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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JBTFD who wrote (1933)	9/27/2006 7:37:15 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

I tend to have a very narrow definition of the word lie. I don't think I'd ever call a factually correct statement (that didn't rely on equivocation) a lie. I might use "dishonest" in a somewhat broader sense, and "misleading" to cover still more. The statements might be considered misleading, if they make people believe that the rich aren't making more before and after taxes. If they where intended to make people believe that (and I don't think they are) then they would also be dishonest. Either way I wouldn't call them a lie, and I wouldn't even call them dishonest without some strong support to back up the assertion. It is almost never presented that the rich are taking a bigger slice of the income pie, that is why they have to pay more taxes. Not presenting the information the way you want it isn't a lie or even dishonest. If they said "the reason has nothing to do with the rich making more money", than it would be wrong, and quite possibly a lie, but not stating the reason for an observed fact, doesn't make stating the observation a lie. Moving a bit back from that specific point, if "policy X", increases the real wealth and/or income of the richest 1%, and has absolutely no effect on the rest of the country, would you support "policy X"? A related question would be is economic inequality or poverty a bigger concern for you. Another related question - Would you give up economic growth in order to increase economic equality?