Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, Steve Forbes argues persuasively that the new taxes on private equity firms that politicians of both parties have advocated would be counterproductive. Among the reasons: “The University of California, the University of Minnesota, Cornell, Pepperdine, and Emory are just some of the many institutions of higher learning that rely on private equity investment returns to bolster the educational experience of their students.”

You can read the whole article here.

Except for the politicians, everyone has an interest in minimizing the government’s insatiable appetite for scarce resources. The problem is that many people don’t realize that whenever the government expands, it comes at a price — foregone private sector activity that’s much more valuable than anything the state would do.