The Dumbest of the 1 Percent

I heard the dumbest of the 1 percent give a commentary on Marketplace the other day. Here is Elspeth Gilmore. She is rich, but says she recently marched on Wall Street with the 99 percent. She is concerned about disparities of wealth. She wants to live “in a world where we together provide the basic needs of all people: adequate infrastructure and roads, well-funded school systems, clean water systems, innovative transportation and health care for all.” And how does she propose to accomplish this?

Let’s increase millionaire taxes and end loopholes for corporations. Please tax the income from my investments at least as much as my earned income, it’s common sense. So let me say this as plainly as I can. Tax me, tax the 1 percent. If the 1 percent had less money, we — a 100 percent of us — would be better off.

Instead of just using her money to benefit society, she wants the government to have it so it can use some to benefit society and waste the rest. Hey Elspeth, what are you waiting for? Instead of waiting for the government to tax you more, just write a check to the US Treasury right now.

Better yet, donate to the Mises Institute, LewRockwell.com, the Future of Freedom Foundation, or the Francis Wayland Institute.

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8:26 am on November 16, 2011