What would the world look like without rich people?

Have you ever wondered this? With Obama talking of letting the "Bush tax cuts" expire for those making over $250,000, it has me thinking. Who really needs more than $250,000 a year anyway, right? What are they going to do with all that money? That's more than enough to live off, support a family, and in the words of Obama, "buy a flat screen TV." I have even been guilty of judging those I thought made too much or lived a little too luxuriously.

I think that we are forgetting what the rich do. I can't find the exact statistics, but I remember hearing that the vast majority of the income of churches is given by a very small percent of the congregation. Rich people fund our churches. They help fund our hospitals, universities, and charities. The next time you stroll through a park and think your tax dollars supported the entire building of it, take a look at the name plate on the bench you're sitting on. This is the same reason the dorms on your college campus were named after people, not as much for recognition as for the fact that they gave boo-coos of money to help pay for your education! Why do you think you keep receiving alumni donation letters from your Alma Mater? Because, believe it or not, some actually send those back in with money, and it's not the middle class giving the most. Have you ever been on a missions trip? Who did you make sure to send support letters to? Probably those making over 250 grand a year, huh? They were also probably the ones who sent the most back to you. How many countless missionaries would be doing something different were it not for the rich? Think of the YMCA, the Red Cross, Boy Scouts, homeless shelters, pregnancy centers. These are not kept on their feet by the middle class.

So before you think about stealing money from these people to give it to an organization who can't even deliver mail without going into the red, think about all they do for our society. Really picture our society without that. Do they need a new BMW, 3 vacation houses, or even a flat screen TV? Maybe not, but do you need a college education, a church to attend, or someone to bring you a bottle of water & a blanket after a hurricane rips your home down? Do you need a job that that BMW, 3 vacation homes, and big screen TV helped create? I think so. We need more rich people in this world, not fewer. If we tax them like they have plenty of money to lose, these things that are the fabric of our society will be greatly affected.

"A government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson