Like
many of his other public pronouncements, President Obama's recent
comment about self-made wealthy people -- "If you've been successful,
you didn't get there on your own" -- is a truism that actually proves
the opposite of what he suggests.
It's true, of course, that wealthy people use government services, as the president observes, and that little bit of truth lays the groundwork for a huge fallacy. The notion that the rich should pay a higher tax rate than others does not follow logically from the observation that they use government services. In fact, Obama's premise leads directly to the exact opposite conclusion.
Obama's premise is that we should view government as a service we should be expected to pay for:
It's true, of course, that wealthy people use government services, as the president observes, and that little bit of truth lays the groundwork for a huge fallacy. The notion that the rich should pay a higher tax rate than others does not follow logically from the observation that they use government services. In fact, Obama's premise leads directly to the exact opposite conclusion.
Obama's premise is that we should view government as a service we should be expected to pay for:
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business. you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
No comments:
Post a Comment