The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Opinion

Today’s Editors’ Choice

• Star Parker: Trump vs. Schumer on Taxes
• Michelle Malkin: A Thinking Mom’s Message for Jimmy Kimmel
• Jonah Goldberg: Columnist Stephens Stirs Up a Climate of Anger

To view all of today’s opinion, click here.

Opinion in Brief

Star Parker: “Liberals think that you help Peter by taking from Paul. I think you help both Peter and Paul by creating the best possible conditions for opportunity for both of them. How do you create the best possible conditions for opportunity for both Peter and Paul? Freedom. Tons of data and studies show that countries that have the most economic freedom … are the most prosperous. And even the poorest in these countries are far better off than the poorest in countries without economic freedom. You don’t need a Ph.D. in economics to understand that a country that punishes success is going to be less wealthy than a country that rewards it. The last eight years under liberal control have been a disaster economically. From 1950 until 2000, on average the U.S. economy grew at 3.5 percent per year. Since 2008, it has grown barely 2 percent per year. What does this mean? Hoover Institution economist John Cochrane points out that average American income, adjusted for inflation, grew from $16,000 in 1952 to $50,000 in 2008. If the economy over this period grew at 2 percent instead of 3.5 percent, average income in 2008 would have been $23,000 instead of $50,000. Why the great economic slowdown after 2008? No, not because there was a recession when President Obama took over. … The great slowdown was because of the explosion of government, thanks to liberals. Explosion of spending, explosion of debt, explosion of regulations, explosion of taxation. Economies, like people, thrive when they can breathe, not when they are being strangled.”