Larry Lindsey, looking for work?

Over at the Wall Street Journal, Lawrence Lindsey, briefly director of the National Economic Council under George Bush, goes ballistic on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner for saying that wealthy Americans should be willing to pay higher taxes for the “privilege of being an American.” According to Larry, “Mr. Geithner’s argument highlights an unfortunate and very destructive instinct that seems to permeate the Obama administration about the respective roles of citizens and their government. His position has three problems: one philosophical, one empirical, and one logical.”

The substance, to the extent that there is one, of Lindsey’s rant is that privileges are granted, and thus can be taken away, as opposed to rights, which are inherent and inalienable, as the saying goes.* But of course Geithner was not trying to make a philosophical, empirical, or logical point. He was simply indulging in a lazy bit of rhetoric, saying nothing more than “It’s great to be an American, and rich people shouldn’t complain about paying higher taxes” sentiments that I pretty much agree with, most of the time, though I do dislike seeing my tax money spent on killer drones and other gross immoralities.

What surprises me about all of Larry’s philosophical, empirical, and logical sword play is this: Why does he give a damn? Larry’s best known for being the one dude in the Bush Administration who actually dared to say that the War in Iraq might prove to be expensive, for which heresy he was duly bounced.† I’m guessing, he’s looking for work. I’m guessing that Larry thinks that Mitt Romney might be in the market for a Treasury Secretary who, unlike Dick Cheney, thinks that deficits do matter. Which is why he is doing his level best to stick a philosophical,empirical, and logical shiv in the back of Wall Street sycophant Tim Geithner, who probably agrees with Larry 99 percent of the time.

Afterwords
Lindsey was one of the authors of the Bush Administration’s trillion-dollar tax cut, which seems to have done far less for the economy than Bill Clinton’s tax increases, which, at the time, Republicans claimed were the largest in history. I’m sorry, Larry, but you don’t strike me as the voice of reason on this one.