Dear Spot,
My friend says that the rich steal from the poor. My Daddy says, "It's only 'stealing' if it's illegal and that the rich can afford their own laws." Then Mommy says, "Do NOT let Daddy talk politics!" I am confused. Can you help?
sincerely
Virginia

Dear Virginia,
Many questions in politics and economics are very complicated and require long complicated answers. Fortunately, yours is not one of them. No, Virginia, the very rich do not steal from the poor - they hire others to do that for them.

When you see someone on TV saying that they won't work as hard if taxes go up, that person is telling the truth. You are listening to one of the people hired to make sure the rich keep getting richer. If they don't do that, they will be fired and forced to survive on the paltry millions they have accumulated for themselves.

best regards,
Spot

Not to be outdone by Waveland on a big news day like today, we at ILP,S! took to the streets to get our finger on the pulse of public opinion. The results follow.

Tell me sir, what do you make of Bernard Madoff pleading guilty today to orchestrating a $65 billion Ponzi scheme?

"So what? They should leave that poor man alone. He was only trying to get his."

Really? What an unconventional answer! What about the investors victimized in his 'crimes of greed?'

"Oh, please! Don't you know what 'justice' costs in this country? There's investigators and auditors, courts and prosecutors, and then there's the cost of incarceration. They said that man might get 150 years! It costs a lot to keep a man in prison 150 years!"

Wow. But some would say that's a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

"But it all adds up, doesn't it? This is our tax money we're talking about. Do we really want to subsidize the losers' investments? How many people want to pay for your neighbor's bad investment who took a hit on their portfolio and might have to retire at 55 instead of 50? Raise their hand!"

[At this point several people on-line nearby for a job fair two blocks away, whooped and booed raucously.]

"What about people like me who are playing by the rules, who can smell a too-good-to-be-true investment a mile away, and know enough to walk away from it? Why should a few dumb rubes gullible enough to be taken in by a frickin' Ponzi scheme, for goodness sake, seek their vengeance on my dime? Give me a break!"

So, what, do you think Madoff should get off scott free? Crimes have obviously been committed here.

"Madoff was one of those carrying water in The Greatest Accumulation of National Wealth In History Project, not just drinking it. This was a dude of unbridled imagination and vision. Like I said before, leave that poor man alone!"