PBS economics correspondent Paul Solomon, interviewed Richard Epstein from the New York University School of Law.
The liberal and clearly uncomfortable Solomon gets schooled in free market capitalism.
The best quote:
You can tell the difference between a liberal and a conservative by the following test. A liberal believes that changes in taxes have very little effect on production, but huge effects favorable on distribution. Folks like myself believe it’s exactly the opposite. Very high tax rates or even small changes in taxes have very adverse effects on production and they do very little to produce redistribution because the money gets dissipated and taken away through the political process in the ways that even the most ardent supporters of redistribution will not like.
Mr. Epstein makes a valid point: “Inequality” in the market place is an incentive for competition and innovation. That’s what it boils down to: healthy competition that helps economies thrive. It also results in better consumer choices. Marxists, who are averse to capitalism anyway, hate that idea because it doesn’t take from those who earn (“evil wealthy” job creators) and give to those who won’t.
Socialism/Communism doesn’t work. It’s diametrically opposed to every founding principle of our Democratic Republic. It oppresses basic freedoms, stifles entrepreneurship, and forces entire populations into shared government-imposed misery. No one can be more successful than others because it would disrupt the concept of “wealth redistribution”. In other words, take from those who earn and give to those who don’t.
The “equality” socialists pine for is nothing less than suppression of opportunity and the chance to be as successful as you can. That means the acquisition of wealth, which is abhorrent to the Left.
Watch the whole video. Solomon’s body language alone is worth it.
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- Video: The inequality myth explained (hotair.com)
I once worked at a company that hired a lot of Russian immigrants. I remember, vividly, a comment made by one who came from Kiev when we were talking about such things.
She said, “At least we were all poor.” Great insight into the human heart and what gives dictators an ‘in’ to create that sort of idiotic social organization.
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