It has nothing to do with largess and everything to do with what the government actually does to promote a thriving system of business. Things like the rule of law. Enforcement of contracts. Prosecution of blackmail. Securities and exchange commission to give people the confidence to invest. The US treasury which prints money to use in commerce. The interstate highway system over which much commerce travels and depends. The idea that government is nothing but a parasite on business is ridiculous.

I never said government had no function. I said the wealthy do not get any more direct benefit from what government does than anyone else. The idea that somehow they have to be forced to "pay back" something to society when they have achieved their goals is ridiculous. If they want to do something like that voluntarily, more power to them.

BTW, you have just described some of the few legitimate functions of government. I could argue on libertarian grounds over the interstate highway system, and the Federal Reserve monetary system, but that would be nitpicking.

You do realize, of course, that all of these functions combined occupy about only a third of the total Federal budget?

A third of the Federal Budget pays for Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, State and International Assistance Programs, Justice, Labor, Transportation, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, and the Small Business Administration.

Theoretically, you could cut our taxes by two thirds and still pay for all the functions that you say create the environment that allows a free market to prosper. And then some. There's still a hell of a lot of fat in that list.

If you eliminated everything except law and contract enforcement and protection of rights, the bill would get a lot smaller.

Everything else we pay for is "largesse" as you put it. Wealth redistribution, as others put it. Money pumped directly into someone else's pocket.

BTW, I don't know what you consider "rich," but my wife and I between us grossed enough to put us well into the top 5 percent bracket of income. Which, for the record, pays about 57 percent of all the income taxes.