Demonizing the Rich

The “Occupy Wall Street” (OWS) movement that has risen up against policies that protect the interests of bankers at the expense of the wider population could degenerate into class warfare. Because of this, the OWS movement has received a convincing response from the “Indignant Rich.” Considering that the OWS movement has attacked the financial system and President Obama thinks that the rich must pay higher taxes — as if they were responsible for the fiscal crisis lashing Europe and the United States — some well-placed millionaires have raised their voices in protest and formed a group of “new indignants.” The rich are taking up the fight.

According to the Financial Times, Mr. Cooperman, a multimillionaire hedge fund manager — who, by the way, agrees with Warren Buffet and Bill Gates about paying more taxes and doesn’t blame Obama for the economic difficulties — reproached the U.S. leader in an open letter for helping to establish a rancorous debate that may be characterized as “class warfare.” The president of J.P. Morgan has also questioned President Obama for contributing to the demonization of those with higher incomes.

Mr. Schwarzman, one of the rich in the U.S., has said, rightly, that augmenting the taxes paid by the richest 2 percent of the population would do very little to reduce the gigantic fiscal deficit of $1.3 billion and that this enormous sum cannot be reduced without the participation of every sector of society, rich and poor. And, adding another dimension to the argument, another of the indignant rich, John Paulson, explains that the richest 1 percent in New York City pays 40 percent of taxes for the enjoyment of the entire population. Instead of frightening the rich away, New Yorkers should attract them.

Finally, the indignant rich allege that many of them came from humble beginnings, children of plumbers or construction workers, and that 99 percent of the population just wants to live as the 1 percent does.

From the point of view of rich Americans, the economy is more like a sporting competition than a school where everybody does what the teacher says. For the rich, the personal wealth that they generated are developing their talents and improving the quality of life of other citizens. Working in teams, contributing taxes, studying and improving their habits, they have built businesses that create jobs and futures. Some opponents of the rich believe that their wealth was made by exploiting other human beings because of the knowledge that they not only lacked but was actively denied them.

Those opponents often forget that the newly rich — self-made men — have become so by increasing, via the Internet, all human beings’ access to this very knowledge, at ever-decreasing prices.

Here, at the start of a new year, the only thing left to say is that the truth is all social classes must work together — individuals and groups — so that all may advance in the development of their talents. Otherwise, society has no reason to be.