Antony Davies
@antonydavies
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Economist, speaker, author. Co-host of the Words & Numbers Podcast at @feeonline . Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education
United States
Joined March 2009
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The 550 US billionaires together are worth $2.5 trillion. If we confiscated 100% of their wealth, we'd raise enough to run the federal government for less than 8 months.
Perhaps our problem isn't how much billionaires have but how much politicians spend.
@SenSanders
@AOC
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Price controls don't fight inflation. They transform inflation into shortages.
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As of April 2021, US billionaires were worth $4.6 trillion. If we confiscated all their wealth, we'd raise enough to pay for 8 months' of the federal government's 2021 budget.
Our problem isn't how much billionaires have, but how much politicians spend.
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@ScottAdamsSays
1. Cut the budget 10% across the board.
2. Hold federal spending constant for six years.
3. Thereafter, increase federal spending not faster than GDP growth.
4. In around 100 years, the economy will have grown enough to make the debt irrelevant.
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Congress just passed a $900 billion stimulus package, which includes $600 stimulus checks.
For $900 b., Congress could have paid $7,000 to each household, or around $30,000 to each household that suffered unemployment.
Tell me again how government is "what we do together."
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There are 210 million US adults. If each received the maximum stimulus check of $1,200, the stimulus would have cost $250 billion.
The total cost of the stimulus is $2.2 trillion.
So, for every $1 spent on taxpayers, another $8 goes to businesses and politicians' pet projects.
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Four hours and not one of the 20 candidates talked about Social Security's insolvency, the $22 tr. debt, or the $40 tr. in promised Medicare benefits the government can't afford.
But all 20 talked about spending even more money.
#WordsAndNumbers
#DemDebate2
#DemDebate
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@NathanHRubin
Corollary: You can't call yourself a presidential candidate if you say you're going to impose a mandatory buyback. Either you follow the law and propose a Constitutional amendment, or you're an irresponsible dupe who has no business holding public office.
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@ewarren
President Biden can lift a huge weight off tens of millions of Americans’ shoulders and place it firmly on the shoulders of tens of millions of other Americans.
"Canceling" student debt means forcing people who didn't go to college to pay for those who did.
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“Forgiving" student debt really means forcing people who didn’t go to college to pay for those who did, and forcing people who scrimped and saved for college to pay for those who didn’t.
@JamesRHarrigan
@ewarren
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Capitalsplain (Verb): when someone who grew up under the benefits of capitalism explains to a refugee from a socialist state how good a system socialism is.
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If a student was to pay back $10k and now isn't, we either: will receive $10k less in govt services than we would have, or will pay $10k more in taxes than we would have, or will endure $10k more worth of inflation.
The govt hasn't forgiven loans. It has forced us to pay them.
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@LondonNighthawk
@BigDaddyLiberty
@SenSanders
@AOC
Yet, what people propose is that billionaires should hand over their wealth to politicians - another group of sociopaths driven by money and power. The difference is that this second group of sociopaths can throw you in jail and take all your stuff if you don't do what they say.
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Trying to battle a shortage by prohibiting prices from rising is no different than trying to battle the virus by prohibiting thermometers from registering more than 98.6 degrees.
Both ignore the disease in favor of regulating the tool that measures the disease.
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@SimmsPM
@LibertyEthics
@SenSanders
@AOC
Sweet Jesus, that's funny. And I guarantee you someone is going to grab it as a serious argument.
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@SenWarren
@amazon
"And fight...so you’re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets."
That's an extremely low bar for "powerful." I shudder to think what you have in mind for the rest of us.
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I'm surprised that so many Libertarians, who otherwise have a decent grasp of economic behavior, decide whether to vote for a Libertarian candidate based on a comparison to an ideal rather than a comparison to the alternatives.
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@GOP
@realDonaldTrump
Politicians don't create jobs. Entrepreneurs create jobs. The best politicians can do is to get out of the way.
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@SenSanders
People in Denmark: work 164 days to pay taxes
People in Canada: work 117 days to pay taxes
People in France: work 168 days to pay taxes
People in US: work 88 days to pay taxes
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
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One obtains wealth in exchange for providing value to others. The correct phrase, “1% of the people *create* 40% of the wealth” reveals the fact that 40% of the value the 99% enjoy is created through the efforts of 1% of the people.
