Mike Rowe: Democratic Debate Was Millionaires ‘Arguing Over Who Hates The Millionaires The Most’

Mike Rowe, the former host of the popular TV show “Dirty Jobs,” has a way of cutting through the BS and telling it like it is.

He watched the Democratic debate this week and then appeared on Fox News, once again separating the wheat from the chaff.

“Look, in the end you’ve got millionaires arguing with millionaires over who hates the millionaires the most,” Rowe said.

Rowe said the Democrats pushing massive tax hikes, which includes Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, are wrong. But he said he’s all ears for new solutions. On Sanders call to raise the tax rate to 97.5% on the 400 wealthiest Americans, Rowe said, “Yeah, OK. It’s a free country. Float ‘em. Fly ‘em. Run ‘em up the old flagpole — see who salutes.”

“And I guess it’s a conversation we’ll have,” he said. “But I remember a couple of years ago, I took my meager staff over the Reagan Ranch … One of the stories they tell is the time when Ronald Reagan just finally decided he was done doing movies. He was just done because he was paying 92% of every dollar he made on films. And it was just math. He wasn’t done acting, he just looked at it and did some basic calculus and said, ‘Not for me anymore. It makes no sense to do this,’” Rowe said.

Rowe pointed out that high-tax states are losing residents.

“I live in California. I just read a report that said the exodus this year as a result of a 13.5% state tax and some other tweaks to the system is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before,” he said. “So I know it’s convenient. It’s fun to kind of 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 where the math is better.”

Rowe puts his money where his mouth is. He gives out Work Ethic Scholarships through the mikeroweWORKS Foundation. He also recently published a book, “The Way I Heard It,” which is an Amazon best seller.

The author also said giving out free money — which some candidates want to do via a Universal Basic Income (UBI), is not a great plan. One California city is currently doing a test of the idea, giving out $1,000 a month.

“Why not $2,000? Why not $3,000?” Rowe said. “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?’”

 

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