To: tejek who wrote (81497 ) 8/23/2010 2:48:50 PM From: TimF Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 149317 Economic freedom did increase the wealth of the lower classes. True, but unfortunately in the US economic freedom has been shrinking for awhile. However, that came to an end under Reagan. Suddenly, the upper classes were favored over the lower classes. False. Favoring the upper classes over the lower, would in terms of taxation mean taxing the lower classes at a higher rate than those richer than them. In reality we do the opposite of that. We do have the government push for narrow special interests that tend to be made up of very rich people. The government bails out, subsidizes, protects from competition, or otherwise tries to help these narrow special interests, but broadly it tilts the scales against the wealthy, just not as much as you want it to do so. No. Its been one of tax cuts and favoring corps. over the little guy. For the last couple of decades tax rates have moved up and down, not consistently down. For that period and longer, corporations and individuals have become more regulated, and generally the government has increased its level of intervention and control, whatever the party of the president in power at the time. And yet, you have always supported the Bush tax cuts. What do you mean by "and yet". Lower taxes are one way to increase economic freedom, and reduce the shift of resources from the most efficient and productive to the most well connected (typically the poor are not well represented in either group, its more of a transfer from the rich, and maybe the middle class, to mostly rich special interests). I support it partially because its the opposite of what I'm complaining about. Its a portion of the cure, not the cause of the disease.