Name:   copperline - Subject:   to Hodja Date:   8/26/2016 3:27:05 PM

Yes, I agree the basic question is how much the government should participate in the marketplace, and to what extent it should levy taxes that could stifle growth of the non-government sector.   That debate is where we (conservatives and progressives) will have to focus our attention in the future.   The devil is in the details.   

Right now, we are still stuck in seeing it as an all-in or all-out proposition…. And neither of those is realistic. 

I’m an investor, dependent on my savings & Social Security to support me for the rest of my life.  I don’t have a retiree pension from the government or a corporation.    And I know that some of my opinions on economics are not necessarily in my best interests.   Higher taxes, for instance, would take from me and go to support things like schools … but I don’t have any kids who are in school… so no benefit to me there. 

 But then, maybe it’s not all about me.

I also came up in a society where if it weren’t for government intervention, there wouldn’t be a fair playing field for a lot of people.   When we were born, black people couldn’t even vote and if you were poor & sick… plenty of people just didn’t have anywhere to turn.   Government programs expanded to protect lots of people and promoted the growth of the middle class… leading to more consumers…. And invigorating the US economy.   Scaling back the protections of government oversight in favor of the ‘moral vision’ of US corporations seems to me as foolish as letting George Wallace run the Economic Opportunity Commission.