The rich man's party...
by Tim Bayly on February 12, 2013 - 10:49am
Good piece by Bob Patterson on the need for the Republican Party to turn an eye—only one, OK?—to the middle class. Doubt they'll listen.
Bob starts with an "Eewww" for the National Review and its recent policy summit. I'm always up for bashing the men who gave over conservatism to the neocons.
Anyhow, teaser quote:
The (Republican) party needs a new policy platform—not a repackaging of Ayn Rand novels or the ideology of Austrian economists...
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Comments
I'm actually thinking that if the GOP turns to the Austrians, they'll be putting not just one, but both eyes on the middle class. What we have currently in terms of subsidies for "small business" really favors either (a) businesses big enough to hire lobbyists and (b) politically connected businesses. So ironically, we might be able to help the middle class MORE by abolishing the SBA and other subsidies for business.
Which is to say that I think that Patterson sees the symptoms correctly, but ironically the problem causing the symptoms is the very Lincolnesque/Hamiltonian model that DC has been following--a system that favors the politically connected while saddling the middle class with ruinous SBA loans.
Nobody wants to say this, but when we, as a society, decided that the norm would be for moms to work outside the home, we nearly doubled the work force without doubling the demand for workers. Surprise! Real earnings per capita started to decline. You don't have to be Austrian to realize that, if you double the supply and leave demand the same, the price is going down.
Per Dan's comment, what about ending subsidies for daycare for the middle class and up? Compensate by increasing the deduction per dependent.
Simplify the tax code, eliminate a subsidy, what's not to like?
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