I speak to you as an old man; one approaching ninety. Since I have some time left I want to share some personal experiences with you with the sole purpose of sharing these ideas because I perceive them to be vitally important for a surviving society. As I got older, at one point I realized that I no longer had real physical strength. It happened a few years ago when I couldn’t open a water bottle. I had to accept that and after I lost my strength, well, we won’t discuss the next item, but then the eyes needed glasses and the ears needed hearing aids. Well that’s the story of older people and they not only believe these things, but they’ve experienced them. Underlying everything I want to talk to you about today is instilling and trying to convince you that that’s not the way it has to be for our society; for this society in which we are poisoned because of increasing avaricious greed.

I want to remind you of David Hume’s unbelievable insight:

Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profit for us both, that I shou'd labour with you today, and that you shou'd aid me tomorrow. I have no kindness for you, and know you have as little for me. I will not, therefore, take any pains upon your account; and should I labour with you upon my own account, in expectation of a return, I know I shou'd in vain depend upon your gratitude. Here then I leave you to labour alone; You treat me in the same manner. The seasons change; and both of us lose our harvests for want of mutual confidence and security.--David Hume

Unfortunately, we are a society that has not accepted the reality of his wisdom.

I’ve captioned my remarks today thusly, "The Cynical Capitalist." I believe in capitalism. I think it’s the only economic system that is compatible with the greed instinct. As I reflect in my admiration of capitalism, what comes to mind is what my good friend, Studs Terkel, wrote in one of his books. He was walking through the poor section of Chicago and he saw a little black girl sitting on the stoop. And Studs comes to her and says, "Honey, what do you think of life?" She says, "I love life. I wish some of it would come my way." Yes, she was one who truly wished some capitalism would come her way!

Well, a lot of it came my way, but that’s not good enough as far as I’m concerned. It’s not coming to many, many talented, decent, hard-working Americans.

The real problem can be encapsulated in this insightful philosophical tidbit—when too few have too much and too many have too little, we do not have a sustainable society. Here are some serious observations from the Bulletin from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It summarizes thusly:

"Poverty remains higher, in median income for non-elderly, lower, than when the recession hit bottom. This poor performance is unprecedented and has been going on for a four year recovery period." And remember, for those of you in the audience, it doesn’t have to be that way and I hope that this will be your own conclusion after I’ve visited with you for a few more minutes.

Norman Garfinkel, one of America’s great professors, has written a book, The American Dream vs. The Gospel of Wealth and he puts it most poignantly. He simply points out the two different approaches. "One approach is that economic growth can best be sustained by a progressive tax system that supports the purchasing power of middle class Americans. The other claims that the engine of economic growth can best be sustained by a regressive tax system that increases the wealth of the highest income families to support business investment."

I’ll give you an illustration. I received a $200,000 tax refund and I said to the accountants, "How is that possible?" They said, "Well, some tax lawyers came up with an idea of how to circumvent the intent of the tax law. It’s perfectly legal." But that takes $200,000 away from the public and mine is just one insignificant case. But that is the way it is and that is why these last four or five years have been very tough on the so-called middle class which is evanescing at a rapid rate. Again, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Mussolini warned us many, many years ago that corporatism plus government is fascism, and unfortunately, it seems to me that we’re headed in that direction. For sure, it doesn’t have to be, but it’s going to take some intelligence and committed leaders to stop the decaying of our economic society.

Just think, one percent of all Americans, and to be honest with you I’m part of that one percent, have more assets than the bottom 100 million people—as the figures that I’ve looked at—and that means that 25,000 people have it too good and the 100 million, not good enough.

About 100 years ago, Max Weber, the great philosophical economist, said to the world, "If capitalism continues at the rate it is, it will not be there for others to enjoy during their lifetime.

I’m the child of Russian, Jewish immigrants. I was born a little confused. My father was a Marxist and my mother was very religious. So, to be quite candid with you, I’ve been in both camps. Intellectually, however, I’m with John Dewey, who pointed out that every government needs a "minister of irritance." If we had more of that in our thinking society, it would not be in the straits that we are.

