By Guest Author Henry B. Zimmer
In the 1987 movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, makes the statement that “Greed is Good”. And it sure is--for about 1% of American households. Out of approximately 117 million U.S. families, there are around 1.4 million that have a net worth of $5 Million or more. Only 100,000 are worth in excess of $25 Million.
When Thomas Jefferson penned the words in our Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal”, he was making the statement that we all must have the same rights and responsibilities under the law, regardless of religion, race or creed.
On the other hand, we are not all created equal when it comes to our diverse aptitudes and abilities. In a Capitalist society, there are those that have great leadership abilities. Their aptitudes lead to careers in making or managing investments, overseeing manufacturing, wholesale or retail businesses, resource development, technology, real estate, and finance/ banking.
These are the people who, by their very natures, are willing to accept varying levels of risk in exchange for the expectation of greater rewards. The rewards are often measured in terms of monetary wealth, but they also bring the satisfaction of having created a new structure, such as an attractive housing development, a new business enterprise or innovative technology. After a certain point, wealth accumulation often becomes nothing more than keeping score of one’s relative successes measured against his or her peers. By definition, the people I’ve described in this paragraph comprise our nation’s Capitalists
While their motivations might be primarily self-serving, the Capitalists are the ones who should foster America’s economic growth by employing millions of their fellow citizens. I believe these people are entitled to a reasonably enhanced standard of living as a reward for their accomplishments (although what constitutes reasonable is subject to debate). In this context, I don’t think of the word “self-serving” as having a negative connotation. Furthermore, any American who has the aptitude and desire (and often a great deal of luck) can join the ranks of the Capitalists. There is no caste system in this country to hold anyone back.
Unfortunately, since the 1980s, our business leaders have steadily been moving American jobs, formerly performed by skilled American workers to third world countries in order to increase their personal profits. Their greed has created what I call “Unbridled Capitalism”.
I believe that Unbridled Capitalism must be reined in before our society collapses entirely. The self-serving interests of our nation’s Capitalists, present and future, must be tempered with social responsibility. This is the essence of Enlightened Capitalism. We need to set broad guidelines for what is a reasonable standard of reward for our nation’s Capitalists and to require our business leaders to repatriate lost jobs so that our country’s overall prosperity can be enhanced.
It is important to emphasize that an economic and political system that embraces the concept of Enlightened Capitalism requires the cooperation and participation of all Americans to succeed. We cannot expect the rich to carry the poor on their backs indefinitely.
The bottom 50% of all taxpayers now contributes less than 3% of total U.S. tax revenues. This inequity must be rectified, but NOT by taxing the “poor”. Rather, our economic and social framework must be modified to provide the training and jobs necessary to reduce the number of people living below the poverty line. The goal should be to involve virtually all Americans in sharing our country’s tax burden, each according to their means. Today’s bottom 50% must become willing and able taxpayers.
(Henry B. Zimmer is the author of The Enlightened Capitalism Manifesto. The website is www.enlightenedcapitalism.us )