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| Brief · October 24, 2011 The Foundation"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it." --Benjamin Franklin For the Record"According to Forbes' Celebrity 100 list for 2010, Oprah Winfrey earned $290 million. Even if her makeup person or cameraman earned $100,000, she earned thousands of times more than that. Is that fair? Among other celebrities earning hundreds or thousands of times more than the people who work with them are Tyler Perry ($130 million), Jerry Bruckheimer ($113 million), Lady Gaga ($90 million) and Howard Stern ($76 million). According to Forbes, the top 10 celebrities, excluding athletes, earned an average salary of a little more than $100 million in 2010. According to The Wall Street Journal Survey of CEO Compensation (November 2010), Gregory Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media, earned $87 million, Oracle's Lawrence Ellison ($68 million) and rounding out the top 10 CEOs was McKesson's John Hammergren, earning $24 million. It turns out that the top 10 CEOs have an average salary of $43 million, which pales in comparison with America's top 10 celebrities, who earn an average salary of $100 million. When you recognize that celebrities earn salaries that are some multiples of CEO salaries, you have to ask: Why is it that rich CEOs are demonized and not celebrities? ... It's not about the amount of money people earn. If it were, politicians and leftists would be promoting jealousy, fear and hate toward multimillionaire Hollywood and celebrities and sports stars, such as LeBron James ($48 million), Tiger Woods ($75 million) and Peyton Manning ($38 million). But there is no way that politicians could take over the roles of Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga and LeBron James. That means celebrities can make any amount of money they want and it matters not one iota politically. The Occupy Wall Street crowd shouldn't focus its anger at wealthy CEOs. A far more appropriate target would be the U.S. Congress." --economist Walter E. Williams Essential Liberty"Non-leftists who cherish the American value of liberty over the left-wing value of socioeconomic equality, as well as those who adhere to Judeo-Christian values, do not regard the existence of economic classes as inherently morally problematic. If the poor are treated equally before the law, are given the chance and the liberty to raise their socioeconomic status and have their basic material needs met, the gap between rich and poor is not a major moral problem. Of course, if the rich got rich through deceitful or violent means, they must be prosecuted. But America is a place where the way in which 'poor' is defined renders most poor Americans materially equivalent to much of Europe's middle class. America is also a place where the rich by and large legally acquired their wealth through hard work and entrepreneurial enterprise. So here, the existence of rich and poor is not a problem that demands governmental action." --radio talk-show host Dennis Prager What do you make of income disparity? Culture"Call it an occupational hazard, but I can't look at the Occupy Wall Street protesters without thinking, 'Who parented these people?' As a culture columnist, I've commented on the social and political ramifications of the 'movement' -- now known as 'OWS' -- whose fairyland agenda can be summarized by one of their placards: 'Everything for everybody.' Thanks to their pipe-dream platform, it's clear there are people with serious designs on 'transformational' change in America who are using the protesters like bedsprings in a brothel. Yet it's not my role as a commentator that prompts my parenting question, but rather the fact that I'm the mother of four teens and young adults. There are some crucial life lessons that the protesters' moms clearly have not passed along. Here, then, are five things the OWS protesters' mothers should have taught their children but obviously didn't, so I will: Life isn't fair. ... Nothing is 'free.' ... Your word is your bond. When you demonstrate to eliminate student loan debt, you are advocating precisely the lack of integrity you decry in others. ... A protest is not a party. ... There are reasons you haven't found jobs. The truth? Your tattooed necks, gauged ears, facial piercings and dirty dreadlocks are off-putting. Nonconformity for the sake of nonconformity isn't a virtue. Occupy reality: Only 4 percent of college graduates are out of work. If you are among that 4 percent, find a mirror and face the problem. It's not them. It's you." --columnist Marybeth Hicks Re: The Left"Another day, another jobs bill/economic stimulus. And another presidential tour to promote it. This time our president and partisan-in-chief chose North Carolina for the setting, and who can blame him? Who wouldn't want to drive through its mountains and vistas these beautiful fall days -- instead of actually working out a compromise with those tiresome types in Congress? The kind who are always raising irritating questions, like whether the president's programs will actually work. Unlike those that have succeeded mainly in raising the country's unemployment rate to 9 percent or more. No matter how many times his presidential prescriptions have failed to do much for the economy, Dr. Obama assures us that the same old approach (spend still more) will work this time -- if we'll just increase the dosage and suspend disbelief. ... It strikes some of us as passing strange that Mr. Obama should now be campaigning in a part of the country and culture whose people he used to describe/deride as hopelessly bitter types. Their only response to hard times, he claimed at one point, is to 'cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.' ... [I]t's not what a president says that matters so much in this always practical-minded country, but what he does. And this president is not doing well." --columnist Paul Greenberg Government"Following a series of failed votes on a number of President Obama's jobs proposals, Senate Democrats plan to keep pushing. The Senate is on recess [this] week, but when they return, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) plans to hold another vote on the 'infrastructure' portion of the president's plan. The legislation would allocate $50 billion for 'investment' in transportation and infrastructure projects -- e.g., highway restoration, airport development, Amtrack, high speed rail, etc. -- and establish a federal infrastructure bank as a 'wholly owned government corporation' that would hand out federally-backed loans for infrastructure projects. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood predicted that the legislation would create about 800,000 jobs at a cost of $75,000 per job. Which is perplexing, given that a recent Bloomberg survey of 34 leading economists yielded a median estimate of 288,000 jobs 'kept or added' over the next two years. And that's based on the entirety of the president's $450 billion proposal, which works out to a rate of about $1.6 million per job. Democrats plan to cover the cost the infrastructure 'investment' with a 0.7 percent surtax on household earning more than $1 million a year. The measure isn't any more likely to succeed that the others before it, but the bill's inevitable failure will provide Democrats with at least another week's worth of class-warfare talking points. And that's leadership you can believe in." --National Review's Andrew Stiles
