Letter to the editor: The nation’s rich didn’t take – they earned their success

In the Dec. 12 edition of the Woodbury Bulletin there was an article gauging residents’ opinions of the “Fiscal Cliff” on the front page. There was a statement in the article: “Others around Woodbury agree with Obama and said the rich have taken enough, so it’s time to give back a little.   

That statement, (if it was a resident’s statement and not that of the reporter), is terrible. I don’t think, even Obama, believes the successful, i.e., rich, robbed it from other United States citizens. 

The free-enterprise system, which built this wonderful country, isn’t based on taking.  If you take something from someone else, you will be put in jail. Therefore, the successful small or large businesses do not grow because they take (or steal) from someone. They are successful due to hard, smart work, satisfying their customers; or else they would fail. 

By the way, the proposed Obama tax on the successful (rich) would finance the United States government for eight days.

Dick Hegrenes - Woodbury

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion