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SHACKS, TAXES AND
BALMY GATES
I remember seeing
a documentary made by Jamie Johnson, the heir of the founder of
Johnson & Johnson. The
title related to the lives of “rich kids,” the fortunate ones
who live on the work of their forefathers.
While he had all
the money in the world, where he didn’t have to work to make a
living, he had the dilemma of what to do with himself, so he
consulted his father who was painting and his father suggested
collecting old maps, so this son goes to the library to look up maps
and found that this was not his calling.
As the
documentary continued, he was out and about with another “rich
kid” friend who ended up suing Johnson who was making the
documentary. This
friend who sued talked about how he, his family’s wealth, was such
a big fortune that he had the power to make and destroy a person’s
life. That is, bankrupt
a person’s living, company, whatever, with the blink of an eye.
As I watched
this, I glimpsed the mind of the rich (some of them).
Yes, they have a lot of power.
They own proven, profitable companies, have so many assets,
and can make or break anyone they choose to exert their will upon.
As said by Chris Rock, “They own the color blue.”
So if you find yourself standing on the color blue, watch
out.
But then I
started to wonder. Don’t they also realize that it’s the worker, the one
working in their companies or whatever assets they have, who is
making them money? That
is, they got to be rich because of the contribution of the worker.
Name one rich
person who got there all by himself.
Also, they enjoy
their tax breaks and let the majority of taxpayers pay the taxes.
Yes, the rich pay a lot in taxes as the masses have been
told, but put together the tax money paid by the masses and that,
too, is significant. Let’s not forget the cumulative money paid by the masses.
But then the rich
will turn around and say, but they wouldn’t be able to pay taxes
if they didn’t work for my company.
Again, power is speaking here.
But then the rich wouldn’t have gotten to the point of
managing so much money and so many assets if the worker didn’t
clock in. This argument
can go in circles forever. Why?
Because we’re all connected.
And if the rich
(or institutions) end up hogging all the currency, such as the
recent bailout wealth from the worker (since they haven’t enjoyed
as many tax breaks), and choose not to let currency flow and be
shared (as some campaigns have spoken out loud), we will have many
more views of mountain slopes of shacks while the rich “czar”
themselves up in the warmer lowlands with extra gates.
The rich will
stay rich. When you
already own the color blue, you want to make sure you still own it.
That’s all
right that you’re rich and you should enjoy it.
But if you force us out of our shacks just so you can also
own the colors red and white, make sure to keep an eye out on those
balmy gates. Those
shacks on the mountain slopes may be taxiing down.
-
Marina Rundell
Talking
Money with Jamie Johnson—heir to Johnson & Johnson
fortune. Also, What
the Richest Kids Tell Him—In this video interview he talks
about his film, “The One Percent.”
He shares his opinion of how the rich should “take more of
the tax burden” and how he sees firsthand, the gap between the
rich and poor and how the middle class is shrinking and how this
isn’t good for this country and one way to alleviate this is by
providing services to the middle class such as better education and
healthcare. Unlike his
father who was born into a rich family, his mother was born into a
middle class family and so he gives credit to his mother for giving
him another perspective beyond the more prevalent “entitled”
attitude.
Protesters visit AIG officials' lavish Conn. homes
Published - Mar 22 2009 05:29AM CST.
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN - Associated Press Writer
http://www.rr.com/home/home/article/9000/7204962/Protesters_visit_AIG_officials_lavish_Conn_homes
See The Daily Show with Jon Stewart video on
AIG: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220548&title=AIG-Bailout-Money-Bonuses
Bill Maher
Show on March 20, 2009 mentions AIG in new rules: http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/20090320.html
You may have heard from someone you
know or met that their business
is insured by AIG and because of the atmosphere of
million-dollar-bonuses to those who ran the company to the ground at
AIG, business owners who are insured by AIG are waiting for their
policies to end and after that will not renew their insurance with
AIG. Also, you may have
had firsthand experience of being offered AIG insurance and how you
quickly turned that down. Something
to think about for the people in other companies where their spirit is becoming AIG-like.
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