ZadekpediaChris Edwards is the Director of Tax Policy at the Cato Institute and heads its Downsizing Government project. He appeared as a guest on The Bob Zadek Show across multiple episodes, discussing farm subsidies, infrastructure, federal spending, and tax policy.
On the show
4 appearances, 2011–2021.
- 2011-01-23 · Farming Subsidies · 50:16 — Federal farm subsidies and corporate welfare.
- 2017-06-29 · A Libertarian Infrastructure Plan · 5:50 — American infrastructure and the benefits of privatization.
- 2020-12-20 · Is it too late to step back from the edge of fiscal insanity? · 52:20 — Federal deficit and Biden administration spending plans.
- 2021-11-01 · Debt & Taxes · 52:32 — Principles of tax policy and proposed wealth taxes.
Their books discussed on the show
- Global Tax Revolution (2008) — discussed 2017
Farm subsidies
In a January 2011 episode, Bob Zadek introduced Edwards as the Director of Tax Policy at the Cato Institute and asked whether farm subsidies were an out-of-control program costing about $25 billion. Edwards agreed, calling it the biggest business subsidy or corporate welfare program in the entire federal budget, with $25 billion a year in direct cost on taxpayers. He said it benefits essentially wealthy farm businesses, describing it as taking from average taxpayers and giving to the wealthy, and said it makes absolutely no sense. Farming Subsidies (2011)
Infrastructure and privatization
In a June 2017 episode, Zadek opened with a quotation from Milton Friedman that it costs any government at least twice as much to do something as it costs anyone else, and framed the show around who owns and should own infrastructure—roads, bridges, airports, train lines, and air traffic control. He introduced Edwards as the editor of downsizinggovernment.org, author of Downsizing the Federal Government and co-author of Global Tax Revolution, and an expert on federal and state tax and budget issues. Edwards greeted him and said he was delighted to be on the show. A Libertarian Infrastructure Plan (2017)
Federal spending and the deficit
In a December 2020 episode, Zadek framed the topic as the deepening hole and the Biden administration’s proposed $7 trillion in new spending. Edwards responded that the Downsizing Government website was named when Obama first came into office in 2008, after Obama promised to go through the federal budget and cut out wasteful programs; Edwards said Obama did not cut wasteful programs at all, and contrasted Biden, who he said was not promising to cut or trim any waste but to spend $7 trillion more. Is it too late to step back from the edge of fiscal insanity? (2020)
Later in that episode, Zadek argued that since consumers ultimately pay all taxes, he wished every consumer received one bill from the federal and state governments showing their pro-rata share. Edwards agreed entirely that taxes are the price of government and that the price should be labeled clearly and transparently, comparing it to clearly labeled prices in a grocery store or Walmart. He proposed eliminating excess tax bases, giving as examples Washington state, which has a sales tax and not an income tax, and Oregon, which has an income tax and not a sales tax. Is it too late to step back from the edge of fiscal insanity? (2020)
Debt, taxes, and innovation
In a November 2021 episode, Edwards argued that wealth from innovation benefits everyone, and said he was baffled by where people like Bernie Sanders think innovation comes from, saying it is not from the government. He cited Apple Computer as an example of a startup company with bold ideas that found private funding, and named the breakthrough vaccines from Moderna of Massachusetts and BioNTech of Germany as privately funded innovations that did not depend on government subsidies. He said Moderna’s profits would be reinvested into new innovations and development. Debt & Taxes (2021)
On the national debt, Zadek raised the question of how one knows when the tipping point has been reached. Edwards said all debt is a cost pushed forward to the future, that the $28 trillion of borrowings would have to be repaid with interest and principal, reducing future standards of living. He said that when countries get above around 90% of GDP in debt, it starts reducing economic growth, and noted that Greece, when it entered its crisis a decade earlier, was at about the same level of debt as the United States. He said he thought a financial crisis would come but that no one knows when. Zadek cautioned that comparing Greece to the United States may be misleading because Greece was not the reserve currency. Edwards replied that because the United States is about a fifth of the entire world economy, a crisis there would be much more disastrous for the global economy than Greece’s. Debt & Taxes (2021)
Across episodes
Edwards appeared across at least four episodes spanning 2011 to 2021, consistently arguing against federal spending and for private alternatives. The episodes show no development in his positions: farm subsidies, infrastructure privatization, deficit spending, and tax transparency are each treated in a single episode, with no topic revisited in a later episode in a way that shows a changed argument.