oh, and when they produced a "block-buster movie" they would still only get paid their $45k per year, no matter what the show did at the box office or in video sales all over the world. As good socialists, they would all be happy to see that their acting and directing efforts produced such a wonderful cash flow for the state.
In a socialist state, wealthy investors like George Soros would not exist, nor would they be allowed to exist. Their very activities would be unlawful. Soros himself would likely be killed outright, or arrested and convicted on trumped up charges of treason against the state. Regardless of the path of his fall, all his wealth would be confiscated, with selected holdings made available for use by social party loyalists and those in political power.
What do they really want?
I suggest that what these wealthy "socialists" want is not socialism. What they want is a form of oligarchy where they are the aristocrats and no one else is allowed to enter their ranks, except through either birth to aristocracy or by power politics in the government.
As aristocrats, they would retain their wealth and their privileges. Further, they would pass these on to their children in perpetuity. As aristocrats, their children would have unequaled opportunities to rise to political power, along with all its perks.
In their world, aside from themselves, the government would be the sole vehicle for attaining the perks of wealth and privilege. No other profession, outside of government, would control the spigots of wealth. Those spigots would only open for those whom the power-elite and the aristocrats decide is worthy of living an abundant life.
Everyone else will need tighten their belts "for the greater good" and learn to live without.
References
L Maxim Lott, 30 April 2019, Lifestyles of the rich and socialist: American celebs who blast capitalism while making millions, Fox News, https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-socialist-american-celebs-capitalism-millionaires
Ann Schmidt, 21 November 2019, What is Bernie Sanders' net worth?, Fox News, https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/bernie-sanders-net-worth
Anne Sraders, 21 May 2019, What Is Bernie Sanders' Net Worth?, The Street, https://www.thestreet.com/lifestyle/bernie-sanders-net-worth-14678955
Michela Tindera, 20 August 2019, How Elizabeth Warren Built A $12 Million Fortune, Forbes Magazine, https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2019/08/20/how-elizabeth-warren-built-a-12-million-fortune/#1eecc607ab57
Taylor Nicole Rogers, 28 June 2019, What George Soros' life is really like: How the former hedge-fund manager built his $8.3 billion fortune, purchased a sprawling network of New York homes, and became the topic of international conspiracy theories, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/george-soros-net-worth-wife-sons-news-house-career-2019-6
Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM).
The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein.
(c) Copyright 2019 A+ Results LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Your comments are welcome... Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Agree or disagree, I welcome comments. Incivility, vulgarity, and profanity are not tolerated. At best, they will be edited out. At worst, your comment will end up in the trash can.