How to Celebrate “Be a Millionaire Day.”

By Edward Hudgins

May 20, 2016 -- I don’t know who determined that May 20 should be “Be a Millionaire Day,” though it is a good idea. I do know that most people’s ideologies wreck their chances to earn big bucks.

Be a millionaire: the how-to part

The way to become a millionaire many times over—a million really isn’t that much these days—is to invent some breakthrough tech or app, or to start and grow a business that has the customers lining up for what you have to offer.

A more mundane way that should be on most people’s lists is to save and invest. You all know Moore’s Law, that semi-conductor capacity doubles every two years? So increases aren’t 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 but, rather, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128. Compound interest from investments sort of works that way, too. Not quite that fast, but if you put several thousand dollars, tax free, into an IRA or 401K when you’re young, and you keep at it, you’ll probably be set for a financially comfortable future.

If you’re young, do it now. I’m serious. Do it now.

Presidential roadblocks to prosperity

That said, here’s what can land you and pretty much everyone else in the poor house: the anti-success, pro-envy ideologies that are dominating our culture and that result in wealth-destroying public policies.

Let’s say Hillary Clinton becomes president. And let’s say she and her similar successors continue with crony handouts and welfare state entitlements. More and more, who gets what will be determined by political power. Government debt will pile up. With interest it will grow: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128. Today, the government debt is around $16 trillion. Perhaps the Federal Reserve will need to inflate the money supply, another way of saying that your dollars will be diluted and $1 million today might only be worth a few thousands when you retire.

Or let’s say Donald Trump becomes ... (Continue reading here.)