Greg Mankiw Talks Big with Other Peoples' Money

Wouldn't it be nice to be one of the beautiful people, like Professor N. Gregory Mankiw? He is a full professor of economics at Harvard. He is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a prominent conservative think tank. From 2003 to 2005, he was the Chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, earning a nice $140,000 salary, paid for by the American taxpayers.

And now, our esteemed Beautiful Person wants to raise our taxes! In the October 20, 2006 editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, this so-called "conservative" and former spokesman for the Bush Admistration makes the following proposal in his Op-Ed Raise the Gas Tax:

I would like to see Congress increase the gas tax by $1 per gallon, phased in gradually by 10 cents per year over the next decade

Hmmmmm..... one of the justifications he gives for the tax increase is the coming budget shortfall in Medicare and Socialist Security:

A $1 per gallon hike in gas tax would bring in $100 billion a year in government revenue and make a dent in the looming fiscal gap

He is certainly correct that Medicare and Socialist Security are trainwrecks looming on the horizon. But why doesn't this member of the Ivy League intelligensia set an example for all us lesser mortals by sending his personal check to the federal government in the amount of $1 per gallon of gas that he consumes? Or, even better, he could refund the $280,000 that he was paid to be President Bush's economic spokesman. Since he has proven himself to be a faux conservative, I think the American people deserve a refund, since they elected and re-elected a president who ran on a platform of keeping taxes low.

Since this man of such deep northeast atlantic coast intellect knows what is good for us inbred hillbillies of the red states even better than we do, he gives another justification for his proposed tax increase

The burning of gasoline emits several pollutants. These include carbon dioxide, a cause of global warming.

So now our future Nobel prize-winning macroeconomist is also an expert at climatology. He takes the supposition that carbon dioxide emissions cause global warming as a proven fact, in spite of the considerable evidence that no such relation exists. But here is my favorite part of the Op-Ed:

Every time I am stuck in traffic, I wish my fellow motorists would drive less, perhaps by living closer to where they work or by taking public transport. A higher gas tax would give all of us the incentive to do just that, reducing congestion on streets and highways.

Ah, I see. Professor Mankiw wants his fellow motorists (the little people) to live closer to where they work, or take public transport, so that he can drive his car on uncluttered streets without having to offend his sensitive sense of smell with the stench of the unwashed proletariat passing him in their pickup trucks. Of course, it never occurs to him that he is also congesting the streets and highways. And for a man of such intellect and privilege to have to take public transport himself is inconceivable.

I am trying to think of when I have ever read a more arrogant Op-Ed. I don't think I have.