Reducing Inequality: Merit Goods vs. Income Grants

The incompetence and cruelty of the Bush administration, currently on view in Iraq and New Orleans, may suffice to get the electorate to reduce Republican ascendancy in the Congress in 2006 and put a Democrat in the White House in 2008. But it would be sad for the country if the result was a reversion to the Clinton don't-do-much years. We on the left should be discussing and debating the general outlines of a program of government action to ensure a decent life for everybody. Such a program would clearly require higher government spending, financed by higher taxes, and a reduction in spending for unproductive programs. The predictable Republican chants of "tax and spend" would need to be answered by a campaign to point out to the public that there are some things worth taxing and spending for.