Growls

In an op-ed in today’s Washington Post’s Outlook section, Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, responds to President Obama’s claim that it’s ‘fair’ to raise taxes on the rich. After providing evidence from several economic studies, he concludes by writing:

“When politicians argue that, for the sake of fairness, we must raise taxes on the entrepreneurial class — and make those “millionaires and billionaires” bring us a few state-subsidized beers on the beach — they are unwittingly undermining the possibility of achieving the opportunity society they regret not having.

“We are not a perfect opportunity society in the United States. But if we want to approach that ideal, we must define fairness as meritocracy, embrace a system that rewards merit, and work tirelessly for true equal opportunity. The system that makes this possible, of course, is free enterprise. When I work harder or longer hours in the free-enterprise system, I am generally paid more than if I work less in the same job. Investments in my education translate into market rewards. Clever ideas usually garner more rewards than bad ones, as judged not by a politburo, but by citizens in the marketplace.

[ . . . ]

“But when a government that has overspent for years turns to tax increases instead of spending cuts simply for the sake of “fairness,” it weakens free enterprise, lowers opportunity and impoverishes us in many ways.

“And that is simply unfair.”

The inimitable Mark Steyn has an op-ed this weekend at National Review Online in which he asks how much longer can the dollar remain the world’s currency standard. Steyn predicts that by 2023, “the dollar will no longer be the global reserve currency, and concludes saying:

“. . . Forty years ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Connally told Europe that the dollar is “our currency but your problem.” The rest of the world is now inverting the proposition: The dollar is our problem but, in the end, it’s your currency, not ours. In Beijing, in Delhi, in Riyadh, in Rio, the rest of the planet is moving relentlessly toward a post-dollar regime.

“What will America look like without the dollar as global currency? My old boss Conrad Black recently characterized what’s happened over the last half-century as a synchronized group devaluation by Western currencies. That’s a useful way of looking at it. What obscured it was the dollar’s global role. When the dollar’s role is ended, the reality of a comatose “superpower” living off a fifth of a billion in borrowed dollars every single hour of the day is harder to obscure.

“In the absence of responsible American leadership, the most important decisions about your future will be made by foreigners for whom fatuous jingles about “shared values” have less resonance. If you don’t want the certainty of a poorer, more decrepit, more diseased, more violent America, you need to demand your politicians act now — or there won’t be a 2023.”

Finally, Gallup provided poll results on April 14, 2011 that highlighted the “partisan and class gulf in Americans' views on taxing the rich.” According to Gallup:

“Substantial majorities of Democrats and of those with low incomes endorse the idea of redistributing wealth by heavy taxes on the rich. Two-thirds or more of Republicans and of those with higher incomes disagree.”

To reduce the partisanship and class gulf, provide copies of Brooks’ and Steyn’s op-eds to some of your Arlington neighbors.