In September of last year, the following were off the cuff remarks made by Elizabeth Warren:
"“I hear all this, you know, ‘Well, this is class warfare, this is whatever. No. There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police-forces and fire-forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory — and hire someone to protect against this — because of the work the rest of us did...."
These words were recalled from the archives in some news sources recently in light of President Obama's "You didn't build that" comment.
This is an appealing point of view to those who might find themselves within the ranks of millions of working class Americans, who have never started a business, never run a business, and never known any success in the area of managing a business. There's no shame in that. Many, in fact most people, never have any of those experiences, but lead productive lives working for others. In the mind of Ms. Warren, however, they may now take some credit for the success of the businessman because they have perhaps paid some taxes to support roads, schools, police and fire departments, and even defense. ("Perhaps paid" because approximately 50% of individuals pay no Federal income tax at all, though they may pay state income taxes and they do pay state and local sales taxes). But the flaw in Ms. Warren's thinking lies in the words "the rest of us". The implication is that the rest of us paid for the roads on which the businessman moves his goods - but that he didn't. The rest of us paid to educate his work force - but he didn't. The rest of us pay for police, fire departments, and defense - but he doesn't. Therein lies the fallacy. The taxes that all taxpayers pay do indeed go to supporting these community benefits, and in doing so create opportunity for all to make the most of those resources individually. The successful businessman who puts his money at risk, who invests his hours and hours of labor, often, literally, his blood, his sweat, and his tears simply applies himself better than the average citizen in taking advantage of the opportunity provided collectively. He deserves the credit for that, not the average taxpayer.
Barack Obama makes essentially the same mistaken argument. But there is something even more denegrating, in my opinion at least, to the efforts of business owners. In addition to echoing the thoughts expressed by Ms. Warren, his "you didn't build that" speech also contained these words expressing his surprise at the fact that some of those who have been successfull in business will say; "It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there." Well, it may be true that there are a lot of hard working people out there. But this statement and this alone is all you need to explain why the President does not know business, has never started a business, does not understand business and has no respect for business or free enterprise. Because to be successful in business, especially a small business, you do work harder than everybody else and you take all the risk! To lump the hard work that the entrepreneur does in with the work of everyone else, important as that may be, is to fail to recognize how special the efforts of the entrepreneur are in the success of America as a nation.
