Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Flat Tax - Was: should I kill off this car (a 1993 Subaru Impreza)?

["Christian M. Cepel" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

If I remember tonight I'll look in his acknowledgments tonight and post 
them.

I don't know that it's a reason for paying attention, this book has 
spent quite a lot of time on the best seller's list so it certainly has 
readership merit, but then so do stupid books from OJ about how he would 
have killed his wife (if it ever was published).  Plus I think you have 
a bit higher standards than the general populous and wish for a more 
academic discussion, so perhaps it is not the book for you.  For myself 
however, it did help me to understand and I found the arguments both 
simplistic and persuasive.

As far as rhetorical flare goes, what in the world is wrong with that?  
A great many people find his style most entertaining.  If you're looking 
at a core bit of information, what's wrong with packaging in a package 
that the general masses (the target audience I think) will find 
engaging?  What kind of elitist are you?  Why has the world benefited so 
very much from the 'for dummies' books?  Why?  because they don't talk 
down to people.  The don't use metaspeak w/o explaining it.  They throw 
in interesting tidbits and real world examples.  There's generally a 
comic at the start of each chapter.  I think the Fair Tax book is both a 
'for dummies' book that has also achieved aspirations of being a 'for 
not so dummies' book.  This gives it a very broad appeal and widens it's 
educational value provided the content is sound.

If you're one of the people who actually looks up other titles in the 
bibliography of various work, then feel free to do so.  For those of us 
who just want a cursory education so they aren't completely ignorant of 
a certain viewpoint, this hits home... If you want more than that, feel 
free to research and write your own dissertation on the subject.  Most 
of us have other things to do than invest that sort of effort.

Jonathan King wrote:
> On 1/4/07, Christian M. Cepel <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> > Um... Boortz isn't the sole author of that book and the book was created
> > under the supervision of Economists who helped them and proofed it and
> > made sure it was sound.  Boortz just added his particular flare for
> > delivering the information.
>
> Right. Name the economists; not all economists are the same or equally
> useful. For that matter, have them respond to the points raised in the
> review I linked to. Now that you admit that Boortz is just adding
> rhetorical flourish, tell me why I should pay attention to his book
> rather than the more basic results his book purportedly presents?
>
> jking
>
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