There’s an old joke about a bitter man who is visited by a genie. The genie says: “I’ll grant your fondest wish, but there’s a catch. I’ll grant whatever you ask for, whether it’s gold or happiness or love, but I’ll give your neighbour twice what I give you.” The man thinks for a moment and says: “Pluck out one of my eyes.”

This is the essence of the redistributive economics central to the upcoming US election. One side says: “The rich make more than they need, so we should boost taxes for anyone who makes more than me, to fund worthy causes.” In effect, let’s pluck out our boss’s eyes, even if it costs one of our own. The other side says: “These folks create the jobs and already pay most of the taxes, so let’s not reduce their incentives to keep doing so.”