Insight"I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible. The reason I am is because I believe the big problem is not taxes, the big problem is spending. The question is, 'How do you hold down government spending?' Government spending now amounts to close to 40% of national income not counting indirect spending through regulation and the like. If you include that, you get up to roughly half. The real danger we face is that number will creep up and up and up. The only effective way I think to hold it down, is to hold down the amount of income the government has. The way to do that is to cut taxes." --economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006) The Gipper"We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed. ... Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it." --Ronald Reagan Political Futures"Moammar Gaddafi got what was coming to him. Of course, the concern now is the jihadist and al-Qaeda elements that are positioned to replace him. Years ago, Ronald Reagan called Gaddafi the 'mad dog of the Middle East' and said that his goal was a worldwide 'Muslim fundamentalist revolution.' Many others besides Gaddafi shared that goal, including those who opposed him, and with Gaddafi's death, that goal is closer than ever to being realized. Here we are, thirty years after Reagan made these remarks, in the throes of a worldwide Muslim fundamentalist revolution. Reagan said that those who wanted this 'Muslim fundamentalist revolution' were enemies of the United States -- for them it was 'like climbing Mount Everest, because we are here.' And in a sense, that is exactly the reason why ... Reagan's warning of a worldwide 'Muslim fundamentalist revolution' was prescient. Can you imagine the Muslim Brotherhood stooge in the White House ever uttering those words? ... Reagan spoke before there was a significant Muslim presence in Europe. Now the threat and intimidation by Muslims throughout the countries of the European Union is growing at every level. And now Gaddafi is gone, but the threat of a worldwide 'Muslim fundamentalist revolution' remains, and is stronger than ever, thanks to Barack Obama." --author and columnist Pamela Geller Faith & Family"Egyptian violence against Christians is intolerable. When peaceful demonstrators demanding only protection of the law are attacked, we see a complete breakdown of civil order. More than that, the fact that Egypt's Christians are being killed with impunity means there is no Arab Spring. ... Obama is building an unenviable record in foreign policy. He is the most anti-Israel president in our history and also, de facto, the most anti-Christian. He is washing his hands of the fate of millions of minority Christians in the Mideast. This cannot be beneficial to the United States or to the countries involved. ... Is this what we are fighting for? ... Has the U.S. Department of State forgotten who we Americans are? Millions of Americans disbelieve and abhor what is being taught in Afghan schools, what is being done on the streets of Cairo, and what is likely to be done in Syria when Assad is toppled. Isn't it time for a total reassessment of U.S. foreign policy and aid?" --columnists Ken Blackwell & Bob Morrison Reader Comments"Regarding Mark Alexander's essay, Memo to GOP Contenders: Cut the Crap, the media has set up the debates and the format which are designed to pit candidates against each other. Why do we need another 12 debates? This is an unprecedented format and allows liberal news commentators to bait candidates to attack each other by the choice of questions. Why do we allow the left-leaning news media to control the process of selecting a Republican presidential candidate?" --Crawford "Mark Alexander offered an excellent analysis of the errors of too many of the Republican candidates. Too bad they can't detect wisdom when it is offered." --Brad "In Friday's Digest you outlined Ron Paul's plan to cut $1 trillion in federal spending. I don't know if Paul's cuts are all in the right places, but I bet a lot of them are. Our government wastes more money than the GDP of most countries. Whoever is elected should get Paul's plan and go over it with a fine tooth comb. This nation will not survive if we don't act quickly." --Kenneth "Unfortunately Ron Paul's plan makes too much sense for the Marxists currently running the country, as demonstrated by the 'Occupy Wall Street' crowd. I have no problem with his plan, and I'm sure many others would agree. But at this point in time, I have difficulty believing Mr. Paul could gain enough support to win the nomination, let alone the presidency." --Bob N. "Ron Paul is overly simplistic. He simply will not be able to accomplish what he says he wants to do. And his willingness to throw Israel under the bus means I will NEVER be able to support him." --Seth Lots of opinions on Ron Paul. What's yours?
The Last Word"Although, as a rule, I prefer avoiding using words in my articles that will send most normal people scurrying for their dictionary, I only recently came across 'anosognosia' and I felt I should share it because it so perfectly describes the mental condition of liberals. It is the total unawareness of one's own disease, disability or defect. So when we find ourselves asking why leftists think and act as they do, apparently living in a fantasy world totally disconnected from reality, at least we now know there's a word that defines it." --columnist Burt Prelutsky Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis! Patriot News Review
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