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The Spectacle Blog

TNR, Elizabeth Warren, and the Rich

By W. James Antle, III on 10.10.11 @ 11:49AM

William Galston tries to walk back Elizabeth Warren's claim that nobody in this country got rich on their own. He argues that George Will and other conservative critics are imputing to the Democratic Senate candidate a collectivist impulse she has not evidenced.

Without the enabling framework that only government can create, individuals cannot securely enjoy the fruits of their endeavors. Every return on investment, then, is actually a return on two sources of investment, one reflecting individual choice, the other public decisions. Taxation is not theft; nor is it, as the late philosopher Robert Nozick once put it, "on a par with forced labor." Rather, it reflects the return on the public investment to which nearly everyone contributes. It does not rest on the claim that all resources are collective and that individuals receive what is theirs as an act of grace, but rather on the more modest claim that we all owe something in return for the collective goods without which our individual striving cannot succeed.

Even this doesn't necessarily justify a steeply progressive tax code or even establish when someone has paid their fair share once they've paid a certain minimum, as Gallston himself concedes. But more importantly, everyone gets the public benefits Warren specifically mentions. Not everyone can build an Apple, a Boeing, or a factory. Instead of acknowledging this, Warren seems to be saying that such people are even more indebted to the government for the provision of public roads. This is surely backwards.

As I pointed out in my column on Steve Jobs, it can be equally true that the rest of us enjoy a return on the innovators' investment , realizing collective benefits without direct government involvement on behalf of the public good.

View all comments (4) | Leave a comment

Occam's Tool| 10.10.11 @ 12:25PM

Puh-leese. Warren's comment is Marxist---as the example of my Marxist sociology prof in college when he declared that after Capital was invested, the workers were responsible for all the subsequent profit.

Sorry, but directing and supervising a business at the highest level is hard work, thanks---especially when it is your money at stake. That's totally ignored by the Dhimmicrats.

Ann Banisher| 10.10.11 @ 1:54PM

I really wish these lawyers/college professors would stay out of our lives. How does someone experience building/creating/producing anything get in the business of telling all companies how their products need to be made? It would be like the Pope giving sex therapy advice or a blind man being in charge of building design.

commonsense247| 10.10.11 @ 10:43PM

Let's get the facts straight re national vs state and local benefits and social services. Of course EVERYONE benefits from those services - that's the point of them. The wealthy and job creators in business pay more for those services than anyone else, as well. They additionally employ people to better their lives, which in turn brings more revenue for services as those employees pay taxes.
The argument that the self-made are not is exaggerated to the point of mischaracterization, and serves more to pit one class against another than to deal with the core problem and issue - equal treatment under the law and laws that are upheld.
* Everyone should pay into whatever services they receive - currently they are not.
* All should be treated fairly and equally under the law, and laws should be enforced. Currently they are not.
* Ease of access for civil action against corporations that harm should be in place
But to argue that some pay more when they already pay the lions share and others pay nothing is hypocrisy and completely unfair. The tax code must be overhauled to ensure everyone has "skin in the game."

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