It is not difficult for me to articulate an honest argument for the progressive position. In brief summary, it goes something like this: The government is the right vehicle to provide enhanced social services to the less fortunate, and therefore the government must impose an appropriate amount of increased costs on the productive sector of society in order to fund a more generous level of government services than we currently have.

And then there is the dishonest argument, which can be summarized as: Costs? What costs? Vast new taxes and corresponding government spending will create a gusher of economic growth and new wealth out of thin air.

With all the leading Democratic candidates for President proposing greatly increased federal taxing and spending, it was only a question of time until this magical thinking came front and center into the political debate. And sure enough, it’s now here in full force.

But that’s not how this works. Which brings me once again to Elizabeth Warren. She’s the one with the endless list of some 50+ “Plans,” each one of them promising some large new government spending and bureaucracy and/or taxation to grow the compulsory sector of the economy. There will be vast new spending . . . . Clearly, the costs will be large. How could they not be?

The answer is simple: You simply announce that each of your new programs will “grow the economy.” And of course you then find that there is an extensive network of left-side journalists, intellectuals and pundits who will buy into this idea and repeat it endlessly, no matter how ridiculous it may be. . . .