Kevin Williamson on "The Age of Envy"

From Kevin Williamson at National Review:

Very good piece knocking Robert Reich's recent article (meet the old article, same as the old article) decrying a tax code which permits the wealthy tax deductions for charitable donations. It's worth reading in full. But here's some of it. I'm digesting the key points made for people who want a shorter version, but seriously, just read the whole thing.

Professor Reich, a ward of the taxpayers of California (at $246,199.84 per annum) and a federal ward before that, is persistently unhappy about how other people use their money, and he scoffs that America’s rich philanthropists are phony and self-serving, investing too much in opera and ballet and fancy colleges, and too little in feeding the hungry and housing the homeless. He particularly resents the fact that our tax code encourages such giving, with deductions that reduced federal revenue by some $39 billion last year — federal revenue that could have gone toward employing men such as Robert Reich.

(H/T Tip Ace of Spades Blog and American Thinker Blog)