Who is John Galt? That's the first line in Ayn Rand's classic novel Atlas Shrugged. As the book unfolds, it turns out that John Galt was an engineer/inventor who simply got tired of picking up the slack for the rest of the world. He walked off the job one day never to return. Throughout the course of the book captains of industry mysteriously disappear only to turn up at the end of the book in a hidden valley where the producers of the world have created their own secret society where they don't have a bunch of moochers dragging them down.

A bit far fetched I'll admit. That could never happen today because the liberals would undoubtedly track them down and find a way to tax them into oblivion. However, the basic premise of the book is interesting:

If you get enough people who are non-producers depending on the producers of the world, the sheer weight of those non-producers will overwhelm the producers causing them to finally just give up and eventually bring us to a grinding halt.

Again, perhaps a bit extreme... or is it? In today's economic turmoil we have many who continue to propagate the politics of class warfare -- e.g. the "haves" vs. the "have nots". I personally believe this is due in part to jealousy, but also due to just plain ignorance.

Many liberal and so-called "moderate" politicians on both sides of the aisle in congress know now that all they have to do is screech "no tax cuts for the rich" and their constituents will pile on.

I think a worthy question is -- Who are the "rich" and how did they get that way? Some are entertainers, athletes and trust fund babies to be sure, but the reality is that the "rich" by and large got that way by being productive members of society who bring value to the marketplace. They are the small business owners, the captains of industry, the inventors, scientists, physicians, etc. In short, they are the ones who provide jobs in a time when we really need jobs.

Of course the counter to this is "the rich are greedy, dishonest, etc". I don't disagree that there are those. However, I submit to you that the vast majority of the "rich" are people just like you and me who have families, hopes and dreams, etc. They agonize at the thought of having to lay off employees, they contribute to charities, they try to be fair and give back to the society that provided them the opportunities that got them where they are today.

You may recall the old story of the goose who laid the golden egg. The farmer reasoned that, rather than wait for the goose to lay one golden egg every day, he should be able to simply slice open that goose and pull out all the eggs at once! He soon found out that when he sliced open the goose, not only were there no eggs to be had, but now the goose was dead and could no longer produce.

Just something to think about the next time you hear people rail against "the rich" and "corporate tax cuts" -- where do you think these jobs we need so desperately will come from?