An open letter to Paul Graham
As someone who was born in Soviet Union, and (thankfully) escaped at a fairly early age, arguments like this just completely boggle my mind.<p>Why do people think it&#x27;s ok to take other people&#x27;s money? If a billionaire has money - regardless of whether they earned or inherited it - it&#x27;s THEIR money. If they earned it lawfully, they should pay the same % of tax that everyone else pays - and keep the rest to do whatever they please. Who are YOU to tell them how to spend THEIR MONEY better?<p>If you&#x27;re jealous of them having more money than you - this is a truly free country, nothing is stopping you from earning just as much as they have. Yes, life isn&#x27;t fair, they may be born into wealth and you&#x27;re not - but try being born in North Korea, then talk about it not being <i>fair</i>.<p>This is the principle that America was founded on, and what&#x27;s allowed it to be successful.<p>And as someone who studied just a bit of history, it seems completely insane to me that people think taking money from the rich and distributing it to the poor think it will turn out OK. The same exact thing happened in dozens of socialist countries - those that are in charge of the distribution, somehow distribute the most of it to themselves, and then take away people&#x27;s freedoms so they would stay in power. To think that something else is going to happen is just plain ignorance of basic human nature.