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On February 28, Dr. Thomas Stanley, researcher and author of the classic personal finance book The Millionaire Next Door died in a car accident. I consider Dr. Stanley a hero for shedding light on the average American millionaire: not a bejeweled star on the red carpet or an NFL quarterback driving a Lamborghini, but a small business owner who lives in a modest house and drives a Ford. His work showed that it was possible to for ordinary people to build wealth and provided the (albeit unintentional) road-map of how to do it. The LA Times has decided to commemorate the death of this man who inspired a generation of readers to live frugally with a piece that quotes socialist writer Helaine Olen as an “expert.” Although Stanley and his co-author presented case-study after case-study and survey after survey of the average American millionaire with the meticulous notation of a scientific journal, LA Times writer Michael Hiltzik decides to throw up Swiss cheese arguments from left wing activists saying that the “Millionaire Next Door Dream” is a myth, while addressing nothing in the substance of the book (or Dr. Stanley’s subsequent works). He then, bizarrely, tries to discredit the success of Ronald Read, a recently deceased gentleman who was living proof of Stanley’s message. (Mr. Read worked menial jobs all his life and died at age 92 with a fortune of $8 million.) At one point, the writer stoops so low as to make fun of how Dr. Stanley died, chiding him for driving a corvette. The LA Times is a liberal newspaper, but the fact that they would shed every ounce of class to run an article that belongs on an Occupy Wall Street blog shows how desperate the Left is to mold every event to their agenda, even the death of a hero. I think the best way to answer them is to use Tammy’s Amazon link to buy Thomas Stanley’s books and judge them for yourself.
P.S. It’s a sad day when the classy, balanced tribute to Thomas Stanley’s work comes from… The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/07/your-money/paying-tribute-to-thomas-stanley-and-his-millionaire-next-door.html?ref=business&_r=0