American “everyman” Mike Rowe says Democrats sometimes came across as millionaire candidates arguing over who “hates the millionaires the most” during Tuesday’s primary debate.
The author, celebrity, and man behind Work Ethic Scholarships given out each year by the mikeroweWORKS Foundation told “Fox & Friends” that some of the ideas presented in Ohio among presidential hopefuls play to humanity’s worst instincts.
Mr. Rowe — formerly of the popular show “Dirty Jobs” — was prompting his Amazon bestseller “The Way I Heard It” when the panel asked about the political landscape.
“It’s a free country. Float ’em. Fly ’em,” he said of Sen. Bernard Sanders’ plan to tax the 400 richest Americans at a 97% rate. “Run ’em up the old flagpole. See who salutes. Look, in the end you’ve got millionaires arguing with millionaires over who hates the millionaires the most.”
The former “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” host then discussed his life in California and a report on “the exodus this year as a result of a thirteen-and-a-half percent state tax and some other tweaks to the system.”
“It’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen before,” he said. “I know it’s convenient. It’s kind of fun to hate the rich and all but, in the end, they’re just people and they’re going to do the math and they’re going to go to where the math is better.”
Mr. Rowe also said that plans to give people $1,000 per month to counteract automation may have unintended consequences.
“Why not $2,000? Why not $3,000?” he asked. “You can’t ignore the human condition. We’re fundamentally lazy people. We have to be taught, I think, not to be lazy. … If you give me a choice — and I don’t see myself as lazy — but if you give me a choice of the easy way or the hard way I can’t help it: I’m going to default to the easy way. … Once you say, OK, ’free’ money, the next question has to be ’Why not more?’”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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