Metaphor Watch

Yesterday, Paul Ryan said this:
[My opponents believe t]hat there's only so much money in America, it's fixed and that the job of the government is to redistribute the slices of the pie. That's not true. The job of government is to set the conditions for economic growth so we can grow the pie and everybody can get a bigger slice of the American pie. [Emphasis mine]
That's wonderful. There's just one problem.

YOU CAN'T GROW PIE.

Obama wants to ensure the every American receives a sufficient amount of pie. Team Romney thinks we should pull pie out of our national ass various states' asses and give it to the poor. Ew?

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Ryan's opponent (at least, according to Ryan) thinks that there's a zero-sum element to the economics of Americans' lives. Apparently, Ryan disagrees with this position. Cool. Except that's not what Ryan implied. The whole "grow the pie" bit suggests that it's possible to increase everyone's share in a zero-sum game. We can't. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF THE PIE METAPHOR.

I understand what Ryan meant, but I also read what Ryan said. He accepted a premise while rejecting its implication. Either he's wrong or he's being dishonest.

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