Faux-libertarian Neal Boortz pimped his new book about the "FairTax" (co-authored with Congressman John Linder) again today. True free-market economists have already debunked this nostrum as folly here, here, here and here.
The FAQ on the FairTax website emphatically states that the FairTax is "replacement, not reform," and that the system is revenue neutral, meaning "raising the same amount of federal funds as are raised by the current system." So Leviathan still crowds out private investment and extracts trillions from the productive sector, and that largess is still redistributed to supporters and favored constituencies. Choosing different types of victims doesn't change the fundamental nature of the crime, so I'm not exactly sure what makes this inaptly titled system "fair." I guess what really sticks in my craw is not the FairTax itself since it's so easily dismissed -- it's that a self-described "libertarian" would waste energy promoting a crusade too stupid to even call "quixotic." Boortz should be bright enough to know better.
And what a wasted opportunity! Boortz reaches millions of people every day via his syndicated radio program, and yet shamefully he champions such un-libertarian causes as the FairTax and Bush's war. By twisting and diluting libertarianism in the minds of the booboisie, he does liberty a grave disservice.
Boortz calling himself a "libertarian" reminds me of Inigo Montoya's line from "The Princess Bride:"
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Boortz, a libertarian? INCONCEIVABLE!
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