You can always count on the Wall Street Journal opinion page to defend anything that rich people do. If all you did was read it, you'd think that whatever is in the interest of the wealthy is also in the interest of the nation. Wealthy people know how to spend money much better than the government. If we just let wealthy people do what they want, everyone will be better off. Take this reckless column by two mainstays of the Washington establishment, Bill Frenzel and Ernest Christian. They argue that cutting taxes on the wealthy is good for America, pointing up a study by conservative economist Greg Mankiw that shows significant economic growth resulting from cuts in the capital gains tax (emph. mine). To the champions of bigger government, the important truth of the Mankiw study was that the amount of tax on induced economic growth was insufficient to make up for all of the revenues lost to the Treasury from the original tax cut. Ergo, the government has less money to spend. Ergo, tax cuts are bad. To those of us who prefer economic growth over government growth, the Mankiw study confirmed a different truth. If Congress is willing to forego 50 cents of revenue, the economy would grow and people would have $2 more income. If given the choice, most people would take the $2. It was once true that a rising tide lifted all boats, and everyone was in it together. But it hasn't been that way for the last 30 or so years. Economic growth disproportionately benefits the wealthiest among us. Median incomes have barely budged for far too long. The only people who'll be getting those $2 are already doing fine. I guess I should be happy that the authors didn't say that tax cuts pay for themselves. But if this is what passes for honest discourse on tax policy, we've still got a lot of work to do.