The new book by Paul Gilding, "The Great Disruption," was a welcome addition to my library. He's thought our current state of affairs through a bit more realistically than most, and he explains in detail why what we face in the next few decades is likely to be a good thing. An excellent thing, in fact.

High taxes are bad for business.

This belongs in the Book of Lies. What is closer to the truth is a simple equation:

If personal taxes are higher than business taxes, investment money flows into businesses.

If personal taxes are lower than business taxes, investment money flows out of businesses.

Why? Because no one likes to pay taxes. Everyone shelters their money from taxation by putting it wherever it is taxed the least.

A simple glance at the tax structure over the last thirty years shows why the economy is in the toilet and isn't improving, while Wall Street (stock speculation) posts record profits.

If you want your job back, demand higher taxes on high personal income. So that those who have money will choose to shelter their income in their businesses.

Tax cuts for the wealthy are the economic problem.

I've flown or picked up passengers at Denver International Airport dozens of times in the past eight years. In all that time, the "threat condition" has been at a perpetual Condition Orange, one notch below Condition Red, the highest threat level. It has never dropped. It has never gone any higher.

For years, paper notices hung on glass doors of DIA declaring the increase in threat level. Both the paper and the tape holding the paper in place had yellowed with age, and the ink had faded. They have taken the papers down in the last two years, and the loudspeakers no longer announce that the threat level has been "raised" to Condition Orange, only that the threat level "is" at Condition Orange.

At the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, a large metal sign advises entering traffic of the increased threat level. The bolts holding the sign in place have rusted.

Eight years of unvarying Condition Orange? Obviously not.

So what does this really mean? It was best-said by a TSA employee, who responded to an irate airline customer with the words, "You gave up a lot of rights when you bought your ticket."

As we move into a post-oil, post-empire, post-democracy United States, this is the truth behind every call for national security: we gave up a lot of rights when we bought our ticket.

That's the lie we're supposed to believe, anyway.

Oops. Well, that didn't work out very well.

Here I thought I was actually getting read. Turns out, the Google browser has been punching the Like and Dislike buttons on me.

Presbyopia is a bitch.

For those of you old farts (like me) who have to fiddle with bifocals, I've bumped up the font size for this site.

And, while I was at it, I added a like/dislike karma scoring.

Someone put an interesting post up on HuffPo, back when I was bothering to follow current news on this. It was short, and to the point, and it cut through thirty years of bad economics with a single stroke.

I've lost the link, but the idea is simple enough. The author -- a businessman with a successful business -- merely stated the blindingly obvious.

Question: What do the wealthy do if the government raises taxes on the top income bracket to 90%?

Answer: They shelter their income.

Doh.

Dear Julian,

An excellent reply. Thank you!

As always, we agree more than we disagree, but our disagreements are coming into sharper focus.

You inspired nearly 8000 words of reply. I do cover a lot of ground, hopefully 8000 words' worth. It unfortunately takes a very dark turn at the end. Someday I'll have to write something on where my hopes do lie. They do not lie in politics.

Dear Themon,

I meant to add a note about the Durants. I cannot honestly claim to have read any of their rather lengthy work. However, they are correct that a natural civilization will alternate between concentration and disbursement of wealth at various times. At times of collapse, civilization tends to be at either end of these poles. However, what the Durants miss if they claim concentration of wealth causes collapse is that concentration of wealth happens frequently when societies are doing just fine. The Victorian Age saw a great deal of wealth concentration at comparative levels beyond that of today. Despite this fact, both England and the U.S. were stronger than ever and standards of living were going up in all classes.

Dear Themon,

To be told I make more sense than the most influential philosopher of the 20th Century is indeed a marvelous compliment. I thank you for it. Keeping in mind that you have not yet read any of Rand’s books in full, however, I will try to prevent such praise from going to my head in the interest of getting through doorways. Then again, I am fond of French doors. Perhaps a few more wouldn’t hurt. . .

Dear Julian,

You make much more sense when you speak for yourself rather than deferring to Rand. :-) Just a personal opinion, and intended as a compliment.