First Things RSS Feed - David Lewis Schaefer https://www.firstthings.com/author/david-lewis-schaefer en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:53:42 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/david-lewis-schaefer 60 Just Encouragement to Industry and Enterprise https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/08/just-encouragement-to-industry https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/08/just-encouragement-to-industry Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 During the Saddleback debate two weeks ago, John McCain, asked by moderator Rick Warren to define who the “rich” are, offered a response that has elicited mockery from some on the left when he (half-jokingly) said, “Someone who earns $5 million.” He followed up that response by saying that the question was really irrelevant, since he doesn’t want to raise anyone’s taxes, but would rather see all Americans grow rich. By contrast Barack Obama defined the rich more liberally, suggesting that anyone earning $150,000, or perhaps $250,000, belongs in that category, and hence ought to be paying higher taxes in the name of fairness. At the same time he has proposed a system of “refundable” tax credits, so that those who paid less in taxes than the amount of the credit will receive a check to make up the difference. (Obama’s rival for the Democratic Presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, similarly called at the beginning of her failed campaign for a “new progressive vision” to combat income inequality.)

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