The Economics of George McGovern

Up until very recently, the candidacy of Senator George McGovern was not taken seriously, the polls having month after month reiterated that his national standing among Democratic voters oscillated between a low of 5 per cent and a high of 6 per cent. Suddenly, after the primary contests in Wisconsin and Massachusetts, George McGovern moved seriously into view. And not as the one-issue candidate who promised to end the South Vietnam war within days of his inauguration, but as a New Populist who had a well-defined economic package to propagate. In most respects the usual thing—give to the poor and the middle-poor, and take from the rich. With the contemporary emphasis on social goals and the usual disparagement of the military enterprise equally stressed, Mr. McGovern adorned his economic pronouncements with the names of glittering figures from the academic world, men many of whom are best-known for their dispositions to experiment grandly. It has all rolled easily off the tongue of George McGovern, exciting the kids at St. George’s School about his great social mission, lighting fires in blue-collar gatherings about the excessive privileges of the rich, transfusing social idealism to faded meetings of advertising executives and businessmen with raw consciences. . . . There is great need for tax reform (and tax relief). But the time has come to analyze George Mc-Govern’s proposals, and here is a beginning.

The federal tax system is basically sound, although it has been riddled with special privileges for the rich. We should move now to establish a fair tax system for all Americans.

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Up until very recently, the candidacy of Senator George McGovern was not taken seriously, the polls having month after month reiterated that his national standing among Democratic voters oscillated between a low of 5 per cent and a high of 6 per cent. Suddenly, after the primary contests in Wisconsin and Massachusetts, George McGovern moved seriously into view. And not as the one-issue candidate who promised to end the South Vietnam war within days of his inauguration, but as a New Populist who had a well-defined economic package to propagate. In most respects the usual thing—give to the poor and the middle-poor, and take from the rich. With the contemporary emphasis on social goals and the usual disparagement of the military enterprise equally stressed, Mr. McGovern adorned his economic pronouncements with the names of glittering figures from the academic world, men many of whom are best-known for their dispositions to experiment grandly. It has all rolled easily off the tongue of George McGovern, exciting the kids at St. George’s School about his great social mission, lighting fires in blue-collar gatherings about the excessive privileges of the rich, transfusing social idealism to faded meetings of advertising executives and businessmen with raw consciences. . . . There is great need for tax reform (and tax relief). But the time has come to analyze George Mc-Govern’s proposals, and here is a beginning.

The federal tax system is basically sound, although it has been riddled with special privileges for the rich. We should move now to establish a fair tax system for all Americans.