Colbert on tax cuts and Mankiw

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Tax Shelter Skelter
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This is funny and also illustrates some points. First, again note the use of "rich" along with images relevant to idle people - Kennedy grandchildren say, or Paris Hilton - to mislead the audience away from thinking about the tax cuts as applying to doctors, lawyers and economists and a large fraction of all two-professional couples in high income cities such as NYC or DC. Taking all of the money from all of the actual rich people, idle or not, just does not yield all that much in the way of funds, because there just are not that many of them. Also, in the Goolsbee segment, note the wording that suggests that the government would be borrowing to cover the tax cuts, rather than the spending. This is again rhetorical play designed to distract the listener away from thinking about what the government is actually spending money on and towards class conflict.

Via Greg Mankiw