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Every dollar of interest the government pays is a dollar it has to take from people in taxes, or take from people in reduced spending elsewhere, or take from people in inflation, or roll over into more debt that will generate even more interest next year.
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Who represents the bigger threat? The 584 billionaires who offer us things in exchange for our money, and whom we can walk away from at any time? Or the 535 representatives and senators who take our money by threat of force?
@JamesRHarrigan
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Regardless of who wins, Social Security will continue its march to insolvency, the US military will remain involved abroad, trillion dollar deficits will persist, the Drug War will continue.
In the end, the two parties are very much the same.
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In the 1950s, Social Security tax was 2.3%. It grew to 5.9% in the 1960s, 11.4% in the 80s, and 12.4% today. For SS to remain solvent, it needs to rise to 15.1% by 2035.
Over 80 years, the Social Security tax will have grown 570% faster than inflation.
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"Passing a law that holds the price down doesn’t change the reality that there isn’t enough to go around. But it does incent buyers to hoard and dissuades sellers from bringing more to market, which is exactly the opposite of what we want."
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Thus far, Trump has been leading in the popular vote, but not the electoral vote.
It would be supremely amusing to see people who spent the past four years arguing for the popular vote over the electoral vote and vice versa to suddenly switch sides.
#WordsAndNumbers
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In a race between a horrible candidate and a terrible candidate, Americans came out in record numbers to ignore the third candidate.
You get the politics you deserve.
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Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. Data on 10-15 year olds in the work force.
1870 5.9%
1880 6.4%
1890 6.5%
1900 6.0%
1910 4.3%
1920 3.3%
1930 1.4%
The market had practically eliminated child labor a decade before the FLSA.
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@lostdiadem7
@SenSanders
@AOC
No, you propose that they hand it over to politicians who will then use it to purchase political power from voters and cronies.
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Corruption is not a function of party. It's a function of government itself. That's why we keep having these same conversations every 4 years.
#WordsAndNumbers
#DemDebate2
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Paraphrasing Sean Malone:
@AOC
's team believes they can plan an economic system to guarantee jobs, medical leave, and retirement security, but can’t plan the roll out of a non-binding resolution and press-release materials?
This is what scares economists about central planners.
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The median worker can expect to pay $250,000 into Social Security and receive back $275,000.
If the worker invested those SS taxes directly into government bonds, he'd receive back over $400,000.
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The average minimum wage worker today has a standard of living that is, in many respects, better than that of a middle-class worker 100 years ago.
In many respects, we've become so rich that we've lost sight of what real poverty is.
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"Universal health care should be like Social Security."
Social Security itself claims that it will be insolvent within the next 15 years.
#WordsAndNumbers
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@RBReich
Tax cuts have reduced government revenue?
Federal revenue increased $625 billion in 2021, and $850 billion in 2022. That's more than a 40% increase in just two years.
If a 40% pay hike isn't enough, I'd say government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
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@ZachMeisel
@B3_MillerValue
@SenSanders
@AOC
Global suffering has been in one long nose-dive. Three generations ago, 75% of people lived in poverty. Two generations ago, 60%. One generation ago, 30%. Today, less than 10%. The average minimum wage American today lives far better than the average American lived a century ago.
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@SenSanders
Not so fast with the "going beyond statistics." Students who live on campus are required to have campus meal plans. How can "nearly half" be going hungry?
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Voters calling for a female President, here's your chance.
If you are hesitant to vote for Jorgenson, you actually don't want a female President. You want a particular female President and, barring that, a man will do.
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Sanders repeats that wages have stagnated. This is incorrect. Inflation-adjusted hourly compensation is up 60% since the 1970s.
#WordsAndNumbers
#DemDebate2
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@SenSanders
According to CBO (Table 1), the single mother is already receiving $8,800 more in credits and transfers than she paid in taxes. The $500k family is paying $150,000. When the rich pay most of the taxes, every cut is a cut for the rich.
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PSA...
"Nominal" and "current" both mean "not inflation adjusted." Their opposites are "real" and "constant."
A year followed by a dollar sign (e.g., 2022$), means inflation adjusted.
Also, "inflation adjusted" and "today's purchasing power" are the same thing.
