Richistan, by Robert Frank

Richistan, by Robert Frank, is a book describing the unusual lifestyles of the rich. A review is here. http://tinyurl.com/2ukr43

I saw Frank discuss his book on C-Span. I have not read the book. Frank said most of the new rich had started their own small business and sold it at a huge profit. They were energetic, hard working, competitive and project addicts. They cannot retire because they become bored. They sound like boys with Attention Deficit Disorder who cannot sit still.

Frank expected most of the new rich to be conservative, small government republicans. What he found to his surprise was most of them were democrats. They felt they had benefited from public schools and other government services, despite their own uniqueness, on their way to accumulating wealth. They thought young people today did not have the same good government they had and had fewer opportunities.

I would disagree with them giving credit to the government for their success.

They think opportunities do not exist today that existed for them. The facts prove otherwise. The number of millionaires continues to increase. Astoundingly, the number of billionaires also continues to increase.

The new rich said they benefited from government services. They do not know how many people would have benefited from private services instead of a government monopoly in services.

The new rich in America could take a lesson from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet who give away most of their fortune to charity. Or they could follow the example of Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim, who is estimated by some calculations to be wealthier than Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Slim said his charitable foundations planned to invest $300 million in the next few years to build 100 schools in poor regions of Mexico that will focus on digital education. The plan would later be expanded throughout Latin America.

The only good thing the government did for the rich is to protect their property and their production with a rule of law. All a government should do is protect, not provide. The new rich, according to the above book review, who by 2004 were taking home $1.35 trillion a year, a figure in excess of the take-home pay of the whole of France, Italy or Canada, could provide $10,000 per year of education and health services for one hundred million children! No government services required, thank you. These entrepreneurs could provide all these services much more efficiently than the government monopoly. It amazes me that these new rich will advocate the use of force to allow government employees to confiscate their money and decide how to use it. The new rich could do much more good, and more efficiently, if they provided the services, voluntarily.

Charles Tolleson