Comments on: On Income Differences

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:07:00 +0000

In what little I can bring to the discussion, I have been debating (closer to fighting I suppose) with a friend over this exact point. The essential point is simply that when we talk about income distribution versus redistribution, we are talking about very different things, despite the fact that the words sound similar.

It may not be particularly helpful to further the discussion, but it certainly seems true enough.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:44:00 +0000

“Your morality, and Boudreaux’, and Thatcher’s, doesn’t just miss the point, but plays into the enemy’s hands.”Please explain…

By: DG Lesvic

DG Lesvic — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:18:00 +0000

Bab,

Your morality, and Boudreaux’, and Thatcher’s, doesn’t just miss the point, but plays into the enemy’s hands.

For, if the policy doesn’t work, the morality of it isn’t an issue. So, by making an issue of it, you imply that it does work, that plunder pays, and freedom doesn’t.

And, with friends like that….

By: DG Lesvic

DG Lesvic — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:16:00 +0000

babinich,

Your morality still misses the point.

Taking from the rich to give to the poor doesn’t reduce but increases inequality, and is immoral from the redistributionist’s own standard.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:31:00 +0000

“To worry about differences in earned incomes simply because some persons earn more than other persons is to wallow in envy. And envy is, and ought to remain, a deadly sin rather than be fashioned into a livewire for energizing public policy.”

Paging PM Thatcher…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okHGCz6xxiw&feature=player_embedded#

By: DG Lesvic

DG Lesvic — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:28:00 +0000

Martin Brock,

I must have had you wrong. I considered you someone not to be bothered with, but your response to Muirgeo on the Norway issue was a classic, and I have incorporated it into my book.

See Chapter XLIX, that’s 49, for you ingoramuses, The Joy of Paying Taxes.

From now on I will have to take you seriously, so PLEASE don’t make me regret it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:10:00 +0000

Cherry picking a few tiny nations that you think merit your state worship, and then asserting that the rest of the world is “probably” similar, doesn’t demonstrate anything.

Well, it demonstrates that our dear ducktor has the IQ of a dead battery.

By: Robert Dell

Robert Dell — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:44:00 +0000

Growing inequality at the top end of the income spectrum is not
necessarily an undesirable trend. As James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation points out, it depends on the source of inequality:

“Consider the impact of Google, Inc. The company’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are now worth more than $16 billion each. Their financial success has made America a demonstrably less equal country, and most Americans are better off for it.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:54:00 +0000

But that’s exactly what I do when I purchase Treasury securities.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:15:00 +0000

Our society functions because you wouldn’t really do that. Most of us want to get along with everyone else.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:12:00 +0000

I could buy guns with my hard-earned dollars and earn the yield of the guns by threatening to shoot you if you don’t provide it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:59:00 +0000

Norway is a ridiculous comparison. It has 1.5% of the U.S. population, but it’s one of the world’s largest oil and gas exporters. Denmark has a similar population without the huge petroleum reserves, and its per capita GDP is less than eighty percent of the U.S. value. The per capita GDP of the European Union is seventy percent of the U.S. value.

Cherry picking a few tiny nations that you think merit your state worship, and then asserting that the rest of the world is “probably” similar, doesn’t demonstrate anything.

By: Econophile

Econophile — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:33:00 +0000

Don,

You have a wonderful way of putting things. You should put together a book of your pithy comments, “The Sayings of Don.”

Good work. Now if the Times would only publish your comments.

By: Econophile

Econophile — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:33:00 +0000

Don,

You have a wonderful way of putting things. You should put together a book of your pithy comments, “The Sayings of Don.”

Good work. Now if the Times would only publish your comments.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:23:00 +0000

One difference between “individual rights” and “guaranteed security” is that one exists, and the other does not.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:23:00 +0000

One difference between “individual rights” and “guaranteed security” is that one exists, and the other does not.

By: Todd

Todd — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Muirgeo, what are you talking about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

The US is easily at the top, with the exception of a few small countries like Luxembourg and, yes, Norway. Give me one European country– just one– with a population greater than the size of NYC (~8mm people) to make your point.

The answer is, there isn’t one. It’s not even close. I suggest you check your facts before making such claims.

By: Todd

Todd — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Muirgeo, what are you talking about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

The answer is, there isn’t one. It’s not even close. I suggest you check your facts before making such claims.

By: DG Lesvic

DG Lesvic — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Catsup,

You’re missing the point about income inequality.

Your efforts to reduce it by force will only make it worse.

By: DG Lesvic

DG Lesvic — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Catsup,

You’re missing the point about income inequality.

Your efforts to reduce it by force will only make it worse.