Socialism: envy and ignorance

Patrick Hall:

Essentially, socialism is the result of some large group of the middle class (to make up an educated guess, they make about $100,000 a year, and are generally employed as college professors, mid-level bureaucrats, etc.) who believe no one could possibly be wealthier than they are (out of pride), so the upper middle class and, especially, the very wealthy, must have “cheated” to make their money.

This group of the solidly middle-class have convinced some large proportion of the lower middle class and impoverished voters, who, in turn, do not believe they could ever be among the upper middle class, and especially not “wealthy.” On the other hand, some other, smaller, proportion, do believe one can work their way up, and, one day, become part of the upper middle class, and maybe even wealthy (White Southerners, non-unionized Midwesterners, etc.).

The upper middle class (earning $200,000 and up) and the wealthy (no measurable income, just “damn rich!”), in the meantime, understand that they aren’t spending nearly as much, as a percentage, on their own personal lives as is believed by others, and a much, much higher percentage of their wealth is invested in productive enterprises, so tax increases on them means either investing less in what others might consider their “material goods,” or, investing less in those productive enterprises. Either way, money is lost to, generally, inefficient government programs.