Robin Hood Reversed

When I was a kid I loved the movie "Robin Hood". The one starring Errol Flynn. In black and white. It was made the year I was born. Robin could shoot an arrow like no one ever could. He robbed from the rich, gave to the poor and was the scourge of the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham. Great movie, great fun.

Now we have a Treasury Secretary, by the name of Jack Lew, who prefers to rob from the successful and give to the wasteful. He is just happy as a clam that the United States has the highest corporate income tax in the world. He really enjoys taking the income of companies that are innovative and customer oriented and giving to the government to throw down a multitude of rat holes.

Jack Lew is a Harvard educated attorney. He has spent his whole career in government. And if one can judge by his actions and words, I would guess that he is a dyed in the wool Keynesian. No surprises there. As a Keynesian, he feels that it is his obligation to raise taxes as high as possible and retrieve as much money from the proletariat as he can, since all money really belongs to the government anyway. As the President said, "you didn't build that business".

Well, businesses, like people, don't like high taxes very much. It is too hard to be successful and earn that money. Companies would rather reward their stockholders, expand and hire, develop new products, any of hundreds of really good uses that a business can do. And that includes the billions of dollars that businesses spend on charitable works.

Now I agree, a well run government needs money. The key phrase is "well run". Our government is not well run. It is bloated and greedy. And it is no source of amazement that good American businesses would be willing to move their headquarters to other countries that have a more realistic tax structure. It is people like Mr. Lew that drive businesses out of the country or into downsizing because they can't compete.

All in all, I think I prefer Errol Flynn's, Robin Hood, over Jack Lew's, Jack Lew.