Huckster of the Month: Cato's Chris Edwards

By Lee Russ

Monday, August 25, 2008 at 05:47 PM

Remember the WTW story on how many corporations pay no taxes? Well, it sure isn't easy, but the Cato Institute's Chris Edwards found a way to make that sad story an aargument for lowering the corporate tax rate. And I assume he said this with a straight face: "By lowering the U.S. tax rate, you are giving companies less incentive to cheat and move their profits offshore."

Well. Imagine that. Impeccable reasoning, eh? And from an "expert" who "has a book coming out" about the problem of companies not paying taxes.

Now let's see, how else could we use this brilliant reasoning to improve the state of the world around us?

• Reduce the incentive to cheat on school exams by...not having exams, or not having many exams.
• Reduce the incentive to pretend you're sick to get out of work by...letting employees take time off any time they want it.
• Reduce the incentive for criminals to run from the police by...reducing the penalty for all crimes to something any criminal could live with.
• Reduce the incentive to avoid paying your bills by...never having anyone receive a bill.
• Reduce the incentive to cheat in sports by...doing away with all rules.
• Reduce the amount of voting fraud by...doing away with all criteria for voting eligibility.
• Reduce the amount of violence toward children by...having fewer children.
• Reduce the incentive for insurers to deny claims by...reducing the amount of losses the insurance covers.
• Reduce the incentive for air carriers to cheat on maintenance by...not requiring that air carriers perform any maintenance.
• Reduce the incentive for wars by...destroying everything in the country worth going to war over.
• Reduce the incentive for drug manufacturers to cheat on their drug studies by...doing away with all regulations on drugs.

It's an intriguing idea, all right. Only a Cato-ite could have the subtle insight required to identify this simple yet incredibly effective method of dealing with wrongdoing.

Oh, wait, I forgot one other area where we could reduce wrongdoing this simply. Leet's reduce the incentive for self-serving bullshit piled higher than an elephant's eye by...getting rid of Cato.