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Dear President Trump,
Sometimes, the truth slips out. At a recent rally in Cedar Rapids you got to free-associating about the members of your cabinet who had come along for the trip with you. You mentioned Gary Cohn and Wilbur Ross, two of the Wall Street bigwigs who were recruited to run your National Economic Council and Commerce Department, respectively. You praised their great business minds, but more importantly, you bragged about how rich they are. And in the process, you went on to say that: "And I love all people, rich or poor," "but in those particular positions, I just don't want a poor person. Does that make sense?"
Answering your question, I must, quite frankly, say that: No, Mr. Trump, it does not make sense to me!!
Mr. President: We are not what we earn, otherwise, you, Gary Cohn, Wilbur Ross, the rest of the billionaires in your cabinet, all present in the US, well before you came to be the president and them, joining your cabinet, would had made America Great already, and thus, no need for you and them to come along trying to make America Great Again! Does that make sense?
Now, I know you are a well educated person Mr. Trump. Indeed, you once even had your own ‘distinguished and prestigious’ university!! Thus, I know you enjoy good readings. Therefore, allow me to oblige:
You Are Not What You Earn
'A fundamental belief of the modern world, which explains a lot of our anxiety around failure, is that we are what we earn.'
‘When we say this, we mean something very particular: not just that it’s nice to have a lot of money but that our income is the source of information, crucial, decisive information, about our character, our intelligence, our moral fibre: in short, money is the key indicator of our worth in human and not just financial terms. The more money we make, the more we deserve to exist…’- Please continue to read
And now Mr. President,
I am sure you have heard the very tragic news about the Grenfell Tower in London. The tower was burnt down last week. Many residents were burnt alive. They were all dignified people, but, mainly poor, on low income, meagre pension, or benefits.
I can only say, it is really a great pity, none of our politicians here in Britain, had said, like you, that, they too, love all people, rich and poor.
Just imagine, if they had!
Perhaps, if they had, then, these poor people may not have been ‘killed’ and burnt alive at that poor-man’s tower in London! Does that make sense, Mr. Trump?
Please kindly read a bit more about the plight of the poor, disadvantaged, and disabled in one of the richest cities on earth, and then pray for us to learn from your super-billionaire cabinet, so that we, too, can, like you, aspire to make our country great again: Bastard Economics of Greedy Neoliberalism and the Killings of the Innocents in London Tower
And finally, Mr. President, I wish to tell you a story about a few very super-rich, billionaires from your own country, whom once they thought, they were some big things! I hope this story can focus our minds on who we are, why we are, and what we are:
Money, Meaningful Life, Self-worth, Wisdom and Happiness
In 1923, a very important meeting was held at Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. Attending this meeting was nine of the world’s most ‘successful’ financiers and businessmen. Those present were: the President of the largest independent steel company; the President of the largest utility company; the President of the largest gas company; the greatest wheat speculator; the President of the New York Stock Exchange; a member of the President’s cabinet; the greatest ‘bear’ in Wall Street; the head of the world’s greatest monopoly; and the President of the Bank of International Settlement. This, we must admit, was a gathering of some of the world’s most successful men – or at least men who had found the secret of making money. Twenty-five years later (1948) let us see what had happened to these men:
the President of the largest independent steel company had died, bankrupt, having lived on borrowed money for five years before his death; the President of the largest utility company had died a fugitive from justice, penniless in a foreign land; the President of the largest gas company was insane; the greatest wheat speculator had died abroad – insolvent; the President of the New York Stock Exchange had recently been released from Sing Sing penitentiary; the member of the President’s cabinet had been pardoned from prison so that he could die at home; the greatest ‘bear’ in Wall Street had died– a suicide; the head of the world’s greatest monopoly had died– a suicide; the President of the Bank of International Settlement had died – a suicide
All these men learned well the art of making money but none of them learned how to live, commented the original compiler of this list. It seems that the business world (who should know better, given what was described above) has changed not one iota. For them economic growth, the corporate bottom line and the pursuit of self-interest are what matters most. More recent observations also show that the self-interested pursuit of wealth brings only misery. Since 1950 there has been much economic growth and wealth creation in the West, but also a tenfold increase in the incidence of depression and a massive rise in the number of people suffering from sub-clinical neuroses, anxiety and profound self-dissatisfaction, drugs and alcohol abuse, self-harm, suicide, and more…”
What a powerful and telling story! A lesson to all those who think that what matters most is money and money and loads of it! I hope that makes sense Mr. President!
I wish you well to make your country great again with the help and guidance of the real Adam Smith:
‘Adam Smith, the so-called father of modern capitalism, never called himself an economist. He called himself a “moral philosopher,” engaged in discovering the characteristics of a good society. He thought his best book was not The Wealth of Nations, the bible of modern capitalist apologists, but the Theory of Moral Sentiments, where he argued that the ethical basis of society lies in compassion for other human beings.'