Don't Let Bernie Sanders Drive You Over A Cliff

By Chris Rossini

In the U.S. (the land with the biggest government and central bank on Earth) the middle class is suffering. Government on all levels, the Fed, the welfare state, and military empire have bled the U.S. economy dry. Naturally, scapegoats are sought. And since Americans are glued to opinions of politicians and the mainstream media, the politicians get to define the scapegoats.

If you're wealthy and have lots of money, a target is on your back. You're such an easy target. Envy and jealousy are extremely powerful emotions and politicians have been tapping into them for centuries. Emotions are much easier to appeal to than logic. A soundbite is more powerful (in political terms) than thinking things through.

The media is constantly filled with statistics of CEO's making 100x or 300x (or whatever) more than the average worker. We hear about the 1% and "the rich". You're supposed to get angry at these people.

But should you?

You're in charge of your own life. Who cares what some CEO is earning? How valuable are you to your own boss? That's the only thing that you have control over. How good are you at satisfying consumer desires? Are you expanding in value? Stagnating? Contracting?

Alas, it is much easier to point the finger outward than inward. Politicians feed on that natural tendency. If the fingers are going to point outward, politicians must first make sure that they're pointed away from government and towards some obscure CEO's who are making a lot of money. The politicians can then pose as "the fixers," even though they're the source of the misery.

Granted, there are CEO's who are in bed with government. They secure contracts, help craft laws that keep away competition, along with a million other nefarious things. This stems from the belief that government must have its hands in everything. If government we're strictly there to protect liberty and punish any deviations from it, there would be nothing for corporations to latch onto. But since the U.S. government has morphed into an institution that systematically destroys liberty, there are going to be corporations that hop along for the ride.

But the distinction between the politically-connected rich and the legitimate rich is never made. They're all thrown into one big pile. 

Let's look at the legitimately rich for a moment, as they are the unfortunate victims of the mobs of envy.

We all get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. The more valuable you are to the marketplace, the more money you're going to make. That doesn't mean that the person who makes little money is not a valuable person. He can still be a valuable father, or friend, or husband. But to the marketplace, he isn't valuable at the moment and may want to work on himself in that specific area. Then again, he may not. You don't have to be valuable to the marketplace, and many people are content with just getting by.

But if a person does want to be valuable to the marketplace, it's in his sole power to make it so. How liberating is that? You don't need anyone else's permission or approval, and you definitely don't need some bottom-feeding politician. The politician can only hurt you. He cannot make you more valuable.

Now if someone is legitimately (i.e. without government relationships) earning a lot of money, it means that he's become very valuable to the marketplace. When it comes to satisfying consumer desires, the man is a champion! If, at the same time, this individual is a great spouse, friend, or father, than you have a man of character.

These are not individuals that deserve to be attacked by angry mobs or slime-ball politicians.

Rarely does one become valuable to the marketplace by accident. It takes effort and discipline, along with more trial-and-error than most people can stomach. 

If someone does become valuable to the marketplace by accident, they oftentimes end up blowing their money and are forced to start over. There was no foundation (i.e., good habits and disciplines) to sustain and keep their newfound wealth.

Now, if a person has become extremely valuable to the marketplace, does he "deserve" to make 100x or 300x more than the average person?

YES!!!

If a CEO (again, legitimately) guides a company to earn $10 billion, or $100 billion, should he be paid multi-millions? 

Yes, of course! That's chickenfeed! 

If his current board of directors don't pay it, the competition will snap the CEO up. When you're valuable to the marketplace, people will fight to pay you more money. If you're not valuable (to the marketplace) you have to fight to get someone to pay you anything.

There isn't a politician on Earth that can change this. 

Supply and Demand yields to no man. It just is, and cannot be revoked.

The only thing that a politician can accomplish is to make life much harder for those who are less valuable to the marketplace. Amazingly, that's exactly what they do, and to much fanfare.

Individual responsibly is just too hard for most to accept. It puts them in the driver's seat, and they're scared to take the wheel. It's much easier to point their fingers outwards.

It's much easier to let Bernie Sanders drive them over a cliff.