In his Sept. 12 letter, “On wealth,” Phil Winter thinks entrepreneurs should get more credit than they have been given and the right to keep more of their wealth. I strongly disagree.
Ideas and vision are great, but they don’t produce anything on their own. Employees show up every day, do the work, solve problems and keep the whole operation moving. Without them, no entrepreneur, no matter how brilliant, creates wealth.
Mr. Winter talks about risk and hard work, but workers take risks too. They risk their livelihoods every time a company cuts staff, changes direction or makes a bad decision. They deal with regulations, demanding customers, broken equipment and all the challenges that come with keeping a business afloat. They deserve far more credit for the prosperity they help build and a bigger chunk of the wealth their sweat creates.
It’s fine to debate taxes and wealth distribution. But pretending that entrepreneurs alone “create wealth” ignores the basic reality that labor turns ideas into actual products and services. Workers generate the value. Entrepreneurs benefit from the labor of others.
Before we criticize people who raise concerns about inequality, maybe we should look at how much of that wealth comes from the people on the ground doing the grunt work, and how little of it they have received back since the 1980s. Entrepreneurs may start the story, but workers write every chapter. They deserve a fair share of the wealth they create.
