Money Matters and a Taste of the Good Life

Douglas McGray’s article “Network Philanthropy” (Jan. 21) and Dan Neil’s column “The Idle Rich” (800 Words, Jan. 21) would lead us to understand that self-made money is the only good money. It’s too bad that Neil didn’t have me for his fourth-grade teacher. In my class, I show a dollar bill and ask the students what it is; I don’t stop until it’s made clear that the dollar is a representation of an understanding that we all share. Money is neither good nor bad.

To attack our existing trust laws is really not the point. Swept along, like dolphins in a tuna net, would be many hard-working, middle-class families who have carefully scrimped and saved over the years so that their children and grandchildren might have some stocks and savings for a down payment on a house.

What would really promote fiscal equality would be a flat tax, a percentage of money earned. But our fine friends representing “our wishes” on Capitol Hill are the true benefactors of these laws, and there will never be an equitable overhaul.

Susan E. Smith

Los Angeles

Dan Neil’s column is the perfect vehicle to demand that our spineless legislators get off their duffs and enact a special Idle Rich Tax. This would stipulate that unless societal parasites such as Paris Hilton, Brandon Davis, Nicole Richie and others of their ilk are employed in a socially approved endeavor, they must pay a substantial portion of their inherited wealth in taxes.

Such long-overdue taxation would be a fitting start toward addressing problems such as housing, policing, healthcare, traffic congestion, education, aging infrastructure, etc. It would jerk the egocentric, imbecilic idle rich back to reality, forcing them to make their contribution to the society that supports their cushy lifestyles.

Lawrence M. Kates

Los Angeles

The wealth gap in our country points to a crisis as threatening and deadly as global warming or terrorism. High- interest, short-term debt, a la credit cards and loans, has turned into long-term consumer debt.

While our political leaders tout an economy that is growing, a truer story reveals itself when the statistics of the bottom 90% of citizens are assessed. The average American has negative savings. This implies that instead of investing money in education or job training, Americans are on a shopping spree.

Have we not become the feudal serfs of consumerism, commanded by our lord to penury by watching Spelling entertainment instead of playing outside with our children, listening to Rod Stewart records instead of learning to play the piano, filling SUVs with Mobil gasoline instead of riding a bike, and on and on . . . ? Yep!

Short-term credit has placed our hard-earned money in the hands of the entitled. Intergenerational bequests ensure that this money will never “trickle down” back into the economy. And our obsession with celebrities and their lifestyles guarantees that we’ll continue to fork over the plastic for a momentary taste of “the good life.”

Sarah Kindler Suojanen

Los Angeles