Ozzie Zehner

Below is a transcript and video from Elizabeth Warren’s talk on the generation of wealth, public programs, and taxation.

Another aspect I like to keep in mind is the involvement of energy resources, specifically fossil fuels, in this national debate.  Wealth creation ultimately arises from resource extraction, so property rights and questions of ownership come in to play.

But most of all, I’m curious to see where this goes.

Transcript (video clip follows)

I hear all this, you know, “Well, this is class warfare, this is whatever.”—No!

There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.

You built a factory out there—good for you! But I want to be clear…You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for…You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate….You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.

You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.

Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea—God bless! Keep a big hunk of it.

But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.