Redistribio's Pizza

As most Americans know, Congress recently found a temporary agreement to the imminent "fiscal cliff" debacle. In its attempt to salvage the American economy, Congress made a compromise in the form of a short-term solution, but what does that even mean for us Americans and the future of our economy?

Over break, my father showed me an op-ed by P.J. O'Rourke in The Wall Street Journal. O’Rourke, my father told me, used to be a writer for Rolling Stone magazine. Entitled "Dear Mr. President, Zero-Sum Doesn't Add Up," the opinion piece argues that redistribution of American's wealth from the richer to the poorer does not build a stronger economy. Rather than claiming that "there is only so much money," O’Rourke does not believe that America’s wealth is finite. He raises a legitimate question: why not have "more pizza parlors baking more pizzas"? That way, everyone has a stake in more pizza, or more money.

Relating this back to the fiscal cliff, I think that although the agreement is a compromise, it is not good enough.  Because of their unwillingness to cooperate, government officials on both the right and the left have contributed to America’s economic problems. Although conservatives are certainly not perfect, as their unwillingness to compromise on such areas as defense spending attests, Mr. O'Rourke raises an interesting point in his column: "The evil of zero-sum thinking and redistributive politics has nothing to do with which things are taken or to whom those things are given or what the sum of zero things is supposed to be. The evil lies in denying people the right, the means, and, indeed, the duty to make more things" [emphasis added].

Now, in my American Studies class, we were recently talking about rights and how suppressing those rights can run counter to what a country stands for. While few people will object to these tax hikes for the wealthy, I agree with Mr. O'Rourke that we must be careful to avoid “denying people the right. . . . to make more things."

So I ask you, the reader, what is your take on the recent fiscal cliff drama?

Do you agree with P.J. O'Rourke that President Obama's economic stance is redistributionist? Is the right to make things a right that America should protect?