"Human society is an association of persons for cooperative action."
~~Ludwig von Mises
"The so-called leftist parties...all look upon progressing material improvement as upon a self-acting process."
~~The same
Watch this video and consider: How can society exist and progress without the free and uncoordinated action of millions of individuals? (That's my reaction to the question at the end of the video.)
"Economics, as we have now seen again and again, is a science of recognizing secondaryconsequences."~~~Henry Hazlitt, Economics In One Lesson
What would happen if the current income and estate tax rates stayed the same? That is, what first and second consequences would ensue from not raising taxes?
Americans would do one of three things with their un-confiscated property. Any of these would be a first consequence of not raising taxes:
Spend it
Save it
Invest it
And then there are the secondary consequences of not raising taxes:
If spent, un-confiscated property contributes to economic activity. That's good in a recession
If saved, un-confiscated property adds to capital accumulation which makes more capital available for lending, thus increasing credit availability. That's good in a recession.
If invested, un-confiscated property contributes to capital investment without which broad economic expansion cannot take place. That's good in a recession.
If government decreases the amount of property it allows Americans to keep, all three of these opportunities expire. That's a consequence of raising taxes and that's not good in a recession.
Meet Bill Whittle from The Firewall. He looks a bit like Jim Carey, talks like an understudy of Hayek. Excellent!
Whittle presents the fundamentals of freedom-based conservatism, or what we more broadly call classical liberalism, in plain language and with historical perspective. His presentations are well worth taking in and passing along.
"There's only one really progressive idea. And that is the idea of legally limiting the power of the government."
