re: #50 recusancy

I think a lot of the conservatives here would agree with this post.

I agree with the quoted paragraph. But the material not quoted, while factual, presents a somewhat one-sided picture.

For instance, on taxes, the top marginal rate is lower than it was in Ike’s time. So the rich are getting a free ride? But if we look at the share of the federal income tax paid by the top 1 percent, I’d bet it’s higher than in Ike’s time. Or if we look at the share of the federal income tax paid by that fraction of the public, whatever it is, that made the top 10 percent of all the money? Again, I’d bet that top ten percent of money paid more of the taxes than in Ike’s time, and certainly a higher fraction of it went to taxes.

Or look at income inequality. It’s risen. But part of that has more to do with immigration trends than tax law, and anyhow, if one looks at consumption inequality, the many programs for the poor that did not exist in Ike’s day now mitigate the inequality in pre-tax, pre-transfer income.