If You Want to Be Rich, Consider This

There's an assumption out there that we all want to be rich. The Big Orange Guy must believe this. Otherwise why would he talk so much about how "the U.S." will get rich if only we all take his advice seriously, and by implication that we - as in each of us - will all be richer for it.

Lower taxes will make us rich. 

If we lower corporate taxes, companies earnings and therefore their profits will soar without them having to life a finger. Less to the government and - in the case of public companies - more for the shareholders. So buy stocks. You'll get rich.

Foreign companies will relocate to the U.S. and that means lots of new jobs. If you need a job, more jobs should fit the bill. And for those of us who don't especially need a new job, the increase in jobs will make our current employer have to offer us more money to keep us. We'll get rich.

Increased tariffs will make us rich. 

As the government coffers fill up with the booty from tariffs, they'll not need to collect so much in the taxes we pay. They will pay. With less tax being sucked out of us, it's a good bet we'll eventually get rich

Sealing the borders will make us rich. 

No more illegals to work in our stead. More jobs for us. Employers can't low ball salaries anymore. That's got to help us get rich, right?

Stopping the flow of fentanyl across our borders will make us rich. 

Fewer people will be addled by drugs. The economy will function more efficiently as workers can now focus their brains on the task at hand. As for other drugs in which we Americans indulge, well, presumably, once the fentanyl flow stops, we can stop the rest of the poison that comes in.

Firing federal employees and shutting down various federal agencies. will make us rich. 

Just as with tariffs, the federal coffers will fill up, not having to pay all those salaries and benefits to all those useless federal employees working at useless jobs that suck the wind our the economy. Of course the government won't divert the funds saved to any other destination by you and me, right? 

We can pretty much plug in all government initiatives - or at least most of them - and there's a good chance that "making us rich" will be the presumed reason we'd approve of this or that policy.

The exception might be the efforts of Robert Kennedy to pave the way for a healthier America. For some of us, even thought healthy rhymes with wealthy, we'd gratefully take the former over the latter.

Which brings us back to the beginning of today's thoughts: Finances are all well and good, but they're not the be all and end all of life. Right?

"Rich" doesn't necessarily include only money and our material possessions. Unless you believe money can buy you happiness (and it really doesn't), you'll get this without having to be dragged through the weeds.

Nevertheless, politicians hover over matters economic like mother hens hoping to hatch their eggs. They know - or think they know - that "It's the economy stupid" (an old campaigning slogan dropped on us during the Clinton years) that when the economy is good, people vote for you, and vice versa.

Let's let this rest now. The purpose of it all: to raise an eyebrow when all this "rich" talk begins to slow. There's more - much more - to life than money. And politicians, in focusing so heavily on money and the economy tend to leave that "much more" dangling for far too long. Take a look at our current social and cultural landscape and you should be able to see the result of years of turning away from truth, from real justice, from the central importance of the family, from God. Money can't make up for all this. And money won't make us happy.

Of course, we could always sit back and be amused by the current "contentious divorce" of the Big Orange Guy and the Great Musk. Two rich guys having at each other. Or...

We could simply remember that today marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and the sacrifice of so many for so many more - us. They didn't do it for money.