Attack from Ward Three
Posted by David Foster on February 6th, 2009 (All posts by David Foster)
An interesting piece by David Brooks.
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Posted by David Foster on February 6th, 2009 (All posts by David Foster)
An interesting piece by David Brooks.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Good article. The only problem is that the new commissars will not only be telling the rich people what to do, but will be telling everybody what to do.
February 7th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Good article except that Brooks perpetuates the conceit that formerly rich people ran the country and govt functionaries had little power. In fact rich people have always had great political influence, but they never controlled anything, other than their own enterprises, in the centrally-planned way that statists would like to control things. By contrast, govt functionaries have always had tremendous power, often power greatly disproportionate to their nominal roles. A rich person can’t throw you in jail, but a police officer or IRS official can effectively ruin your life. Most of the people in these govt roles are honest, but as govt expands the number of corrupt officials increases and the increased spoils of bigger govt attract more corrupt people to govt work.