Parsing President Obama's policies by Walter Bardenwerper

Washington Post,March 12, 2009 on page A18, Letter to the Editor:

Economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw of Harvard University derided President Obama's tax proposals as "one citizen" laying claim "to the wealth of his more productive neighbor" (Sunday Opinion,March 8)

"What a generalization! Is it really so evident that a competent nurse is less "productive" than Citigroup's Charles Prince, who,it might be argued, helped to cripple that giant bank; that a dedicated police officer is less "productive" than former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, whose $1.2 million expenditure of company money on renovating his office included $87,000 for a rug; and that an inspiring teacher is less "productive" than limousine liberal Tom Daschle, who failed to pay more than $100,000 in taxes?

I suspect that Mr. Mankiw would agree that it is our good fortune that not every citizen dedicates his/her productive energies principally to the pursuit of personal wealth. "

To make a point, I am a blogger to render service to the readers without any intent for wealth but doing my job as a teacher and educator to spread knowledge and information apropos of Sino-American economics.

"And while honest productivity does yield honest wealth in some professions,I doubt he would seriously contend that the accumulation of wealthy necessarily denotes a more productive citizen to serve the nation." Such is insightful reasoning in my mind. Congratulations to the writer for your proper thoughts!

The ultimate success in economics is the contribution to be made for human happiness. What is happiness? Material consumption over desire only? I would add intellectual pursuit and spiritual satisfaction plus good health.

"Challenging the president's stated redistribution intentions with a gross oversimplification conveys an arrogance reminiscent of the departed Bush administration and undermines a legitimate and necessary debate on future tax policy."

Let us wait for the outcome in due course of time as empirical evidence.

Page A14 China exports down 25% but China is still willing to resolve global financial crisis as a responsible member of international economic society re G-20 conference in London,April 2, 2009

Francis Shieh a.k.a. Xie Shihao on March 12, 2009 at 12.56 p.m.