[guest post by Dana]

By this logic, if you’ve ever driven on a highway, attended a public school, or utilized any other taxpayer funded program, you can never claim to be self-made – even if you become a billionaire through sheer determination, hard work and a belief in yourself. As such, the term “self-made” no longer has any meaning or value in our society.

Here are some more examples of how Schultz’s accurate claim of being “self-made” has angered those on the left:

“Howard Schultz: I’m a self-made billionaire. Also Howard Schultz: The federal government paid for my housing,” tweeted Jamison Foser, who serves currently as a senior adviser to the Tom Steyer-founded political action committee NextGen America.

New York Times magazine’s Nikole Hannah-Jones said elsewhere that “Growing up in government-(i.e. taxpayer) subsidized housing is actually the opposite of making it by yourself. Your fellow Americans put in so your parents could provide you decent housing.” She was re-tweeted in this anti-poor sentiment by no less than MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

“No one is self-made,” grumbled economist David Rothschild. “‘Projects in Brooklyn’ are government funded housing. Government also educated him, etc. [Starbucks] thrives because US military ensures the security of our international trade, police/fire protect its buildings, roads/sidewalks transport their customers.”

Also, here is More:

Growing up in government-(ie taxpayer)subsidized housing is actually the opposite of making it by yourself. Your fellow Americans put in so your parents could provide you decent housing.

Beckett Adams sums up ridiculousness of it all:

We’re really going to do this? We’re going to stupidly pretend that “self-made” means something other than “I did not inherit my wealth”? It’d be one thing if these critics were aiming to tear down the idea of individualism. It’d be one thing if they sought to underscore a contradiction between Schultz’s personal story and his position on whether social safety nets ought to be eliminated (he hasn’t advocated for this).

But they’re not doing any of those things. Their complaints amount to nothing more than: You’re not “self-made” if you were once poor enough to qualify for government assistance. As New York magazine’s Ezekiel Kweku notes, this is just as stupid as saying, “you’re not self-made, your parents didn’t let you starve to death.”

At this rate, it’s a guarantee we’ll see even dumber attacks on the most vanilla personality ever to mull a presidential bid in the United States. For now, though, dunking on kids from the projects is the low point of the Left’s anti-Schultz freak out.

Wealth envy is such an unattractive quality. But hey, it’s so much easier to attack someone else for having the grit and fortitude to propel themselves from poverty to being a creator of wealth rather than push the big rock uphill and create one’s own wealth.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana