“You didn’t build that.”
Carol Roth from FoxNews.com: AOC wrong on bootstrapping — she should celebrate it, not misinform Americans
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One of the best parts of being an American is no matter your background, your challenges or any immutable characteristic you may possess, you have the opportunity at any point to forge a path for your and your family’s success. For the innumerable people who have done this despite incredible challenges, great odds or with a few dollars in their pocket, we call this “bootstrapping.”
But, earlier week, bootstrapping came under attack from a frequent detractor from success, numbers and general reality, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She lamented, ““It’s a physical impossibility to lift yourself up by a bootstrap … it’s physically impossible. The whole thing is a joke.”
While she may not like the way the metaphor’s use has been changed over time, the reality remains that bootstrapping is not a joke — it’s something that is a source of pride for Americans. But, she doubled-down on the backlash, trying to make her point using a statistic that 60 percent of the wealth is inherited.
I countered this with facts, which is my go-to strategy. If the 60 percent inheritance stat is correct, that means that with $98 trillion in wealth in this country, if 40 percent was bootstrapped, that would be $39.2 trillion worth of first-generation bootstrapped wealth. That’s hardly something to scoff at, given that it’s more than 4.5 times the entire wealth of our neighbors to the north, Canada, and more wealth than every other country in the world except China.
AOC’s statements also ignore that the inherited wealth was, in fact, previously bootstrapped by previous generations. If you created wealth, whether it is a home, a family business or your bank account, wouldn’t you want the choice of what to do with It — such as passing it to your family — vs. being forced to give it to the government?
But, as facts don’t often sway people the way storytelling and emotions do, I instead asked people to share their stories on Twitter in this thread and under the hashtag #Ibootstrapped.
The stories are beyond inspirational and show the American power and spirit better than any facts and statistics ever could.
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Exactly. Obama would be proud.