Adam And Teddy

I feel compelled to warn conservatives this isn't a story about two homosexuals but is an economic story. The moral is modern-day "conservatives" are , based upon the words of two men greatly revered by conservatives, actually modern-day economic extremists.

"The necessities of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich, and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion." (Emphasis added)

"I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in another tax which is far more easily collected and far more effective - a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate." (Emphasis added)

The first quote comes from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book Five-Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth (1776). Smith argues not only that the rich should be taxed in proportion to their income but further argues they should be taxed at an even higher rate.

The second quote is from Theodore Roosevelt's The New Nationalism. Roosevelt supported, in direct opposition to modern-day Republican and tea party economic extremism, a progressive income tax. He also argued that inheritances should be taxed to ensure major wealth was not passed on to descendents who hadn't earned it by competing in the free market.

When do modern-day right wing economic extremists begin to claim Adam Smith and Theodore Roosevelt were socialists?

The bottom line is modern-day economic extremists, found among Republicans and their allies in the tea party, have a radical agenda for corporate feudalism in America.