By Vern Holmquist 
I recently received a letter from a reader who thought I was picking on the rich. He may be right and I appreciate his letter. Perhaps, I do have a tainted view.
I was raised in Montana, the entire country seemed to be deep in depression except for this town in that valley that grew 100 bushels of wheat per acre and raised pure bred cattle that were still in demand.
On Main Street there was a beautiful mansion, built like a fortress with a solid copper roof and all. The man who owned the mansion, at least to those who did not know him too well, well, he was a man to be honored and respected because he was a very rich man.
In talking with old timers who knew the man, well, the story was a little different. I was operating a little tobacco shop that sold magazines. One day, an old-timer was breezing through an article in “True” magazine praising this rich man and his accomplishments. “Who the heck wrote this article, his mother?” the old timer asked.
The true story, according to some, was that this rich man started out in Texas with a small herd of cattle and some well-armed drovers with long ropes. Every cow that came within the drovers’ range was roped and branded, even though the cows had been branded by their rightful owner. By the time the man reached Montana, he had a very large herd. It was said he has so many enemies he never left his home unarmed.
Yes, he did some nice things for the town in his later years, but he was no less a cattle thief.
I’m sure there are some honest rich people, but those who gained their wealth through loopholes in our laws; those who fraudulently took money away from their customers, investors and workers; those who paid bribe money to get laws through our Congress enabling them to reach unearned high profits; those CEOs or company presidents who received huge bonuses for illegal practices earning unwarranted profits; should they, too, not be labeled thieves and prosecuted as such?
Let’s be honest and put some of our elected officials in the same category. Our government should not say “Those who stole it, should be able to keep it.”
It wasn’t the poor people who put us in this financial mess. It’s the people intent on achieving wealth at whatever the cost – as long as they don’t get caught.
A recently encountered definition of curmudgeon: “A crusty, old man who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so, one with the habit of point out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner.”
