Reflection on The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America’s Poor by Michael D. Tanner

               My sister recommended this book to me and it was far better than I expected for a Cato Institute publication. I read it physical so I couldn’t take any notes on it, but I had a few thoughts. This book, about poverty and how to solve it using libertarian methods, made five key arguments: that we must reform criminal justice and the War on Drugs, reform the school system (mainly by reducing its size and creating more vouchers or private schools, bring down the cost of housing by allowing the market to do its work, make it easier for the poor to bank, save, and invest, and focus on increasing inclusive economic growth.

               As for the criminal justice, I am on board- there are far too many prisoners for non-violent crimes in the United States. On the schools, however, I couldn’t follow him. I can’t support any policy that tries to reduce public school funding, as I think that’s immoral. I would support voucher/choice programs, however, if they were done within public schools, so that money would follow a student to any public school. Reducing housing costs by fixing zoning laws and allowing the free market to work is something I’d already supported, having read Matthew Yglesias’ The Rent is Too Damn High and I was glad that Tanner agreed. As for making it easier for the poor to bank, I also agreed, and learned a lot about this from Elizabeth Warren’s book, The Two-Income Trap. The last part, about economic growth, was basically just where Tanner said he wanted to cut taxes, and while I am with him on the corporate tax, I think his defense of the 2017 tax cuts was indefensible, as those were clearly made to benefit the rich and any benefits to the poor are made by accident.

               In sum, this is a good book that challenged my prior beliefs at some points and confirmed them at others. I liked it and would recommend, since it’s always nice to read some libertarian stuff. That in mind, I continue to feel like Libertarianism is a dumb movement. Why reduce government all the time? It seems very ideologically stiff to me and I just have too pragmatic a temperament to support this kind of thing. I feel like the book claims to try to find ways to reduce poverty through libertarian policies but actually just serves as a way for the Cato Institute to defend itself against charges that it’s a tool of the rich. Which is true is for the reader to decide.