Your Get What You Pay For 0
John M. Crisp recounts some of the public facilities that he uses every day, such as the highway system, and those he hopes he never has to use, such as the fire department. Then he points out, as I have from time to time, that taxes are the price for living in a civilized society. A nugget:
This position is based on two dubious economic principles: first, that Americans know more about what to do with their money than the government does. And, second, if we let the rich, especially, keep more of their money, they’ll create plenty of jobs for the rest of us.
Perhaps. But these sound like rationales produced in the service of the basic human desire to hold on selfishly to our own resources rather than share them for a greater good. In any case, they violate another fundamental economic principle: You have to pay for what you get.
Can we look around and say that our society is more civilized today than it was before the Republicans started their relentless assault on the polity?
