Is It Fair?

We are likely to see President Obama keep talking about "fairness" over the course of this election year.   I have written about this issue more than once.  What is fair?  Who decides if it is fair or not?  Where do we go to find the objective standard that determines what is fair?

Stephen Moore puts together "A Fairness Quiz for the President" in today's Wall Street Journal that I could not improve on.   The list of fairness issues below have all been mentioned at one time or another in BeeLine.  Read the entire article for even more "fairness" issues that I have never even mentioned in BeeLine.  After all, it would be unfair of me to keep talking about fairness all of the time.  President Obama does not feel so constrained.  Fortunately, neither does Stephen Moore.

Is it fair that the richest 1% of Americans pay nearly 40% of all federal income taxes, and the richest 10% pay two-thirds of the tax? 

Is it fair that the richest 10% of Americans shoulder a higher share of their country's income-tax burden than do the richest 10% in every other industrialized nation, including socialist Sweden?

Is it fair that American corporations pay the highest statutory corporate tax rate of all other industrialized nations but Japan, which cuts its rate on April 1?

Is it fair that after the first three years of Obamanomics, the poor are poorer, the poverty rate is rising, the middle class is losing income, and some 5.5 million fewer Americans have jobs today than in 2007?

Is it fair that the three counties with America's highest median family income just happen to be located in the Washington, D.C., metro area?

Is it fair that wind, solar and ethanol producers get billions of dollars of subsidies each year and pay virtually no taxes, while the oil and gas industry—which provides at least 10 times as much energy—pays tens of billions of dollars of taxes while the president complains that it is "subsidized"?

Is it fair that those who work full-time jobs (and sometimes more) to make ends meet have to pay taxes to support up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits for those who don't work?

Is it fair that those who took out responsible mortgages and pay them each month have to see their tax dollars used to subsidize those who acted recklessly, greedily and sometimes deceitfully in taking out mortgages they now can't afford to repay?

Is it fair that thousands of workers won't have jobs because the president sided with environmentalists and blocked the shovel-ready Keystone XL oil pipeline?

Is it fair that federal employees receive benefits that are nearly 50% higher than those of private-sector workers whose taxes pay their salaries, according to the Congressional Budget Office?

Is it fair that soon almost half the federal budget will take income from young working people and redistribute it to old non-working people, even though those over age 65 are already among the wealthiest Americans?

Is it fair that in 27 states workers can be compelled to join a union in order to keep their jobs?

Is it fair that nearly four out of 10 American households now pay no federal income tax at all—a number that has risen every year under Mr. Obama?

Is it fair that Boeing, a private company, was threatened by a federal agency when it sought to add jobs in a right-to-work state rather than in a forced-union state?

Is it fair that our kids and grandkids and great-grandkids—who never voted for Mr. Obama—will have to pay off the $5 trillion of debt accumulated over the past four years, without any benefits to them?

 While we are talking about fairness, here are a few of my favorite quotes on the subject.

"I know the world isn't fair, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor".

  Bill Watterson

"Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not."

  Oscar Wilde

"It is not fair to ask others what are unwilling to do yourself." 

  Eleanor Roosevelt 

"Life is not fair, get used to it."

   Bill Gates 

"All some folks want is their fair share and yours."

  Arnold H. Glasgow