Robin Hood Narratives, Zero-sum Thinking

Here’s more of what we’ve come to expect from the wealth-is-one-big-pie crowd:

"In an era of falling wages for folks in the middle and at the bottom, a disappearing middle class and unprecedented incomes at the top, the tax cut on the rich is one of the latest, best worst example of the new American plutocracy — a place where the wealthy shamelessly line their pockets at the expense of the many; slowly transforming our country into a banana republic on steroids while the press and the public snooze idly by on the sidelines."

Sigh. The sad part is, this narrative of fat rich people making snow angels in gold coins while the poor choke on dried breadcrumbs is again becoming the master narrative of government intervention. There is never a thought to opportunity costs of redistribution, of damage to the economy (i.e. damage done to jobs at the margins), and to new investment opportunities that would create jobs and make people less dependent. It’s always about redistribution. Never about the unintended consequences of redistribution. It’s about taking from "the greedy." But they ignore the fact that greed creates wealth. Robin Hood is a far easier story to tell than the story of how prosperity is a positive-sum arrangement created by individuals engaged in exchange.

While I agree that there are fat-cats in the General Assembly colluding with business – many of whom are probably corrupt – I cannot abide this constant narrow-minded soak-the-wealthy rhetoric, which blames people for being successful, creating prosperity, and providing opportunities for us all. The government never created anything it did not first take. We should never forget that.