Ludwig von Mises Tells Cher To Suck Wind

Yesterday, Cher wrote this:

If ROMNEY gets elected I don't know if i can breathe same air as Him & his Right Wing Racist Homophobic Women Hating Tea Bagger Masters

And this:

TOO HARSH ? Thats me Holding BACK! They care nothing about the POOR The OLD The SICK
The HUNGRY CHILDREN & People striving 4 a Better LIFE !—

Today, she wrote this:

Sorry 4 bringing Wrath of Kahn Lovelies!Feelings r 1 thing but no right 2 let mean spirit run free! Anger in heart made me turn back on Luv

And this:

Oh babe where ya been? Went Full Rush! Was on Cher Tear ! RT @DoctorSwill @cher Oh no...what has your mouth done now? :)~

Fifty-six years ago, Ludwig von Mises wrote this:

The many to whom capitalism gave a comfortable income and leisure are yearning for entertainment. Crowds throng to the theatres. There is money in show business. Popular actors and playwrights...live in palatial houses with butlers and swimming pools. ...Yet Hollywood and Broadway, the world-famous centers of the entertain­ment industry, are hotbeds of communism. Authors and performers are to be found among the most bigoted supporters of Sovietism...

...Under capitalism, material success depends on the apprecia­tion of a man’s achievements on the part of the sovereign con­sumers. In this regard there is no difference between the services rendered by a manufacturer and those rendered by a producer, an actor or a playwright. Yet the awareness of this dependence makes those in show business much more uneasy than those supplying the customers with tangible amenities...

...People long for amusement because they are bored. And nothing makes them so weary as amusements with which they are already familiar. The essence of the entertainment industry is variety. The patrons applaud most what is new and therefore unexpected and surpris­ing. They are capricious and unaccountable. They disdain what they cherished yesterday. A tycoon of the stage or the screen must always fear the waywardness of the public. He awakes rich and famous one morning and may be forgotten the next day. He knows very well that he depends entirely on the whims and fan­cies of a crowd hankering after merriment. He is always agitated by anxiety. Like the master-builder in Ibsen’s play, he fears the unknown newcomers, the vigorous youths who will supplant him in the favor of the public.

It is obvious that there is no relief from what makes these stage people uneasy...Communism, some of them think, will bring their deliverance. Is it not a sys­tem that makes all people happy?...

...It may be fairly assumed that none of the Hollywood and Broadway communists has ever studied the writings of any so­cialist author and still less any serious analysis of the market economy. But it is this very fact that, to these glamour girls, dancers and singers, to these authors and producers of comedies, moving pictures and songs, gives the strange illusion that their particular grievances will disappear as soon as the “expropriators” will be expropriated...

...But it is noteworthy to remember that no other American milieu was more enthusiastic in the endorsement of communism than that of people cooperat­ing in the production of these silly plays and films.

I appreciate Ludwig von Mises' cogent analysis of the "glamour girl" mindset. Yet, I tend to believe there is another, simpler explanation of why rich celebrities endorse socialism and yearn for the federal parasites in Washington to raise taxes on the wealthy and redistribute the seized spoils to the "Poor" and the "Old" and the "Sick" and to the "Hungry children." That explanation is GUILT and ENVY.

Many of these babied, wealthy, Hollywood "has beens" look back on their life and wonder "Why me?" Why am I so fortunate, so privileged, so rich? Yes, I've worked hard, but I truly enjoyed every second. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Wealth and celebrity came easy to me. Wealth and celebrity are a matter of luck.

Yes! That's it! I was simply lucky! Other poor slobs are not so lucky. Therefore, the lucky must contribute a portion of their wealth to the unlucky! It's just common sense!!

Of course, I could voluntarily contribute to the unlucky common people through private charities -- and I do. But that's just me! What about other lucky bastards like me who are even more rich than me but who are ignorant or selfish? These lucky, ignorant and selfish rich individuals must be forced by the central authorities in Washington to contribute a portion of their wealth to the unlucky too! It is only fair!

Besides, I'm not saying that we rich, lucky bastards have to give everything we have to the unlucky masses. If we all gave a little, we could still enjoy the lifestyle we've earned by all of our hard work and the unlucky ones would benefit.

The rich, lucky Republican bastards, like those selfish, evil Koch brothers are the worst. I hate them!! They are the richest of the rich, the luckiest of the lucky! Yet they show no compassion, no heart whatsoever! Anyway, why should the Koch brothers be allowed to be richer than me? Did they work harder than me for what they have? Are they better persons? Do they have a bigger heart? Are they more loving?

Not!!!

So make them pay!!!!

What this poor, pathetic, conflicted soul does not understand, and what Mises points out, is that the production of wealth is not independent of the means by which it is distributed. Her simple-minded advocacy of socialism may soothe her feelings of guilt and envy, but it inevitably makes us all poorer by destroying the very thing that allowed Cher to produce her wealth in the first place: private property and the freedom to pursue it and accumulate it for herself.