‘The country’s preoccupation with income inequality has become the fount of many bad ideas. Among the very worst comes from Stanford University professor of economics Ronald McKinnon. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he proposes the most radical of reforms under the most soothing of titles: The Conservative Case for a Wealth Tax.’
Of course, behind the income “inequality” crowd, is the equality crowd, and most of the Left. Even if Obama is not re-elected, we’re not out of the woods.
Related On This Site: Richard Epstein At The Hoover Institution Journal: ‘Three Cheers for Income Inequality’…A Few Quotations From F.A. Hayek’s: ‘Why I Am Not A Conservative’…Repost-From Fora Via YouTube: ‘Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions
From The New England Journal Of Medicine Via CATO: ‘The Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate’
From If-Then Knots: Health Care Is Not A Right…But Then Neither Is Property?… From The New Yorker: Atul Gawande On Health Care-”The Cost Conundrum”…Sally Pipes At Forbes: ‘A Plan That Leads Health Care To Nowhere’…Peter Suderman At The WSJ: ‘Obamacare And The Medicaid Mess’
chr1
Epstein at his usual best! He challenges McKinnon on every front and deftly shatters the attacks on the inequality of wealth. Obama’s current ‘class envy’ stratgey has a core belief(often unspoken in public speeches) that most wealth is acquired by tainted means. Except that of Warren Buffet and the remainder of his campign contributors.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Wealth acquired by “tainted” free market, corporate (just an incorporated entity, really), people without the guiding hand of wise benevolent gov’t (and our betters working toward equality and justice and “shared sacrifice”) just won’t do for the left.
Some say they want a “balance,” between free markets and proper redistribution,but before they know it,they’ve got a union fed, highly regulated, politics-in-every-pocket, less free, lees wealthy limited opportunity environment (like most of the rest of 1st and 2nd worlds)
Epstein makes a good case about why it is that even the marginal tax increases can radically alter the liquid capital necesssary for so much economic activity, innovation, risk-taking, start ups, creativity and a better standard of living for so many
You do realize the challenge ahead…we have the true blood believers in the greatness of Western European socialists (which you have aptly described as (creating) a “union fed, highly regulated, politics-in-every-pocket, less free, lees wealthy limited opportunity environment ” combined with the federal teat-sucking majority who pay no taxes and only want some more of “Obama’s stash” as one enthralled supporter said after his coronation.