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Kennedy could promise that we'd put a man on the moon because the technology was there or nearly there. The technology to eliminate fossil fuels is here, but none of the candidates mentioned it - nuclear.
#WordsAndNumbers
#DemDebate2
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A 40% increase in deaths among 18-64 yr olds matters to an insurance company, but not so much to individuals. The probability of dying rose from 0.2% to 0.28%. IOW, the probability of not dying dropped from 99.8% to 99.72%. A 40% increase in a small number yields a small number.
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Here we go again - another 2 hour opportunity for candidates to avoid discussing the $24 trillion Federal debt and $1 trillion deficit.
#WordsAndNumbers
#DemDebate
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@JamesRHarrigan
Government doesn't create jobs. It shifts them into places it subsidizes and out of places it taxes.
Entrepreneurs create jobs. The best government can do is to leave them alone to innovate.
@ewarren
@Hickenlooper
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@JoelWynne
@RomanCabanac
@SenSanders
@AOC
Incorrect. Check the Congressional Budget Office. The top 1% pays (all federal taxes combined) around 35% of its income (from all sources). The middle class pays around 15%. If your deduct government transfers, the average middle class household actually pays a net of zero.
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@ToddForneyEsq
@SenSanders
@AOC
:) He already knows all this. It's his followers who need to hear it.
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@SenSanders
No one is stopping them from paying more. What they really want is for the government to force other people to pay more.
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@SenSanders
Why is your answer always some massive, sweeping change? All we need is for Congress to repeal qualified immunity. That's it. The Supreme Court created this problem. Congress has long had the power to fix it, but has done nothing.
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@SenSanders
If they obtained their wealth by offering people things they wanted, it isn't grotesque at all. If they obtained their wealth by co-opting politicians to use the power of the state to take it from people, then it is indeed grotesque.
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@ewarren
Why is your answer always more government? Reducing government-sponsored patent protection would help solve the problem - or does "less government" somehow never make it on your radar?
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Twelve years of education is not enough? If the education is quality and relevant, it is plenty. If the education isn't, sixteen years won't be any better.
#DemDebate
#WordsAndNumbers
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@DylanFMackinnon
@PeterDawsonUSA
@SenSanders
"...for free." You're correct. The Post Office isn't the problem. Voters who think the government is a magic wand are the problem.
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@SenSanders
What is their fair share? Name the number - the fraction of their total incomes - you believe is fair. Then let's ask whether they are already paying that and, if not, what we can do to change that.
But stop using, "fair" as a synonym for "more."
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The call to reduce conflict between citizens and police is excellent. But the candidates also call for more government control of people's lives. That control is, ultimately, enforced by police. More government means more conflict with police.
#WordsAndNumbers
#DemDebate2
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Bernie Sanders is calling for Social Security to be broken up.
@SenSanders
No financial institution should be so large that its failure would cause catastrophic risk to millions of Americans or to our nation’s economic wellbeing.
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"Gun violence has become an epidemic in America."
Gun homicides are down around 50% since the 1990s and non-violent gun crimes are down 80%.
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Over the past two generations...
US gun death rate is down 50%
US non-fatal gun crime rate is down 75%
Global war death rate is down 95%
Global child labor rates are down 50%
Global gender inequality is down 15%
Global longevity and education is up 20%
Global income is up 40%
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In 1919, banning alcohol required amending the Constitution. Today, Congress prohibits recreational drugs by simply passing a law. And unelected bureaucrats regulate prescription drugs with no vote at all.
@JamesRHarrigan
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Today's inflation is the beginning of the end of a century-long experiment in unlimited government. We’ve reached the end of the road, and found that the people who must ultimately pay for unlimited government is us.
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@ewarren
No, it would move money from some people's pockets to other people's pockets, with politicians taking a slice of transaction in the process.
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When most people have a luxury, we come to regard the luxury as a necessity: clean water, indoor plumbing, electricity, refrigeration, hvac, cars.
Perversely, wealth equity causes people to become blind to the wealth they have and so to perceive wealth inequity.
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@rubinafillion
@AOC
@SenWarren
@SenSanders
Of course 60% support "free" college. However, when told that "free" means that their taxes will go up, support plummets.
What the 60% really support is magic.
