Is Oxfam's Global Poverty Report "Fantastic News?"
"Shark Tank" is one of my favorite tv shows, and one of the few shows that I regularly set aside the time to seek out, thanks to my trusty Roku Streaming Media Player
It's fantastic. And this is a great thing because it inspires everybody, gives them motivation to look up to the 1%, and say 'I want to become one of those people, I'm going to fight hard to get up to the top'. This is fantastic news, and of course I applaud it.
It's times like these that those who support free market capitalism get a bad name. And it's also times like these that the Lions of Liberty arrive to swoop in, and set the record straight!Let's be clear. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with "wealth inequality" per se. Wealth, when honestly earned, is something that each individual acquires in exchange for the value that he can provide to others. This may be a simple "services-for-wage" scenario; it may be an entrepreneur like Jeff Bezos starting Amazon out of his apartment, and eventually building a multi-billion dollar company that provides satisfies the wants and needs of millions of customers. To create "wealth equality" in the world would require a centralized force that confiscates all wealth, and redistributes it "equally" among the population. Of course, we've sen this little experiment before, and it typically doesn't work out well (See: Union, Soviet.)The problem with Mr. O'Leary's statement is that we don't live in a free economy, not here in the United States, and certainly not globally. Most if not all of the world economy operates in a crony capitalist or fascist system, in which major corporations use the force of government to stymy competition and to accumulate wealth illegitimately. Many of these corporations achieve wealth through crony deals with corrupt governments (corrupt government...how redundant!). Often they are handed the resources of a nation on a silver platter, as opposed to acquiring them in a legitimate way through appropriation or exchange.Further yet, the vast majority of people in the "third world" live under governments that intervene in the economy in so many ways that it becomes nearly impossible for a man to earn an honest living as an entrepreneur. Most are forced to beg for a wage job, and never have the opportunity to achieve true wealth.It's easy for Mr. O'Leary to say "pull up your bootstraps", but many of these people don't even have boots!It's important for libertarians to recognize the plight of others who are in conditions of poverty. Simply because we do not believe in forced redistribution of wealth does not mean that we cannot recognize why many of the worlds poor remain so.In a free society, almost any man could become an instant businessman, offering his skills and services to his neighbors, creating more wealth for everyone involved. But in the crony capitalist / fascist system, these people are crowded out by the insurmountable combination of corporations teaming up with government.This is not to say all billionaires achieve their wealth through illegitimate means, and by all accounts Mr. O'Leary certainly has earned his legitimately. But he would do well to study the oppressive economic conditions that billions throughout the world live in, and advocate to remove those shackles, so that everyone in the world can achieve greater wealth.This should be the message of libertarians and free market advocates.Check out these episodes of the Lions of Liberty Podcast, on the subjects of crony capitalism and fascism.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
