Job-Killing, Economy-Stifling Ideas

Guess what NYC mayor Bill de Blasio, Massachusett’s senator Elizabeth Warren, economist Joseph Stiglitz, DNC chairman Howard Dean, various union bosses, and celebrities Susan Sarandon and Steve Buscemi have in common? Their version of a Contract with America. “But for all the glitter associated with its big-name signers,” writes Cato Institute’s senior fellow Michael Tanner, “the manifesto is devoid of new ideas and, if enacted, could be counted on to plunge millions of Americans into poverty.”

What De Blasio, Warren, Dean, et al. are purposing is to make more “investments” in infrastructure, medical and scientific research, child care and after-school programs and increased college aid. And just how are these “investments” going to be funded? By raising taxes on the rich. Even though the top 1 percent of taxpayers already pay as much as 24 percent in federal income taxes, De Blasio/Warren & Gang would like to see that the 1 percenters “pay their fair share, through a 5 percent surtax on their income tax, among other tax increases.”

While Cato’s view on free trade differs somewhat from Young Research’s view—when one country (China) is rigging its currency against its trade partner (U.S.), as well as restricting imports, can it be called “free trade?”—there are plenty of other issues that can be agreed upon as serious contenders to the detriment of economic freedom, entrepreneurship, and upward mobility.

Mr. Tanner maintains that these views, so out of touch with reality, are meant to push the Democratic Party, especially Hillary, further to the left. Ms. Clinton has so far avoided taking positions on most issues, but recently has taken on an increasingly Warren-esque approach. Read more here from Michael Tanner on the left’s “potpourri of job-killing, economy-stifling ideas.”