Wealth Is Rightfully Exhibit A
Tuesday, October 08, 2019
The good news is that billionaire Ken Langone -- whose investment helped make Home Depot the successful company it is today -- is standing up to Bernie Sanders, the millionaire who thinks billionaires shouldn't exist.
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| Image by Nathan Dumlao, via Unsplash, license. |
"Forget how much money I made," Langone told Business Insider. He said that by helping to found Home Depot, Langone ensured that "more than 500,000 people" have been "gainfully employed, providing for their families, enjoying life, educating their kids" throughout the years. [format edits]Langone is absolutely correct that his money helped employ numerous individuals, but he should be proud of what his wealth represents. Unlike the plundered wealth of socialist elites, Langone's wealth is a direct result of the opposite process, trade, and thus is another measure of the greater value of those companies after he invested in them.
Those companies are now far more able to help their employees and their customers live fulifilling lives. Langone saw intelligent and hard-working people -- and bet on their success. He assumed a risk for them in exchange for a share of their later success. Both sides won.
This is what Bernie Sanders damns when he excoriates billionaires, and this is what Elizabeth Warren would plan to tax out of existence. Do they not know that billionaires help us all by assuming risks that are too big for most of us to take? Or do they not care?
So I respectfully implore Mr. Langone not to forget his billions, but to remember them with rightful pride. They are just as much a measure of the life-giving power of trade as all the jobs he helped create.
-- CAV
4 comments:
I have a small objection to your article: You've undersold the value Home Depot has added to our economy.
The construction industry has come to rely on Home Depot to a tremendous degree, because it's a one-stop shop where you can get 90% of what you need. If you know what you're doing, you can build a house from the materials found there--and I mean a fully functional modern home, not the sheds they have outside. I don't know a single construction company (and I've worked with dozens) that doesn't routinely make purchases there, because it's quick, efficient, and has what they need.
It's also worth noting that Home Depot has a program where children can make a free toy on the first Saturday of the month. My kids and I have been going for years. It's a convenient way for kids to learn how to use tools--hammers and screw drivers, for the most part, but for a 4 year old that's a good start. It's advertisement, in a way where everyone benefits. The kids enjoy building and get a toy that they made (teaching them the virtue of pride); I get to teach my kids how to swing a hammer (at the cost of my thumbs, but that's parenting); and Home Depot makes sales that day and develops future customers (by teaching the kids that they are capable of building things). There's also a program for adults, teaching basic home remodeling/repair skills, which has the same advantages. To put it another way: Home Depot's business development plan is to actively develop the virtues of pride and independence in the population.
Dinwar,
Thanks for the great comment. I usually go to Home Depot when I need hardware, gardening supplies, and the like, but did not know they were that comprehensive.
Also, thanks for the toy-building tip. In return, here's a video link to another tip I only recently heard about: using a clothespin to hold a nail when hammering. I'll have one with me when I take the kids to Home Depot in the future.
Gus
Thanks--I'll have to try that! Honestly, though, it's usually not the nail that's the issue. With the youngest I set the nails and hold the pieces in place while they hammer. Then my skin gets pinched between the two pieces of wood when they slip. You wouldn't think that a small child can put that much power into a swing, but I've learned they develop power WELL before accuracy!
Ouch!
I have been warned...
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