23 October 2001
Daydreaming with Reich
Robert Reich's daydreaming has reached nonsensical levels today!
What do I mean precisely?
Let's work backwards for a change.
Reich's op-ed concludes:
Americans like to think we're all in this together. But if the tax bill now emerging in the House becomes law, the richest of us will be excused.
Right-thinking, compassionate Americans should be alarmed and upset, right?!
Well, perhaps. Aside from the fact that Robert Reich is banging on a straw man he has created. The current tax bill, of course, does not touch payroll taxes. Rather, raising payroll taxes is Reich's "most likely solution" (paragraph nine) to what he suspects will be lingering budget deficits (not to mention shortfalls in the social security trust that we know are coming eventually). So the alarmist conclusion of his article -- a typically liberal class-warfare attack -- is entirely premised upon a payroll tax increase that is "likely" in his mind.
Note that Reich's real beef is that the House has not made its tax cuts temporary (paragraph seven). Now, I have plenty of quibbles with what the House has done, but the "permanent" nature of the tax cuts (like any tax cut is ever permanent!) is not one of them. Rather, supply-side types like myself are inclined to think that permanent tax cuts ARE stimulative, and that a growing economy coupled with spending restraint is one way to cure budget deficits -- and thereby avoid Robert Reich's dire "most likely" scenario.
But that message is not nearly as much fun as scaring the hell out of people and fomenting class envy -- the modus operandi for pessimistic class warriors like Robert Reich.
[Posted @ 09:32 AM CST]
