Why must the rich pay more? (And Mankiw)

Here is Stephen Colbert's jibe at Harvard's Greg Mankiw--posted by Mankiw on his own blog. Check it out.

Mankiw was one of the superstar profs I got to hear when I went to Harvard for Freshman parents' weekend last year. The clip is pretty hilarious. Personally I thought Mankiw was very impressive, especially when he explained how he tried to convince then President Bush (Mankiw was an economic advisor to the Bush administration) to pass a ~$2.00 gas tax to pay for some of the real costs of gas and oil--only a very tiny amount of that $2.00 going to global warming issues.

In addition to Colbert's take on Mankiw working less, I also didn't feel too desperately sorry for his kids who will inherit less because of the tax on the rich--probably they'll only get a million or so each. Life's tough. (If you want to read Mankiw's actual New York Times piece, here it is.)

Why you might ask must the rich pay more? Isn't that unfair? Why can't the rich decide what to do or who to help with their own money? Sorry, I don't feel your pain. This country gave the rich the opportunity to make it big. Many made it big honestly, many didn't. Most could never have managed it without the U.S. Constitution, government, protection, laws, etc. etc. The government has an obligation to keep churning people up into the middle class, and not leave them languishing in generational poverty--which is not only unchristian, but is a financial drain on everyone. It would be nice if we could depend on people's Christian ethic, but few Christians actually follow Christ in His mission and zeal for the poor and despised of the world. And if we can't help struggling people for Christ's sake, it might be good to remember that the downtrodden have various ways of taking revenge, and so help them for our own sake.