“Bar Stool Economics”

I was forwarded a translated to Greek version of the “Bar Stool Economics” anecdote. It effectively tries to exemplify how the American tax system works. It uses clever language and math to hide the fact that the system is indeed biased towards larger savings for the richer. It also makes the assumption that the richer want to contribute to the common good and that the majority of the society does not understand the difference between absolute vs percentage-based savings.

It turns out that the anecdote is attributed to Dr. David R. Kamerschen, Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Georgia. However, after just a simple check, it turns out that Dr. Kamerschen was not the original author. I guess someone wanted to add “authority” to the anecdote by simply adding his name 🙁

I always believed that the more one earns, the more they should be taxed (not in absolute amounts but as a percentage of their income at an increasing scale… without upper limits that further amplify the imbalance of wealth accumulation in favor of the few). It’s as simple as that.