Academic

ROGER KIMBALL: Laffer vs. Zakaria ? Who?s Right? ?I do not expect that argument to make much of a?

By Glenn Reynolds

ROGER KIMBALL: Laffer vs. Zakaria — Who’s Right? “I do not expect that argument to make much of an impression on Fareed Zakaria or anyone else carrying water for the Democratic establishment. Why not? Because the economic effect of reducing taxes is for them a secondary consideration. What matters most to them is the political effect of raising taxes. . . . I believe the primary motivation was touched upon by Alexis de Tocqueville when he observed that the passion for equality was such in America that many people would ‘rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.’ And here we touch upon the toxic core of Obama?s economic policy: the admixture of economics, which is a pragmatic art or science, with the idea of ‘fairness,’ which is a moral or (more accurately) a moralistic issue.”

Personally, I believe that “fairness” consists in the fruits of my labor not being taken by corrupt hacks to redistribute to their cronies in exchange for votes.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on August 02, 2010 (boomark / email).