Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Liberal Values in the Balance
It is well known that modern day liberals in the U.S. place income and wealth redistribution high on their list of policies government should pursue. Imagine their anguish when the Republicans made them the offer of raising the minimum wage in exchange for permanently eliminating the estate tax. The holy grail of the liberal’s agenda is and has been raising the minimum wage. Not only is it an income redistribution tool. It also allows a liberal to do his next favorite thing, i.e., interfere in the free market by mandating the price of labor. A two-fer in the patois of the political class.
On the other hand, allowing people to pass on wealth without grabbing a chunk of it for the government is cause for horrendous heartburn in the redistributionist’s world. So, what to do given the choice of ending a wealth grab in exchange for hiking the minimum wage? Punish employers or punish people with significant estates? As it turns out, we know the answer. Keep the estate tax and hope perhaps for a minimum wage boost in some other compromise. So, at first blush, it would appear that punishing folks with estates is the higher value for modern day liberals.
Alternatively, it could be that Senators who refused to support the swap simply do not believe their own propaganda about how critically important it is to raise the minimum wage. Remember all that hyperbolic rhetoric about America needing a raise so badly? But apparently not as badly as it needs to keep the death tax. Then again, maybe the Senators realized that with the vast throngs of illegal aliens who will work for what they can get and for whom the minimum wage is irrelevant, a boost in the minimum wage for Americans could actually price some Americans out of a job as illegals become even more attractive. Or is that giving too much credit to people for whom the role of supply and demand is a mere nuisance?
We can count on the death tax doing one thing: It will keep an army of financial advisors and tax accountants in business. Surely that cannot be an ulterior motive for the Senators’ refusal to make the offered trade.
It does make good campaign rhetoric to beat up Republicans for tying the two issues together. But to the extent many on the left need the “moral” victory of an increased minimum wage, it will not be a good selling point.
On the other hand, allowing people to pass on wealth without grabbing a chunk of it for the government is cause for horrendous heartburn in the redistributionist’s world. So, what to do given the choice of ending a wealth grab in exchange for hiking the minimum wage? Punish employers or punish people with significant estates? As it turns out, we know the answer. Keep the estate tax and hope perhaps for a minimum wage boost in some other compromise. So, at first blush, it would appear that punishing folks with estates is the higher value for modern day liberals.
Alternatively, it could be that Senators who refused to support the swap simply do not believe their own propaganda about how critically important it is to raise the minimum wage. Remember all that hyperbolic rhetoric about America needing a raise so badly? But apparently not as badly as it needs to keep the death tax. Then again, maybe the Senators realized that with the vast throngs of illegal aliens who will work for what they can get and for whom the minimum wage is irrelevant, a boost in the minimum wage for Americans could actually price some Americans out of a job as illegals become even more attractive. Or is that giving too much credit to people for whom the role of supply and demand is a mere nuisance?
We can count on the death tax doing one thing: It will keep an army of financial advisors and tax accountants in business. Surely that cannot be an ulterior motive for the Senators’ refusal to make the offered trade.
It does make good campaign rhetoric to beat up Republicans for tying the two issues together. But to the extent many on the left need the “moral” victory of an increased minimum wage, it will not be a good selling point.
