Their problem isn’t Koch’s philanthropy, it’s that they couldn’t just confiscate it. Looters.
Tag: #youdidntbuildthat
Dr. Pritchett and the Philosopher’s Moan
“Dr. Pritchett” speaks:
There is no such thing as a self-made man. Every businessman has used the vast American infrastructure, which the taxpayers paid for, to make his money. He did not make his money alone. He used taxpayer infrastructure. He got rich on what other taxpayers had paid for: the banking system, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and the judicial system, where nine-tenths of cases involve corporate law. These taxpayer investments support companies and wealthy investors. There are no self-made men! The wealthy have gotten rich using what previous taxpayers have paid for. They owe the taxpayers of this country a great deal and should be paying it back.
-George P. Lakoff, PhD, Professor of Linguistics – UC Berkeley
Dr. Lakoff’s advice is important to Democrats. Speeches by Elizabeth Warren and the president have been informed by his writings.
A man who has been supported solely by taxpayers for his entire adult life, every check from the government, may quite naturally confuse his employers with the paymaster. This includes Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren.
We may debate who today has Mouch as his avatar, who plays Kinnan, who is Toohey, who is Thompson, who Boyle and who Taggart; but Lakoff is unequivocally Rand’s Dr. Pritchett.
Decontextualization
The president insists he didn’t say hard-work and intelligence are of little value without collectivist government intervention.
He claims his recorded, clearly articulated, heart-felt words are being taken out of context. To paraphrase his Democrat predecessor, “It depends on the context of “context.””.
In the context of reality, the context of the president’s remarks is even worse than the bald meaning of “You didn’t build that.”. That’s why he’s saying he didn’t say it. At question is the difference between meaning what you say and saying what you mean.
“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.
“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least—at least I mean what I say—that’s the same thing, you know.”
When the president says what he means he gets in trouble. As for meaning what he says? He does mean he didn’t say “You didn’t build that,” and probably even believes it himself.
#youdidntbuildthat Subsidies required to meet government mandates
BMW CEO Orren Boyle James Taggart Norbert Reithofer says that Germany’s goal of having a million electric cars on German roads by the end of the decade will require the government to enact subsidies in the form of tax incentives. It brings to mind Solyndra, A123, General Motors and others. Especially General Motors.
The struckthrough names are fictional. James Taggart and Orren Boyle are obsequious, scheming crony capitalists in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
Taggart’s railroad is failing because he is incompetent, but the government is there to help:
Empty trains clattered … They carried a few carloads of sheep, some corn, some melons and an occasional farmer with an overdressed family, who had friends in Washington. Jim [James Taggart, President of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad] had obtained a subsidy from Washington for every train that was run, not as a profit making carrier, but as a service of “public equality.”
Later, in a meeting with a Federal Czar*, who is hammering out a series of edicts designed to seize complete control of the economy, Taggart and Boyle have this exchange:
“It is not essential whether you can afford it or not,” Taggart said coldly. “You have to be prepared to make some sacrifices. The public needs railroads. Need comes first – above your profits.”
“What profits?” yelled Orren Bole. “When did I ever make any profits? Nobody can accuse me of running a profit-making business. … But, of course, the public does need railroads, and perhaps I could manage to absorb a certain raise in rates if i were to get – it’s just a thought – if I were to get a subsidy to carry me over the next year or two…”
*Wesley Mouch, Co-ordinator of the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources. See Atlas Shrugged Chapter VI, from the start, for the meeting minutes.