I’m a so-called "liberal," but I’m really a very conservative guy. I really believe in the capitalistic system. I’ve benefited from it. I’m used to disappointment. I initiated a company and became extremely successful, yes successful beyond any dream I could have had when I started. I did that on $25,000 of borrowed money. Today, you could not start what I started in 1951 with $25,000 unless you had a minimum of $5 or $10 million to put at risk. That’s a denial of capitalism and an acceptance of monopolism. Each time I say that word, remember what Mussolini told us.

As I pointed out, I like capitalism because it comports with the greed instinct. But concomitantly, we have to learn about this word, "limits." Sure we want to be free, and we should be, but there are limits. Little things: how fast you can go in a car; how you have to behave. I’m talking to you right now and there are limits to the language I can use. And there must not be limits to the inquisitive nature that we have.

The tax rates for people in my income tax bracket are ridiculously low. Any tax for people who make $30,000 or less in this high-cost society of ours today, is equally ridiculous. We, again, must want America to be a land of opportunity. Isn’t this unusual that gas prices in most of the country are within three or four cents of being the same price? What’s the most important aspect of capitalism? Competition! Monopolists don’t compete; they don’t have to. They’ve got a hold on and caress that which all of us need. They caress too hard the people on the low end of the tax bracket and who are denied opportunity.

Just the other day, I was watching a program and a newscast showed that thousands of homes are being repossessed today. People that never thought they’d have a home had one; bought it when they thought they could make the payments. The rising prices; the sales taxes; the things that they need; the failures in the educational system result in their children not having the same opportunity as those of us that went to schools several generations ago. We wonder what is really the matter. Do parents love their children less today then they did when I was growing up? I think the problem can be encapsulated with this thinking: Lord Ritchie Calder said that "technology usually gets us to where we don’t want to be when we get there."

We would be guilty of inexcusable senselessness if we didn’t try to get to the bottom of this problem. Yes, in capitalism everything relates to money. No one is more committed to women’s rights than I am, but I think that our country would be greater if those women that preferred to be at home; to be there when the children came home from school; yes, if they had that desire we need to be the kind of country where that’s possible. However we get there, think about what is going on in our country. Minimum wage is $5.50. I ask every one of you in this audience, would it be very difficult for your family or mine to live on $300 or $400 a week? Rents are up. Everything is higher. My wife was going to the grocery store one afternoon and I said, "Honey, bring home a couple of tomatoes." I wanted them to fix a sandwich. She brought them home and she said, "Do you know how much they cost?" I said, "Well, I guess about ten cents apiece." I was serious. She explained that they were 75¢ apiece. I couldn’t believe it. I remember growing up, Papa would give Mama $5 and we’d go to the grocery story and it took Mama, my sister and me to carry home all the groceries. We went through an experience where we lost our house because Papa couldn’t make the payments and then we got another house. We had one thing that saved us. We had love at home and Papa never received any benefits from capitalism because it was antithetical to his radical beliefs. Of course, I agreed with him for a few years.

But I started coming to realize the value of capitalism during my senior year in high school and then, of course, while I was at The University of Texas where I really got an education. But this was in the late 30s and early 40s, when CEOs were making maybe 30 or 35 times what the lowest employee was making. Today, it’s as high as 4,000 or 5,000 times what the lowest employee makes. The tragedy of our society is that too much is not enough for too many. The strength of a democracy is the plight of the lowest economic level of the populace and especially it must have a strong middle class of which there is an evanescence at this particular time in our society.

The question is: why don’t we get mad about this? Why don’t we get upset? Why don’t we get angry? It is as if we don’t care. All of us ought to put on our reading agenda Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of a Lesser Class. Just think, he wrote this book seventy-five or eighty years ago and foresaw what we today are experiencing. Do I like the slogan, Tax the Rich? Of course not! Am I in favor of taxing those that can pay so that we can have a more level, even society? You bet I am! I’m for it because I care about this country. This isn’t a liberal or conservative issue; this is a pragmatic approach to a good society.

