E.J. Dionne's Giving

[Ted S]

A friend posted this on Facebook:

Forgive me for noting that conservatives seem to believe that the rich will work harder if we give them more, and the poor will work harder if we give them less. -E.J. Dionne Jr.

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

[clistensprechen]

Wow. Your really read a whole book between Dionne's few lines. Stuff that ain't there.

And without putting all those words into Dionne's mouth, Dionne is correct. You cannot get hard work out of people when you give them less for the work, and you sure as hell can't get any work out of the rich even if you do pay them, as they feel they are entitled to what they have. The rich are the entitlement welfare queens.

[Ted S]

Wow. Your really read a whole book between Dionne's few lines. Stuff that ain't there.

Sorry but your're wrong.  Dionne wants to shift more of the tax burden onto the wealthy.  It's as simple as that.

You cannot get hard work out of people when you give them less for the work...

By "you" do you mean their employers?  If you mean that the less an employer pays his employees the less output he will get from them I'd say that there is some truth to that but you should also notice that less output hurts the employer too.  And lets not forget that low paid employees are free to seek employment elsewhere.

...and you sure as hell can't get any work out of the rich even if you do pay them

Did Steve Jobs just sit around the office everyday eating bon-bons and counting his money?  They may not perform heavy manual labor but the leadership skills of the CEO of John Deere make it possible for millions of regular people to eat everyday and his company provides an income for many thousands of employees and their families.

...as they feel they are entitled to what they have.

They are entitled to what they have.  It's theirs, they either earned it or it was voluntarily given to them.  The left isn't entitled to take property from the rich at a rate greater than other citizens.

Oh, and as far as corporate welfare goes, I bet I'm more solidly and consistently against it than you.

[Don Houston]

Ted,

You would be cool to have as a FB friend. 

[RWE]

You cannot get hard work out of people when you give them less for the work, and you sure as hell can't get any work out of the rich even if you do pay them, as they feel they are entitled to what they have. The rich are the entitlement welfare queens.

what you and E.J. don't get is that the poor and the rich have one thing in common. If you give them someone else's money for doing nothing, they will take it.

[Ted S]

what you and E.J. don't get is that the poor and the rich have one thing in common. If you give them someone else's money for doing nothing, they will take it.

RWE makes a really solid point here.  Only saints have the will to turn down handouts, the vast majority of us mortal human beings will take free stuff when offered.

If someday world is transformed to the point where only saints inhabit government, then I suspect that we could fundamentally change society and live in great bliss and harmony under the ruling class.  Until then, we're best putting strong limits on the reach of the ruling class and keeping a watchful eye.