Market Correction

2 May 2007

Editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch

To the Editor:

At least two errors of logic mar Thad Williamson's argument that taxes are the price we pay for prosperity ("No Taxes Would Mean No Prosperity," April 30). First, just because government performs some task - say, running schools - does not mean that such tasks would not be performed better by the private sector.

Second, even if government performs some vital tasks that cannot be done by the private sector, Mr. Williamson is wrong to conclude that we, therefore, have no moral right to our pre-tax incomes. Tasks necessary to sustain life and society are performed also by clothes makers and home builders, yet no one argues that those of us who wear clothes and live indoors lose moral claims to our incomes as a result.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

2 May 2007

Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Editor:

Robert Samuelson misses an important point when he discusses immigration ("Seeking Sense on Immigration," May 2).

Anti-immigrationists who worry so raucously about immigrants using taxpayer-funded welfare should lead the charge to eliminate the countless restrictions aimed at preventing immigrants from working legally. It's phony to insist that immigrants' employment options be severely restricted and then, in the next breath, to pontificate about the need to keep immigrants from using welfare.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

1 May 2007

Editor, USA Today

Dear Editor:

Why does Niall Ferguson find China's rising prosperity to be "pretty scary" ("Tale of Two Planets," May 1)?

Would the world be safer if China remained isolated and ruled by a Mao-like madman? Do today's commercial ties uniting China with the west raise the likelihood that Beijing will seek war? Hardly.

As the work of Columbia University’s Erik Gartzke suggests, the economic freedom increasingly enjoyed by the Chinese people will make that nation less, not more, belligerent.* And, as a happy bonus, it will further enhance our prosperity.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

* http://www.columbia.edu/~eg589/publications.html