Pulling up the ladder

Wow.  Rob Christensen has clearly had enough.  He’s just unleashed on the NC legislature the last few weeks. And this from a guy who’s been writing about NC politics for decades without any hint of partisan inclinations.  And don’t think about skipping this column (really, read all of it) because you’re not from NC, this is a great distillation of the philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans:

People often draw different lessons when they rise through the American class system. For some, their success is proof that through hard work and discipline anybody can better themselves, and they want to pull the ladder up behind them. Others see all the help they got along the way – the public schools, the public universities, the student loans – and want to make sure that other people have the same opportunities. I can’t speak for Berger, but I fall into the latter category…

Berger, as much as anyone, is the intellectual and political leader of the conservative revolution in the Legislature.

I know he is worried about the people we grew up with. He writes about his own struggles to obtain the American dream and notes North Carolina’s high unemployment rate.

“Sadly,” Berger writes, “today that opportunity is slipping for many. Hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow are fading.”

Berger is dead on.

And a big reason why this is happening? Berger continues: “Our broken tax system.”

Here is where the two of us part.

I would bet if you got 10 reputable economists in a room and asked what the biggest reason for North Carolina’s persistent unemployment problem is, none of them would say, “Our broken tax system,” – unless they were in the tank with some conservative group.

First, the fact that Berger is, in fact, an intellectual leader of NC Republicans is really sad and tells you a lot.  Secondly, forget 10 reputable economists; let’s try 100.  This is just Republican theology that bears no resemblance to how the real world actually works.

Tax cuts for NC’s richest is absolutely, positively not a recipe for the future economic success of our state.  Investment in the people of the state is the key, but as rich people keep ever more of their money there’s less to invest in public education and infrastructure needs which are truly the key to NC’s future.  Just sad.