Steal From the Poor, Give to the Rich

Big government often passes itself off as a kind of Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, but in practice, it often works the other way around.

As a part-owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, Jay Z profited at taxpayer expense when the state of New York abused its eminent domain powers to seize privately-owned homes and business and then handed that land over to fellow Nets owner and real estate tycoon Bruce Ratner, who built a new arena for the Nets to call home in Brooklyn.

Oh, and Jay Z endorsed Pres Obama.

But that shouldn't be surprising, since most wealthy people vote Democrat.

UPDATE (08NOV12): Pres Obama won eight of the ten wealthiest counties.

In an election that often focused on debates about class warfare, President Barack Obama was favored over multimillionaire businessman Mitt Romney in eight of the nation's 10 wealthiest counties.

And his margin of victory in all eight counties was greater than that of the national vote, in which Obama was leading by 50 percent to 48 percent with 97 percent of precincts reporting.

The findings are based on a CNBC.com analysis of Census Bureau numbers on average annual household income from 2006-2011 and results from Tuesday's elections.

Which is the "party of the rich"?