You sound like a communist.
Since when is being rich a bad thing in a capitalist country?
Rich people in the US all immediately turn into Socialists if not downright Marxists. I’ve never understood why this is the case. But look at people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, etc., and you’ll see that they support leftist causes straight down the line.
I run a small business. So I have impeccable capitalist credentials. Rich and buying off politicians is NOT capitalism--it is a third-world hidalgo system.
As our government accumulates ever more power and money, rich folks are tempted to buy what they want instead of going out and earning it in the market.
Businesses have always tried this; but our gvt is getting to be more and more of a third-world spoils system. As that happens, businesses and rich guys become more and more dependent on being able to buy and maintain their position and, accordingly, are becoming more and more involved in using the government to make sure things, which favor them now, don't change.
Under a rule of law, rich is not a problem. But in a third world hidalgo type system, rich guys paying politicians to maintain their competitive edge/fortune/whatever is a problem.
The current immigration debate is a great example of this. There would be no debate on closing the border--it would have been done years ago--were there not multiple millions of dollars flowing into politicians coffers from, well, rich guys who are abusing the system.
The great ethanol scam is another. Large agribusinesses have seen the value of their land increase by 50% because of the money they paid to politicians to force, at best, a marginal alternate energy source onto the market.
There should be a rough balance of power between folks who walk precincts and folks who write checks in a political party. They have to live together and neither can survive without the other. It's obvious at this point that, at least in the R party. The folks who write checks are wagging the doggie.
That said, the ultimate ones to blame are American voters for passing the income tax and electing the politicians that brought us the new deal, the war on poverty and the prescription drug entitlement. Them and the folks that have since used the powers given to drive America toward a third-world spoils system of government. All the immigration debate has done is pull the mask on what has been true for decades. But do I occasionally get pissed off at the rich folks who take advantage of it? Yes. And I'm a capitalist.
Agree. Big business and private clubs are part of the great American fabric.