Daffy: It's Mine, Mine, Mine!

I'm not sure where this attitude and belief came from in explaining the problems in the economy - it seems to me the day the vacuous and misleading Elizabeth Warren proclaimed 'no one got rich on their own' - but I'm starting to hear and read this pitiful rationale more and more.

Each time I hear it from now on, I'm naming names.

On the Tommy Schnurmacher radio show, guest panelist Anne-Lagace Dawson (an NDP supporter) closed a segment uttering these same words adding "we're all in this together."

In what together I wondered?

It should be explained, to her mind, the financial problems are all the fault of the rich banks (who are extremely tightly regulated in Canada and Europe) and the 1%.

She's entitled to her opinion. To me, myopic catch-phrases from the left are mutating into something beyond their basic beliefs.

Whatever.

I'm not interested in debating this, it's (largely) public spending the problem, deal with it.

What I'm annoyed with is that people like her are increasingly describing a narrative that I will not accept as a person and business owner.

No, Mme. Dawson, you did not have a hand in my (pending) success. We're not sharing anything.

Any sharing on my part "pour la societe" comes off my payroll and personal income taxes.

Until you provide an investment cash outlay, you have not a single right to say "I didn't do it on my own."

Are you suggesting that by some intellectual sleight of hand you magically are a part of this journey?  Moreover, the logic you espouse ends with the reality I helped "pave roads" through my tax dollars in the first place just like any other citizen. It doesn't entitle me to say, "well, Mr. Butcher, you should charge me $2 instead of $3 because I helped to make you succeed!"

That's a form of free-loading.

There's no proper logic to defend this position. When you think it to its logical end, you're essentially saying people "own" shares in a business because it is they who helped make it succeed. Completely ignored (obliviously) is the fact that in order for someone to succeed they usually offer something in return. It's called goods and services. It's probably the most basic of our economic principles.

So Jean Coutu may be rich, but he provided good and services in exchange for money. He filled a demand needed by customers. And yes, he did it by himself. Even if he received a loan from the government to start his business or earn his pharmaceutical degree, it's likely he paid it back.

At best, this position is circular logic. It's a moot point and shouldn't be uttered.

It's silly - and perhaps immoral - on all counts.

I pay my taxes for all the welfare excesses people are demanding off my back. We're already kicking in our "dues." For someone to come along and say, "no one does it alone" annoys me to no end because it's wrong. No, Mme. Dawson. And Mme. Warren. And others who believe this gibberish.

Above all, you didn't sweat and toil into building our businesses. You didn't "share" into the stress and family fights to make a business successful. You weren't by our side when many sleepless nights went by unsure if we could make payroll, or pay rent, or property taxes, or cover expenses or deal with banks who demand so much personal collateral. Nor are you there to offer a word of encouragement when things are down or sound investment advice when we need it most.

You're not there. Until you are, I owe you nothing - financially and most of all intellectually. You and you alone define whatever it is we're supposed to be "together" in.

I didn't agree to anything.

 We would appreciate it if you stop dragging us into your world view. Our lives are complicated enough as it is.

Thank you.

Sincerely, T.C.