Palmer's arguments are typical conservative arguments; he is associated with the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank. In contrast, the Economic Policy Institute is a liberal think tank.

You can see from Palmer's article that most conservatives strongly believe in the free market. They feel that the economy should be as little regulated as possible, that the economy works best for everybody when the government does not interfere and does not attempt to redistribute wealth.

In contrast, liberals believe in some government regulation and some redistribution of wealth. Liberals feel that an unregulated economy creates inequality, as too much income and wealth accrue to the wealthy, and not enough to the rest of the population. Thus liberals usually support higher taxes on the wealthy and social programs for the middle class and poor, in contrast to conservatives, who advocate cutting taxes and eliminating or reducing social programs.

In general, both liberals and conservatives support globalization, but liberals are more likely to believe that unregulated trade will tend to favor the rich countries and rich individuals, whereas conservatives like Palmer insist that free trade helps everybody.

Read Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs

Exercise: Read these passages, and decide if the author is a conservative or a liberal.First Essay
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