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@SenSanders
Over the past generation, the cost of college has exploded just like the cost of health care. An important common factor is that the government subsidizes both.
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@lostdiadem7
@SenSanders
@AOC
I agree that replacing our entire welfare infrastructure (including SS, minimum wage, education support) with a UBI is an improvement.
But, let's not fool ourselves that UBI isn't simply using the force of government to take what we want from others.
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@SenFeinstein
How many mass shootings have involved hundred-round magazines versus mass shootings that have not involved hundred-round magazines?
"Reasonable reform" requires reason.
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If you're in the market for a fresh choice this November, check out this week's interview with Chase Oliver.
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To break even on Social Security you need to earn $67,000. Earn more than this and SS is a net loss for you. Earn less and SS is a net gain - but still less than if you invested your SS taxes privately. The return on SS rivals private returns only for people earning under $20k.
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@marwilliamson
If you're an American who claims to be concerned about inequality, yet you're looking up to those who have more than you rather than down to the oceans of humanity who have less, your problem probably isn't inequality but envy.
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"Students need something beyond high school."
Kids spend 12 years in government funded schools but still need something more? And because of this, we should allow that same government to start interfering in higher education?
#WordsAndNumbers
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If you teach high school AP government or AP economics and would like to have us come to your school (at no charge), contact
@feeonline
.
Thank you Professors
@JamesRHarrigan
and
@antonydavies
for coming out and giving our AP Gov/Macro students a taste of College
#greatdayatGT
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@ZachMeisel
@B3_MillerValue
@SenSanders
@AOC
Even the former industrial worker likely has electricity, running water (hot and cold), a phone, and a car. One-hundred years ago, only the 1 percenters had those things.
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As the government can't afford what it's already doing, I'm confused as to what Biden will propose spending more money on.
#WordsAndNumbers
#BidenAddress
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@jordanbpeterson
Antony Davies and
@JamesRHarrigan
, authors of Cooperation and Coercion: How busybodies became busybullies and what that means for economics and politics.
Also hosts of
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Police should protect themselves the same way other professionals do. Physicians, nurses, and lawyers don't have qualified immunity. They have malpractice insurance that protects them and compensates victims. Bad apples become too expensive to insure.
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40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. Among these: Apple, Google, Amazon, eBay, Intel, Tesla, Yahoo, Capital One, Kohl's. Just these 9 companies are worth almost $3 trillion and employ almost 1 million people.
#SOTU2019
#WordsAndNumbers
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The debt ceiling is working exactly as Congress intended. They designed it to garner media attention by making it appear that the sky is falling, while having almost no actual effect on anything - including their spending habits.
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If taxpayers are forced to pay for students' tuition, shouldn't taxpayers have a say in what those students study?
#WordsAndNumbers
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"America will never be a socialist country."
Compared to 100 or even 50 years ago, America is already well along the path to being a socialist country.
#SOTU2019
#WordsAndNumbers
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Wired recently did a piece on why billionaires are bad for the economy. Here, I offer a different perspective.
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"...when faced with unemployment, poverty, and inequality, voters ask what the government can do to mitigate these problems. But the data suggest that they should be asking what the government can stop doing that is exacerbating these problems."
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I agree with President Biden's aspirations: reducing poverty, creating jobs, improving infrastructure, etc.
My criticism is that government is the wrong tool for achieving those aspirations.
#BidenAddress
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Come on CNN, the govt is $22 tr in debt, Social Security and Medicare are going insolvent. The candidates all talk about new major programs.
Will no one ask them how we can afford what we already have, let alone more?
@DanaBashCNN
@donlemon
@jaketapper
#CNNDebate
#demdebate
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"We must be extremely careful that our solution for dealing with the virus doesn’t become more deadly than the virus itself."
@JamesRHarrigan
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@SenSanders
Perhaps Congress might begin by asking whether its failure to legalize marijuana contributed to opioid abuse.
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@JamesRHarrigan
Biden: "I brought the cost of renewable energy down to the level of coal and gas."
If that were true, we'd all be using renewable energy right now.
#WordsandNumbers
#Debate2020
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"The politicians who will argue for cigarette and alcohol taxes as a means of reducing smoking and drinking fail to make the connection that – for the very same reason – business and capital gains taxes will reduce employment and investment."
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