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The 15-year-old Economist vs. Reality

This item from CNN Monday almost set me off on a rant. I’ll stop with a very brief economics lesson.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- One day while driving with her father, Hannah Salwen noticed a Mercedes stopped next to a homeless man sitting on the curb.
"I said to my dad, 'If that guy didn't have such a nice car, then that guy could have a nice meal,'" the 15-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, recalled. (full article)

Here we have another reiteration of old socialist canard that if the rich were less rich, the poor would be less poor — which is complete nonsense. “That guy” #2 is not homeless because “that guy” #1 has a Mercedes. #1 has a Mercedes because he earns the money to buy it. #2 is homeless because he doesn’t earn anything, or at least enough to provide a home for himself. If #1’s earnings ceased entirely, #2’s earnings would remain the same.

If you really want to help the homeless man on the curb, help him to increase his earning potential. You know the old maxim: give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish, and really annoy PETA (or something like that).

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