Poli_Sigh
Active Member
The rest came from things like interest, dividends, and capital gains.
I have no doubt that much of the income generated by privileged wealth in this country is 'unproductive'. We have endlessly polluted market dynamics with distorting regulation and state manipulation that usually work to benefit the established interests (those with the wealth and influence to steer policy in their favor).
But outside the corrupting influence of the state, the notion that interest and capital gains aren't 'earned' income is naive. The profit derived from wise investment represents one of the most important jobs that get done in a free economy. That's something anti-market people never seem to get. Even in a state-run, command economy, someone has to make the decisions guiding how we apply our labor and resources. If they do it well, we all benefit. If they do it poorly, we all suffer.
In a free market, the people making these decisions are capitalists. They are the people in charge of deciding which projects are funded, and which aren't. When they make good decisions - we reward them with profits (interest and dividends). When they make bad decisions, they lose their investments, and someone else takes over.
LMAO!!! That sounds dreamy. But when they make bad decisions in America, they get bailed out with someone else's money.
That's not someone else's money, that's your, mine and the rest of the taxpayers' money. Although one would never know it by the way they spend it, the government doesn't have its own money - not one thin dime.