The latest issue of Cato Unbound, with lead essay by editor Will Wilkinson, reminds me of my favorite Confucius quote:
If a state is governed by the
principles of reason, poverty and misery are subjects of
shame; if a state is not governed by the principles of
reason, riches and honors are subjects of shame.
Or as Will writes:
If the story boils down to a change in the tax code and a shift in
social norms about compensation, then we’ll need to dig deeper. Was the
change in the tax code wrong? Ill-motivated? A solution to
some other problem with unforeseen consequences? Did the old norms of
remunerative moderation collapse under the weight of Ayn Rand novels?
Or what?