Sunday is the day when even profit making broadcasters must do service or
pro bono work. And this mostly consists of broadcasting programs
misleadingly labeled "public affairs." (I say this because none of these
programs is actually about what matters to everyone, to the public, but
only to one or another special interest group and, mostly to bureaucrats
and their groupies.)
On May 30th there was such a program on ABC-TV's Los Angeles station,
KABC, called "ABC7 Presents: California's Financial Crisis." I took in
some of this but, believe me, it is only worth your time and effort if you
need to write and talk about such things professionally. Sure, just a bit
of it would probably benefit some viewers since they would witness just
how inept most of these folks are. That might lead them to start
reassessing their own willingness to rely on such people to give
leadership to anything that's of concern to them. They show no skills that
would indicate any such qualification, I assure you.
But some of what these folks say can serve as points of reference as one
embarks on learning about how government is administered. What kind of
thinking goes on in the minds of such folks? And does such thinking give
any indication that they will be wise and virtuous enough to be
California's rulers? (Yes, I said "rulers" because that is what they do
vis-a-vis the rest of us, lay down and enforce thousands of rules they
pretend will set things right.)
Take, for example, some comments made by Laura Chick, California's
Inspector General. But before I get to that, just consider this woman's
title: Inspector General! Is that an office anyone ought to hold in a
genuinely free country? I think the answer isn't difficult to arrive at.
Ms. Chick was laying out her very original insight that greed is the
source of our troubles. Then she added this gem about what brought on the
current financial mess: "We all were planning to become millionaires." No
data provided, not even some unofficial survey about what people want when
it comes to their economic lives. Nada, just an unsupported, reckless
announcement about us all.
Sure, there may be some people whose aim in life is to turn into
millionaires, most likely, however, the bulk of those who do become
millionaires--and I do know one or two such people--did not and still do
not have being a millionaire as their goal. They wanted to do well
professionally, running a business or working in an interesting field, and
the matter of their anticipated earnings and wealth came later. For those
who are in the wealth care profession, professionals in business,
garnering a good return on the investments they make for their clients and
for themselves does occupy a major focus of attention but even most of
these folks tend to have numerous other aims in life, relating to family,
friends, various causes they want to see flourish, etc.
It is not the case that most people are consumed with greed or, indeed,
any other vice, even if virtually all of us dip into some vices throughout
our lives but only out of neglect or bad judgment, not as a devotion, as
Ms. Chick and her types appear to suggest. But maybe the reason they so
readily ascribe greed to us all is that their idea of greed isn't being
obsessive about acquiring great wealth at virtually any expense, including
their integrity. No, the idea of greed these people seem to have in their
minds came across during this discussion rather clearly and it was a
shocker.
Nobel Laureate Woody Clark--who is a senior fellow at the Milken Institute
and an economist concerned with climate change as well as with
California's "hydrogen freeway" project--gave the clearest expression of
this peculiar notion of greed when he said that when people do not support
higher taxes--as for example the majority of voters in California's recent
referenda clearly did not--they are being greedy. (Sure, since most of
them refuse to fund the projects he loves!) So greed means, for these
folks, not wanting to hand over a goodly portion of their earnings to
politicians, bureaucrats, and their little helpers to do with as these
folks want but to keep it to do with as they want.
If that is greed, folks, then of course nearly every sane citizen is
consumed with greed--I certainly am. I like to spend my own earnings on
goals I have come to find worthwhile, including some personally satisfying
goodies but also my children's education and enjoyment, as well as to
benefit various charities around the world, especially when disasters
strike. That is, I guess, how I manage to be greedy, according to Ms.
Chick and Mr. Clark.
As John Stossel would say, "Give me a break." But I am glad these remarks
were made on this serious Sunday "public affairs" forum--held, by the way,
at the Milken Institute the directors of which aren't reputed to be wild
about relying on government to manage our affairs. That way at least those
who take the time to check out how these folks think can learn that there
really is no hope in trusting them to do any good for anyone, let alone
for "the public."
