Why Redistribution Fails
okt. 2015 · Encounter Books
E-bog
48
Sider
reportBedømmelser og anmeldelser verificeres ikke Få flere oplysninger
Om denne e-bog
Democratic presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, along with progressive economists like Thomas Piketty and Paul Krugman, have made a case for redistributing income from the wealthy to the poor as a means of reducing inequalities in income and wealth. Meanwhile, public opinion polls show that voters reject programs of redistribution in favor of policies designed to promote overall economic growth and job creation. While voters are concerned about inequality, they are more skeptical of the capacity of the government to do anything about it without making matters worse for everyone.
In this Broadside, James Piereson explains why the voters are right and the progressive politicians and economists are wrong. As he demonstrates, the progressive case is based upon a serious fallacy: it assumes that the government is actually capable of redistributing income from the wealthy to the poor. For reasons of policy, tradition, and constitutional design, this is not the case. The United States currently has one of the more progressive income tax systems in the industrial world but it does little to redistribute income from the wealthy to the poor. One reason for this is that, though the government spends vast sums on programs to aid the poor, most of these funds flow to providers of services rather than to the poor themselves. Thus, whatever one may think of inequality, redistributive tax and spending policies are unlikely to do much to ameliorate it but will instead line the pockets of providers and advocates who wield great influence in Washington.
In this Broadside, James Piereson explains why the voters are right and the progressive politicians and economists are wrong. As he demonstrates, the progressive case is based upon a serious fallacy: it assumes that the government is actually capable of redistributing income from the wealthy to the poor. For reasons of policy, tradition, and constitutional design, this is not the case. The United States currently has one of the more progressive income tax systems in the industrial world but it does little to redistribute income from the wealthy to the poor. One reason for this is that, though the government spends vast sums on programs to aid the poor, most of these funds flow to providers of services rather than to the poor themselves. Thus, whatever one may think of inequality, redistributive tax and spending policies are unlikely to do much to ameliorate it but will instead line the pockets of providers and advocates who wield great influence in Washington.
Om forfatteren
James Piereson is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and president of the William E. Simon Foundation. He is a frequent contributor to various journals and newspapers, including The New Criterion, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, and The Washington Post. He is the author of The Inequality Hoax (2014) and Shattered Consensus: The Rise and Decline of America's Post War Political Order (2015).
Bedøm denne e-bog
Fortæl os, hvad du mener.
Oplysninger om læsning
Smartphones og tablets
Installer appen Google Play Bøger til Android og iPad/iPhone. Den synkroniserer automatisk med din konto og giver dig mulighed for at læse online eller offline, uanset hvor du er.
Bærbare og stationære computere
Du kan høre lydbøger, du har købt i Google Play via browseren på din computer.
e-læsere og andre enheder
Hvis du vil læse på e-ink-enheder som f.eks. Kobo-e-læsere, skal du downloade en fil og overføre den til din enhed. Følg den detaljerede vejledning i Hjælp for at overføre filerne til understøttede e-læsere.
