Chapter 3

There was one statement that Wheelan said towards the end of the chapter that stuck out to me. He said that liberals (in the American sense) often overlook the fact that a growing "economic pie" does in fact make even the small pieces, bigger. This was in contradiction to the idea that everyone having equal wealth would create less divisions but a smaller "pie" as a whole. What confuses me about this is that, if our country became wealthier as a whole, and people with less money now have a bit more, doesn't that just shift everything? Wealthy people would just become more wealthy. The economic gap doesn't become more narrow it just shifts upward. So is that a good thing? Does this play into externalities because taxing certain behaviors or taxing anything that would affect the lower class ultimately stimulates the economy, helping poorer people? I'm confused about how the two relate. On a totally different note, another idea I thought was interesting was how(according to Wheelan) people are misinformed about government involvement in the markets. I have often heard that if the government was uninvolved in markets than everything would sort itself out in a way. However, Wheelan showed how GOOD government involvement is what keeps the economy flourishing, comparable to how no one likes the umpire, but you cant play the game without him.