The other day on Public Radio a conservative economist was interviewed about the federal budget battle now going on in Washington. He was asked the usual questions and gave the usual answers. Until, that is, he was asked whether he didn’t think that the rich should share the sacrifices that deep program cuts would impose on the poor. His answer to this question blew me away.
He said that they would share these sacrifices. The reason being that the same program cuts applied to all equally, and any sacrifices would therefore be shared by all.
Well, sure. If public school classes soar in size because of education cuts, the children of both rich and poor would suffer equally — unless, of course, the rich send their kids to private schools. And if cuts in infrastructure programs put working people who repair things like roads and bridges on the unemployment line, than any rich construction workers would also lose their jobs — though that is not generally the kind of work done by the very well-to-do.
The French writer, Anatole France, famously noted that “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”
So in the great federal government shrinkage about to begin, all will suffer equally. From the conservative economist perspective. And you thought these people had no heart.
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