society. the vast vast gap between the ultra rich and the very very poor. there is a gap. and massive bonuses and people running away with millions if not billions of dollars and maybe not paying their fair share of taxes. here s the point. you re exactly making the point in my book. what we need to do is raise the income levels of lower income people. to tear down the rich isn t a way to do that. what i want to see is a fair society that gives everyone an equal chance to succeed in this economy. i don t want to spoil the ending of the book. the fairest system of them all is the free enterprise system that creates the most jobs and most wealth and most opportunity. what we want is an opportunity society in this country. that means we have to fix the schools and we have to do a lot of things to provide people who grew up with lower income backgrounds a chance to succeed. steve, if you look at where we sit today and you go north, all the way up to somewhere in the 80s, 85th or 90
it becomes relevant in the election as well. it is about fairness. that is the whole theme of the president s re-election. jenna: what is fair for taxes and what is fair for military spending. i will slip you the answer. in 30 seconds the theme of the book is the fairest system of them all is the free enterprise system. that is what creates the most jobs. that creates most opportunity and most wealth for most americans and the truth is, the reason the united states of america has become the richest country in the world we have the free enterprise system. doesn t guaranty everyone will get rich. it guaranties everyone has the opportunity. i think my motivation for writing the book i m worried what we re doing to the free enterprise system? we abandoned it for socialist model with big welfare state, high tax rates. jenna, that is the europe model, that is collapsing over there. jenna: we saw what happened to the queen in snow white kept asking the question. mirror, mirror. jenna: m
america. steve: turns out the current system and the one that president obama is proposing aren t fair at all. joining us now is economic editorial writer for the wall street journal and author of a new book, comes out today who is the fairest of them all, the truth about opportunity, taxes and wealth in america. steven moore. congratulations. thank you. steve: that really is the f word in this campaign, fairness. it really is. that s the reason i wrote the book is that it s pretty clear the theme of this whole campaign is how do we create the fairest society? i guess to cut to the chase, the answer to that question is that the fairest system is the free enterprise system. it s the system that creates the most opportunity for more. the reason we ve become the richest nation in the world is because we do believe in free enterprise and a pro-business environment. and i think that s something the president doesn t really understand. if you want one of the points i make, if y
get a bite to eat or soda to drink. i would like smoked turkey. when i gas up my car as much as a quarter of a price of gas is federal state and city exercise tax. people pay sales taxes all day long. so many taxes. i need a drink. i am lucky i don t smoke. it s some union protestors say we should pay more. raise my taxes. in all of those taxes are fine it progresses. it costs to live in a civ civilized society and we need to pay our fair share. takeing from the rich to help the poor is the fairest system. the fairest system is the one that rewards the makers in society as opposed to rewarding the takers. they charge the fight between frooe enterprise and big
calls. yes absolutely. reporter: get a bite to eat. soda to drink. i d like a smoked turkey and this. reporter: when i gas up my car as much as order of the price of gas it is federal state and city excise tax. people pay sales taxes all day long. so many taxes i need a drink. i m lucky i don t smoke. it s union protestor say we should pay more. about in all those taxes are just fine. it cost to live in a civilized society we all need to pay our fair share. reporter: our fair share l. state taking from the rich to help the poor with the fairest system the fairest system is the one that awards the maker of society close the rewarding the tear. reporter: this is a fight between free enterprise and big government will shape our