Ten Pork Chops On The Platter

President Obama's State of the Union address last night struck a responsive cord in me. Predictably, many Republicans objected to the President's plan to finance upgrading the nation's infrastructure, educational system, etc. by increasing the taxes on the richest of the rich. Or by imposing federal taxes on those Americans who move their business offshore and pay no taxes at all.

Such objections bring to memory certain of my fellow Idahoans a decade ago, who insisted on driving their cars on public roads without paying to register those cars. Some even designed their own unique license plates to proclaim their freedom. The roads are there, they reasoned, free for everyone to drive. Whoever built them or maintains them is irrelevant to the present moment.

The claim has been made that the richest 80 individuals in America own as much as the whole lower financial half of the American population combined. Seems pretty wild. Be that accurate or not, there are quite a few billionaires, increasing their wealth by several million dollars per year, while millions of working Americans do not earn enough to feed their children adequately or pay the rent. Let alone those in many foreign nations who subsist on less than two dollars per day.

Many business higher-ups explain that they are worth what they receive because of all the jobs they create, or the charitable foundations they fund. And in some cases they really have enabled whole nations to be free of, say, river blindness or guinea worm, or have funded better education or small business start-ups.

I think that the basic conundrum such explanations ignore is best illustrated by a problem brought to light in the Wisconsin summer resort where I worked in my student days. We served two sittings each meal, about 300 people at a sitting. The view over Green Lake was spectacular, the cooking was good, the people congenial, ten at each table, served family style.

A conference speaker once noted that each table was served a platter of ten pork chops, (or whatever was on the menu), passed from person to person. If one person helped himself to four of the chops, that meant three other people got none, despite his assurance that he gave a lot to charity. Or management's promise to order more pork chops next time.

I think that's what, in Bible times, was called a parable.