The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

664 THE FREEMAN Novemberthey tried to place in the leadingdailies of the Peninsula. Thisstatement told at a glance whatthe dividends had been in 1963,what they were over a lO-year period,what salaries and wageswere paid, how much industry contributedto social security and oldagepensions. The relationship betweenthe dividends and laborcost was roughly 1 to 12. The companiesadded that the estimatednumber of shareholders (obviouslyfrom many walks of life) wasover half a million - double thenumber of the employees. Interestinglyand significantly enough,two of the dailies refused to carrythe paid advertisement: one wasthe Communist Unita, the otherthe Papal Osservatore Romanowhose excuse was that it was publishedin Vatican City, whichmeans outside of the Italian State.Rooted in EnvyTo the advocate of equality, thefact that certain individuals livemuch better than others seems tobe "unbearable". The internal revenuepolicies which try to "soakthe rich" often have their roots inman's envy. It seems useless todemonstrate that a redistributionof wealth would be of no advantageto the many or that an oppressivetax policy directed againstthe well-to-do is self-defeating fora country's economy. One usuallywill get the reply that in a democracya fiscal policy which mightbe economically sound could bepolitically unacceptable - and viceversa. Pointing out that the spendingof wealthy 'persons is good forthe nation as a whole may bringthe snap reaction that "nobodyshould have that much money."Yet, people who earn huge sumsusually have taken extraordinaryrisks or are performing extraordinaryservices. Some of them areinventors. Let us assume thatsomebody invents an effective drugagainst cancer and thereby earnsa hundred million dollars. (Certainly,those who suffer from cancerwould not begrudge him hiswealth.) Unless he buries thissum in his garden, he would helpby lending to others (throughbanks, for instance) and by purchasingliberally from others. Theonly reason to object to his wealthwould be sheer envy. (I would addhere that had it not been for theliberality of monarchs, popes,bishops, aristocrats, and patriciansit would not be worthwhile for anAmerican to pay a nickel to seeEurope. The landscape is moregrandiose in the New World.)Still, it is significant that one ofthe few outstanding Christian sociologistsin Europe, Father Oswaldvon Nell-Breuning, SJ, notnoted for conservative leanings,has recently (Zur Deba,tte, Mu-