Kill the Rich

I have been fortunate in my life to have come from a rather large maternal and paternal extended family living the gambit of the American economic experience. Within the confines of my aunts and uncles and cousins you will find those who are the wealthiest of Americans, those who sold shoes at Strouss’, folks who worked in the steel mills, folks who worked at General Motors. You will find a notorious and nationally known Congressman. You will find doctors and lawyers and teachers and social workers and grocers. You will find Mafia types. You will find inter racial marriages. You will find those who have and had a tough way to go coping with welfare and food stamps. I have seen all of America’s economic classes up close and personal.

What I haven’t seen among this wide ranging group of people is class hatred and envy because all of us…and I mean all of us…came from Italian immigrant grandparents who literally did not have a pot to pee in when they came to America. They came here so their children…my aunts and uncles…could have a better life. They worked hard and they struggled.

On my mother’s side of the family, my grandfather started a concrete stoop repair business and built it into a major construction company that built most of the roads in Youngstown, had the city garbage concession, distributed coal, and built what is now known as the Uptown area as well and the apartment buildings in the Newport section of town. His son Eddie then took that company and became the largest developer of malls in the country…and made the 49’ers Youngstown’s home football team.

On my father’s side of the family, my grandfather had a good supervisory job in the mills, but also had some medical/mental issues that eventually led the family into dire circumstances. My aunts had to quit high school to clean houses to buy food for their younger siblings, including my father. Notwithstanding the family ultimately survived and prospered. My father went to school on the GI Bill and became and Oral Surgeon. Although his brothers and sisters did not go to college, they all worked hard and all of their children became successful in their chosen fields whether it was sales, education, or in a trade….ALL OF THEM, and there are lots of them, did well and succeeded. Almost all of my cousins went to college. But what is interesting is that college was not a prerequisite for success. The prerequisite was hard work.

Because of my family history, I find the winds fanning the flames of class warfare personally disgusting. Most of us are children or grandchildren of immigrants. Am I a “silver spooner” because my father was an Oral Surgeon? My wife is a teacher. I am a lawyer. We work hard every day. Because I work for myself, my work is with me 24/7…it never stops. My wife runs a small business on the side in addition to her teaching. Does that make us a member of the 1%? I am a stock and options trader. Does that make me one of the “Wall Streeters” ? I own some real estate that takes a lot of time and money to maintain. Am I an evil landlord? Should the “occupy” movement picket my house?

The prosperity of a nation rests on those who work and succeed. It is the job of government to provide an atmosphere in which those that are working hard can succeed. If the government wants to punish the successful, then who is going to hire those who are striving to achieve success?

A friend of mine commented at dinner the other night that many of our local arts institutions are experiencing a major slow down in ticket sales and donations, and wondered why. I told him it is because the “rich” are afraid. When they see a full blown frontal attack on their resources, they will first circle the wagons, pull the money from circulation, cut off donations, and if it gets bad enough, move the money to another country. You are beginning to see all of the above.

The class hatred needs to stop, and stop now. And Barack Obama, himself a product of the wealthy’s largesse, should know better. Don’t preach class envy while your wife is jetting around the world for vacations in Spain for herself and twenty of her closest friends on the taxpayer dime.

Deliberately dividing America, pitting American against American, is the worst kind of politics.   I go an email today that summed it up.  It said: "I guess I am supposed to worry more about Romeny spends his own money that I am about Obama spends mine."  Amen and amen.