Kit Ričards i ekonomska politika

Forbes donosi nesvakidašnji tekst o Kit Ričardsu, gitaristi grupe Rolling Stones, na bazi njegove autobiografije pod nazivom „Life“. Kao što naslov posta kaže, tekst se bavi odnosom između njegovog uspeha u bavljenju muzikom (kao i uspeha Rolling Stones) i različitih koncepcija vođenja ekonomske i socijalne politike:

O nejednakosti:

His first guitar cost 10 British pounds, but since his mother couldn’t afford to pay for it, she got someone else to purchase it, and then that someone eventually defaulted. … As he explained it, “I firmly believe if you want to be a guitar player, you better start on acoustic and then graduate to electric.” Rather than allow his reduced economic circumstances to act as a barrier to achievement, he accentuated the positive, that he had a guitar, and proceeded to “play every spare moment I got.” Clearly Richards started at the bottom, and had less financial resources to fund his development much as there’s inequality among children today, but this was no deterrent. 

Richards’ view is that “if you want to get to the top, you’ve got to start at the bottom, same with anything.” Wise words from a wise man, and something politicians would do well remember as they seek to achieve equality through legislative fiat. Being at the bottom often drives creativity, as Richards’ story attests. Thank goodness British politicians weren’t giving out electric guitars back in the ‘50s.

O porezima:

Considering income taxes more broadly, Richards exposes the hubristic absurdity of confiscatory rates. With England taxing the country’s highest earners at 83% by the 1970s, Richards saw those rates as the equivalent of “being told to leave the country.” As Richards recounts, “The last thing I think the powers that be expected when they hit us with super-super tax is that we’d say, fine, we’ll leave. We’ll be another one not paying tax to you.” Of course that’s the beauty of wealth of the mind, as opposed to immovable wealth of the earth (think oil). Wealth of the mind which the Rolling Stones possessed in abundance made them highly mobile on the way to the band producing its classic album Exile on Main St. away from England in the South of France. England made the cost of success in the ‘70s expensive, so the Rolling Stones moved on. Amen.

O koristima od trgovine:

Considering trade, the deal that ensured the Rolling Stones’ long-term success was a 1965 contract with Decca Records. As Richards recalls, “It was an incredibly successful deal for both parties. Which is what a deal is supposed to be. I’m still getting paid off of it; it’s called the Decca balloon.” So often economic journalists decry imports given the belief that they weaken us, or that trade between “countries” must be balanced, but as Richards reminds, trade is always a two-way street whereby individuals exchange what they have for something they don’t. The Rolling Stones’ surplus was popular music, and they exchanged it with a company whose surplus was successful distribution of that music.

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