Liberal Understanding of Economics is a Millimeter Wide and a Micrometer Deep

During Obama's State of the Union address, he falsely claimed that he paid a lower tax rate than teachers.  Then again, one should expect such sophomoric falsehoods from this regime, considering that the educational level of Obama's State of the Union addresses consistently rank lower than his predecessors'.  The Democratic Party continues to circulate lies about the debt record of previous administrations.  Liberal understanding of economics reminds one of President Reagan's famous quip: "[T]he trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so."

Consider, for example, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's Luddite-style whining about how technology is displacing workers.  This shallow analysis completely ignores the necessity of businesses to invest in more mechanized production that can flood the market with cheap products to compete with foreign imports.  There is no need for businesses to lay off any workers if they are all gainfully employed operating a mechanized assembly line.  The strength of foreign imports lies in the fact that their workers receive lower wages and work longer hours, thus reducing production cost.  But if US workers, using machines, can produce a much larger number of products/worker, then the average production cost will be lower.  Rather than wasting money on public education, the government should cut corporate taxes thus enabling businesses to invest in the means of production.  Under this model, the mechanized production line should be simple to operate, thus obviating the need for a highly educated work force.

Fortunately, there are still pockets of sanity in the US.  In Indiana, the state house voted 54-44 in favor of right-to-work legislation.  Finally, in light of how enamored liberals are with raising taxes on the rich, the libertarian law professor Glenn Reynolds suggests raising taxes on Hollywood actors.  This is a tax increase I can believe in!  I hope that Obama will bring the country together by raising taxes on actors, a measure that may enjoy bipartisan support.