Open Thread: Obama Says 'If You've Got a Business -- You Didn't Build That'

July 16th, 2012 11:25 AM

Over the weekend President Obama once again demonized wealth creators, downplaying the success of entrepreneurs as something that "[s]omebody else made... happen":

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

Obama continues to insinuate that business owners somehow owe the government for their success. He fails to make the obvious point that businesses succeed or fail on the basis of meeting the needs of others, of meeting the market’s demands. In fact, businesses are much more responsive to changing needs and demands of the marketplace than the public sector.

Yes business succeeds because of other people, but the other people are the customers who enjoy value and services created by business.