"You didn't build that"

This post was sparked in part by this article: "Drink less, work more," says heiress.

You see, that quote, "you didn't build that," that the Republicans are doing their damnedest to use against Obama is of course very much taken out of context. It doesn't mean they didn't build their businesses, it means they didn't get their on their own. The government does provide small business incentives, loans, grants and the like. Then there's the infrastructure that keeps your business in business. Then, if you aren't the only one working there, there's your employees. The construction workers who made your building, too. As for the grants, incentives, loans, infrastructure... guess where they come from? Taxes. Sure, no one likes to pay taxes... but then again, that shoplifter you just busted didn't want to pay your costs, either. Are you punishing the poor by busting that shoplifter? No. Just like we're not punishing the rich by asking they pay their share. They didn't get there on their own.

The simple fact is that no one does this work entirely by themselves. This would be particularly true of the mining heiress in the above linked article (though she isn't American, the point remains). She sure the hell didn't get there by herself - the key word is "heiress." And she's staying there on the backs of her workers, most of which she's never even met or seen the names of. It's especially easy for her to not know how hard it is to break through class barriers, because she was born to it.

Yes, it is possible for poor people to become rich. Very difficult, but possible. It's not about hating people for being rich. It's about people who are greedy. It's about people who don't want to pay their fair share, the same as the metaphorical shoplifter. Yet, many of the very rich are pushing for less environmental regulations and lowering their workers' minimum wages, all the while whining for more tax breaks. Make the rich richer and the poor poorer - but don't hate the rich, it's your own damn fault for being poor, right? Some of them have more in common with that shoplifter than they would care to admit.