Putting The Kerry Fortune To Good Use
July 14, 2004
Liberals seem to be big on raising your taxes but when it comes time to pony up themselves, rich liberals start to hem and haw. A classic example of this was actor Rob Reiner's call to my radio show on Election Day 2000. He phoned in desperately urging people to vote for Gore for “their own self-interest.” He said the Bush proposal to cut taxes would devastate education, social programs and the economy itself. We now know just how wrong he was. The tax cuts were what stimulated the economy in a time so badly needed after the terrorist attacks of September 11.
The conversation stopper was my serious proposal that he and all of his Hollywood buddies determine how much they need to live on then give the rest of their vast wealth to the government. If the government does such wonderful things and is in dire need of a cash infusion, he and Streisand and Asner, et al should willingly give. “Hollywood is the most giving community in the country,” he cried before hanging up on me. Hollywood does, indeed, give a considerable amount of cash, but not to the government. They give to their leftist pet projects, which is fine. They're fully within their rights to do that. At the same time, they hire high-powered accountants to help them pay as little as possible in taxes. Were they actually true to their convictions, they would put their money where their mouth is.
As Yogi Berra once said, “It's déjà vu all over again.” John Kerry and his wife are sitting on a fortune estimated in excess of $1 billion. That's right. That's billion with a “B.” Just to illustrate exactly how much money that is, it would take you over 34 years and 8 months to count a billion dollars one buck at a time. John Kerry has espoused the same views as Reiner. He truly believes the government needs more money yet he has not offered his vast fortune to help out.
What could we buy with John Kerry's billion dollars? The average new car price is just over $25,000. Kerry could buy a new car for 39,180 underprivileged Americans. The average family spends $4,700 per year in groceries. Ol' John could buy groceries for 211,327 families. The average cost to build a house for Habitat for Humanity is $46,600. John Kerry could build 21,459 houses.
But don't hold your breath. It's not the responsibility of those who advocate more spending to cough up the cash. They'll continue to hide their money in tax shelters while they raise your taxes. Don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not advocating that people voluntarily send more money into the government but if you truly believe the government needs it, you should set an example.
While we're on the subject of hypocrisy, the upcoming Democratic convention in Boston is running short on money. They've been forced to move the media headquarters two blocks from the convention site and make other cost-cutting decisions. The John-John ticket, with its immense wealth, could easily bridge the gap but they're not going to.
The DNC has had to resort to importing out-of-state, non-union labor for construction because they couldn't afford the in-state union help! These are the same folks who rabidly support labor unions. However, when they face the reality of shelling out the cash, they balk. Maybe they'll use illegal aliens paid below the minimum wage. The utopian world of high wages is all fine and dandy until reality bites you in the assets.