At what point, exactly, had Bill Gates made ‘enough money’ while earning his fortune (much of which is devoted to medicine and charity)?

posted at 9:18 pm on May 4, 2010 by directorblue
[ Economics ]   

How much money is “enough”? That’s the question a reporter with cojones — if such an animal still exists — should ask the President after his infamous and revealing remark Saturday. And yes, if you were wondering, he went off-script and ignored the counsel of TOTUS.

We’re not, we’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that’s fairly earned.

I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.

But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or providing good service. We don’t want people to stop, ah, fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow our economy.

The President and his wife made $5.5 million last year. Is that enough money?

How about Al Gore, who is said to have earned up to $150 million promoting the ‘global warming’ scam (or is it called ‘climate change’ now, I forget?). A man who, at last count, had at least four luxury homes scattered throughout the world including his latest acquisition, an Italian-style mansion with ocean views and nine bathrooms, in Montecita, California. Is that enough money?

What should we make of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google? Little more than ten years ago, they were college students struggling in their dorm room to create a new way to search the web.

A decade later, Page and Brin were worth a combined $36 billion as the founders of Google.

What economic illiterates like Obama can’t or won’t understand is that wealth disparity is wonderful. It allowed Page and Brin to create and grow a company from whole cloth, employ thousands and produce hundreds of other millionaires. Those millionaires, in turn, often invest, fund their own startups, employ others and create new avenues for wealth creation.

A question for President Obama: at what point during their journey to create and build Google had Brin and Page made ‘enough money’? Should they have stopped at, say, $10 million apiece?

The current crop of Democrat leaders are among the dumbest folks ever to serve in positions of power. Think about it: Pelosi, Biden, Reid and Obama. They’re all economic illiterates. Have any of them held a real job, ever?

Democrats believe in their hearts that economics is a zero-sum game: if Page and Brin made more money, it’s because they stole the food out of others’ mouths. A more idiotic fallacy you’d be hard-pressed to invent.

That’s why you always need to remember this truism, which my Pappy taught me many years ago and which has never failed me. “Son,” he said, “liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid. Whatever they tell you, you can be sure they’re either ignorant of the facts or lying. And usually it’s both.”

 
Cross-posted at: Doug Ross @ Journal.

Blowback