“There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory...
Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.” Senator Elizabeth Warren
Both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are in a race to land on the moon, and maybe beyond. Their enthusiasm is infectious, but also dangerous. It doesn’t prepare America for future generations. They are also propagating a giant lie that Oligarchs have used to hoard their wealth—that they are exceptionally beings who deserve special treatment (such as tax cuts paid with borrowed money).
It appears in Bezos stated rationale for taking the Washington Post’s editorial page to the right and not allowing opposing viewpoints.
“I am of America and for America, and proud to be so,” Mr. Bezos said. “Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical; it drives creativity, invention and prosperity.”
The problem with conservatives’ ethos of personal freedom and free markets is that it doesn’t build forward or think of future generations. It doesn’t provide seed money for future growth as the Biden administration provided in its infrastructure, Inflation Reduction, and CHIPs Act bills that the Trump administration is trying to dismantle—further enlarging the budget deficit.
Musk’s and Republicans’ short-sightedness also applies to the dismantling of USAID. By working to improve the lives of the poorest in the world—mainly Africans today—it lifts up the ability of future generations to provide for themselves. It also prevents future worldwide pandemics, such as Bird Flu, and even the deadly Eboli-like virus now ravaging in war-torn Congo.
The result of Republicans’ belief in free markets has been five recessions since 1980 that were mainly caused by Republicans’ insistence of tax cuts without paying for them. It has led to record budget deficits and a record federal debt of $32 trillion.
The lie they continually foment, in other words, is based on pure greed. The future be damned, let’s go to the moon and beyond! Senator Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard Law Professor, knows something about this. She has studied the poor, and written a book with her daughter on their dilemma, The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are (Still) Going Broke.
“In this exposé, says the Amazon summation, Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi show that modern middle-class families are increasingly trapped by the grinding reality of flat wages and rising costs. Warren and Tyagi reveal how a ferocious bidding war for housing and education has silently engulfed America's suburbs, driving up the cost of keeping families in the middle class, and placing unprecedented pressure on hard-working families.”
And just as big a lie is that creativity, invention, and prosperity isn’t already happening with the AI revolution that has fueled the Big Seven U.S. companies, such as Microsoft, Facebook, to new market highs.
And much of it is being fueled by the Biden administration’s New, New Deal that has already created tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, and kept US fully employed.
The Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos Oligarchs of the world are not particularly exceptional people, just greedier in wanting to add to their wealth by making ordinary Americans less healthy, wealthy, and safe.
If Musk and Bezos want to end up on Mars, They can use their own massive wealth, not ours!
Harlan Green © 2025
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
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