Get it here, hot off the presses.
Update: Fixed the link, sorry.
« Clubbing | Main | Left Brain, Right Brain » Me Versus Chait10 Sep 2007 04:59 pm Comments (6)
You make a sound enough point, Ross, but as LaFollette Progressive points out, sometimes people do argue in bad faith. Here's the meat of Chait's argument in his post: the GOP agenda is primarily an exercise in the upward redistribution of wealth. This agenda usually conforms to the tenets of small government ideology – government tends to tax more from the rich and spend more on the non-rich – but when the two diverge, Republicans almost invariably side with the rich over small government principles. Thus the farm bill, the Medicare bill (which was written as if to maximize profits for the health care industry), various trade bills, tougher IRS audits of the poor, student loans (where Republicans support far more costly private lending) – the list goes on and on. I don't doubt that if you were emperor, the GOP would implement a more coherent program. But that's not the planet we're living on. On this planet, the GOP pursues ideologically contradictory policies that all tend to redistribute wealth upward. Maybe it's on purpose. 
Fine We'll defend the Laffer curve, don't think rates can't go up precipitously how did taxes go up to effectively 90% by the 1940s. You defend
So you think there's a difference between "growth, growth, growth" and "money, money, money"...?
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That's a bad link. Here's a link that works.
Your point about motives is a good one insofar as friendly blog debates go. Chait's work is clearly intended as a polemic, though, and he's very good at writing those. The book is a political attack, and should be judged by that standard.
There certainly are people on the Right who really do believe that the well-to-do pay too much in taxes, and their primary goal is to make sure that "the poor" receive fewer benefits and "the rich" pay lower taxes. I grew up in a Midwestern suburb. I went to school with these people.
I don't assume ALL Republicans think this way and argue about tax policy in bad faith. But it would be naive to believe that no one argues in bad faith. Many people do. Interest group lobbyists and trial lawyers do it for a living. Never assume that the person talking to you believes every word he's saying. Not unless you want to end up owning a bridge in Brooklyn.
Posted by LaFollette Progressive | September 10, 2007 6:03 PM