We have a tragedy that religion is intertwining itself into the political aspects of our society. Why? I don’t care if one is Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Catholic, or Hindu. Practice your own religion. Practice it the way you want to practice it. But no religion should be one that seeks to deprecate the religion of another. And it is something that ought to be very private. You can have your own private opinions about abortion or being pro-choice. You can have your opinions about gays and lesbians, the truth is that it’s really none of my business whatever religion that you’ve chosen or how you feel about women’s rights. I have my opinion, but when I want to vote for somebody, I’m not going to let that issue influence me. I’m going to vote for that particular candidate that understands that we need a capitalistic society; that those in the American populace have rights and a privilege and a reality that if they want to initiate a new venture that they will be able to do so.

Please remember that I’m not talking about the "good ol’ days" because if the "good ol’ days" aren’t tomorrow, we’re not a society that’s going to survive. We have, however, been warned. We have to take in mind that there’s a tremendous distancing between licentiousness and freedom. The former is barbarism, the latter is intellectual reality. Think about this for one moment: In the Wall Street Journal of September 23, 2006, on page B3, it says, "For the first time, Forbes Magazine’s list of the 400 richest people in the United States consists exclusively of people worth $1 billion or more. As a group, the people who made the rankings are worth a record $1.25 trillion compared with $1.13 trillion last year." Let me repeat, when too few have too much and too many have too little we do not have a sustainable society. Yes, I love capitalism because it comports with the greed instinct, but if we are not willing to impose limits, then we don’t have capitalism, we have fascism. Yes, that little girl said in my opening, "I love life. I wish some of it would come my way."

Well, as you can see, "I love capitalism. I want it to be possible for all Americans to enjoy. So many of these people that have the capacity, have the knowledge, have the intelligence, but the entry into the business world today requires such a large amount of capital that many are denied that opportunity." That means American is no longer the land of opportunity. It certainly was for me. Although my father didn’t make very much money, he made a good living. We had enough to eat and we had a house and we had a wonderful family life. Of course, education is the alpha and omega of what our concerns should be. We need good teachers. We have many, but we could have so many more if there was a sense in the potential teachers that there was appreciation of the major contribution they make for a better society. And we do measure things in terms of money and for teachers to go to college and they’ve worked and then to make a salary of $40,000 is reasonable. And we would get a lot more top-flight teachers if we had the understanding that this is something that we need to do. Teaching is a great profession; I don’t know of a higher one; I really don’t.

In closing, think about what got us on the right track. Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat is not important as far as I’m concerned. Franklin Roosevelt, who in many ways was the greatest president of the twentieth century, introduced the most innovative programs to ensure our democracy. He put in a minimum wage, which was important at that time. He was concerned about civil rights, about protecting workers, making unions possible, making them acceptable and necessary for a fairer society. He introduced Social Security and the list goes on and on. We haven’t had that kind of leadership for many, many years. Yes, a lot of people got rich in the Roosevelt administration, but they paid taxes and they still had much more left over than they thought they would ever have.

Finally, I ask, is it better for us that have to pay more taxes and live in this great country of ours, than to see a deterioration in the quality of life for too many Americans because we didn’t understand the necessity of limiting the greed instinct?

Do I like the slogan, Tax the Rich? Of course not! Am I in favor of taxing those that can pay so that we can have a more equitable society. You bet I am! I’m for it because I care about this country. This isn’t a liberal or conservative issue; this is a pragmatic approach to a sustainable society.

In one of his speeches President Franklin D. Roosevelt said to a crowd of 100,000 people at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, "There’s a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation has a rendezvous with destiny." Roosevelt proved to be a prophet. The tragedy is that the destiny to which he alluded came but did not remain.

But I’m an optimist! I think we can get it back!