Ocasio-Cortez woefully unprepared

You wouldn’t expect new U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to reveal how little she knows about tax policy in front of a national TV audience, but we’ve entered an entirely new era of politics. Just state what you believe to be true, without a shred of evidence to prove it. Did she have time to study the relationship between income tax rates and income tax receipts before she got to the Capitol? Canada tried to increase income tax receipts recently by lifting marginal income tax rates on high income earners and failed miserably. Tax receipts actually fell. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez reminds me of our own Ed Markey when he was in the House. While serving on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Markey fought the increased production of domestic oil and natural gas at every turn. When economics naturally won out, he fought vehemently against the export of U.S. crude. When former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers pointed out that banning the sale of crude violated generally accepted free trade agreements, Markey tried to frame it as an issue of national security. Since then, free-market principles have returned to the domestic oil and gas industry, and the U.S. now outproduces Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela in crude oil for the first time in decades. The way I look at it, then-Rep. Markey’s efforts to restrict domestic energy production resulted in a massive expansion of energy jobs and exports. Therefore, I’m in favor of allowing socialists to formulate tax policy. It might be the only way to frighten them back to capitalism. — Sean F. Flaherty, Charlestown