Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I don't think this is the issue addressed in the talk though. The question he was responding to was "does having lower taxes on the rich create jobs?". He argues that it does not, but that lowering taxes on the lower and middle class probably would.

It's not about putting all the blame on one side or the other, it's about the factual question of whether a particular policy improves or worsens the job situation.




He argues that position by repeatedly making the assertion that consumers create jobs and businesses do not:

> only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring.

>the true job creators are consumers

It's a tad nonsensical, all economic exchanges definitionally require the existence of two parties to occur, both parties are essential regardless of the good or service being traded. One can easily take the opposite position to the speaker, that production precedes consumption, because in the state of nature man must first produce and labor for his or her own survival before surplus exists with which to trade. Either way, it's not a sufficient basis for asserting normative proposals in regards to tax policy.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: