Another Merry Christmas to George!

It’s time once again to wish George Will a Merry Christmas and a strong glass of syllabub.  I was worrying about him.  He’s become so shrill lately that I thought increasing loneliness was beginning to bother him.  In his recent diatribe against raising the minimum wage he even resorted to self contradiction, actually indicating a preference for the government transfer payments he has reviled so frequently, in the form of tax credits to the poor. Perhaps, I thought, since Marley’s, err, Milton Friedman’s, death, he begins to hear the soft clanking of chains.  But bah, humbug, the dead no longer contribute to profits, so why should he be bothered by that?  Watch out, George, the closer one gets to that bottom line, the louder the clanking.  But on reflection I realized that the wealthy pay little in taxes anyway, so tax credits to the poor merely constitute a silly act of generosity by the moderately poor toward those worse off than they are.  Let them eat their cake together. 

Besides, he seems to have been joined lately by a junior partner, Robert Samuelson.  Samuelson is still junior in his thinking and style, not yet displaying the philosophical grandeur of libertarianism or the tricks of specious argument regularly demonstrated by George.  He simply sticks to practicalities like his perceived impossibility of combating the budget deficits he abhors by actually raising taxes on the rich.  His is yet a simple argument compared to George’s elegant complexities, so easily confused by what Stephen Colbert refers to as “the liberal bias of reality.”  George is never bothered by reality.  But I’m sure Samuelson will learn.  For example, today’s headline is that Cisco is spending $15 billion on buying back its own stock to increase profits for its executives and shareholders, more than 2½ times what it spends on research and development and more than its annual profits, while at the same time laying off 4000 workers.  Such tactics simply add to lowering demand, thereby creating a vicious cycle of lower demand leading to lower profits which must be shared by fewer people to maintain their current wealth leading to more buybacks, making them hard to defend by simple logic. But at least, thanks to the kindness of Senator Paul’s concern for the wellbeing of the unemployed, Samuelson won’t have to worry about the budget impact of paying long term benefits to those laid off. Such liberally biased reality simply lies beyond the reaches of Samuelson’s arguments, requiring George’s grand libertarian indifference; a few arguments ad hominem, like this one, might help, too.

Perhaps, on second thought, I should wish strong syllabub for the whole firm of Friedman, Will and Samuelson, though it would be a stretch for Friedman.  But that syllabub should be drunk quickly.  The Ghost of Christmas Present is beginning to look more and more like Christmas Future each day, at least for the poor.  Merry Christmas, George!