Luxury won't ruin America, contrary to Obama's mindset

On this day 226 years ago — July 26, 1784 — Benjamin Franklin considered whether society was in need of a "remedy for luxury" in a letter to his trusted advisor, Benjamin Vaughn. In it, Franklin methodically argued against such a need.

The current growing clamor for the regulation of wealth makes Franklin's thoughts on the matter relevant today. Consider President Obama's now infamous off-script muttering that "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money." Many have argued that this statement is emblematic of larger anti-wealth, anti-luxury tendencies in the administration's agenda.

Liberals are not the only ones, though, who engage in anti-luxury politics. All sides invoke the term "luxury" with a loaded meaning of "inappropriate," "excessive" or "wrong." Take as examples recent criticism from conservatives about Obama's vacations, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's yacht or criticism from varying political perspectives on the sailing trip BP's chief executive took during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Luxury is a demonizing four-letter word that plays well with the public.

Franklin's letter provides a partial retort to such sentiments. The wealthy infuse capital and invest, create jobs and in other ways make disproportionately positive contributions to the economy and society. Franklin reminds us of the reasons why wealth, even luxuriant wealth, is good and why its regulation is dangerous.

He wrote: "I have not indeed yet thought of a Remedy for Luxury. I am not sure that in a great State it is capable of a Remedy. Nor that the Evil is in itself always so great as it is represented."

Franklin, of course, is known for his counsel on frugality, but only as a self-imposed virtue, not by the force of the state. The luxurist may be unwise, but that need not mean his wealth needs regulating.

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...Franklin concludes that, "we may hope the Luxury of a few … will not be the Ruin of America." Obama, and others, should heed these wise words and abandon the belief that wealth itself is a national illness for which we should seek a governmental remedy.


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