Gene Wolfe Fans Talk Politics (Again)

James Wynn · 19 May 2009, 20:25 · from 2009-May.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 15:25:37 -0500
Subject: (urth) Gene Wolfe Fans Talk Politics (Again)
In-Reply-To: <002BF131-691F-4247-B56E-19C9D86BDA6D at io.com>
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	<002BF131-691F-4247-B56E-19C9D86BDA6D at io.com>
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>> You can say that "Well, we live in a society, and that's just the  burden 
>> that rich people will have to bear to live in it with us.  Fine. The Wall 
>> Street Journal has an article yesterday by Art Laffer  on what the 
>> response of rich people is to that ultimatum.
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124260067214828295.html
>> They leave.
>> Just as the pilgrims left when Wat set up shop in the forest.
>
>Adam sez: And yet, I see very few millionaires moving to Mogadishu.
> Why do you suppose that is?

Because the people there do not respect the integrity of private property?

You will find millionaires hiding out in the Bahamas. And many millionaires 
have left the "more equitable" welfare state of the U.K. for the "less fair" 
U.S. and Ireland. The flight of load-bearing citizens from NYC and 
California are test-tube examples of what happens when you increase benefits 
for all on the backs of a voting minority.

There is another reason America is not (yet) Mogadishu. V?clav Havel said 
that it's easy to get a Communist society from a Capitalist one. It's as 
easy as getting seafood from an exotic fish aquarium. You just boil the the 
aquarium. It's harder to go the other way. Those calling for increased 
social benefits from government are currently benefiting from a society that 
has (relatively) eschewed those things in the past. They are essentially 
living off the principle of an inheritance.
People talk about how much Europeans *love* their free health care and 
education. But educated people there are quite anxious to come to the U.S. 
anyway. Why? Limited opportunity. It's not uncommon for Europeans to take 
their free Ph.Ds and go to work as waiters. It's not "How many millionaires 
are leaving?" The tradesmen (the rich) didn't leave the village in "The 
Devil in a Forest". The question is "How many new ones are coming? Is the 
rate of new ones being created here increasing or decreasing?"

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