October 31, 2012 1:33PM # Trick-or-Treat at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue By [Daniel J. Mitchell](https://www.cato.org/people/daniel-mitchell) --- SHARE [I shared a cartoon last Halloween](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/trick-or-treat-at-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/) that made fun of those who support [class-warfare tax policy](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/obamas-tax-policy-threatens-americas-economy/). Now we have a related cartoon, featuring a stop at the White House. ![Media Name: halloween-cartoon.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/danieljmitchell.files.wordpress.com/100529553989/halloween-cartoon.jpg?itok=f9HlFd7o) The next two cartoons are almost identical. We’ll start with this one from Michael Ramirez. ![Media Name: halloween-cartoon-ramirez.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/danieljmitchell.files.wordpress.com/100529553989/halloween-cartoon-ramirez.jpg?itok=SQVQWmdZ) Ramirez is one of my favorite cartoonists, incidentally, and you can see more of his work [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/very-good-cartoons-about-the-striking-teachers-in-chicago/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/a-funny-look-at-obamas-you-didnt-build-that-comment/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/laughing-at-obamas-bumbling-class-warfare-agenda/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/the-obama-economy-and-self-imposed-headwinds/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/whats-wrong-with-the-obama-economy-this-cartoon-says-1000-words/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/julia-the-most-disappointing-daughter-in-the-world/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/two-social-security-cartoons/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/two-very-good-gsa-waste-cartoons/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/two-very-good-political-cartoons/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/this-mornings-political-humor/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/obama-vs-the-founding-fathers/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/obamas-9-9-9-plan-and-other-jokes-about-energy-policy/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/2011/12/20/political-humor-jon-corzines-airtight-defense/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/2012/03/03/2010/12/19/who-needs-krugman-summers-and-the-san-francisco-fed-when-you-have-a-ramirez-cartoon/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/2012/03/03/2011/10/23/the-european-lemming/), [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/2012/03/03/2011/08/25/political-earthquake-humor/), and [here](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/2012/03/03/2011/04/23/cartoon-contest/). Here’s a Gary Varvel cartoon with the exact same message. ![Media Name: halloween-cartoon-varvel.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/danieljmitchell.files.wordpress.com/100529553989/halloween-cartoon-varvel.jpg?itok=ft8YssIJ) Instead of great minds thinking alike, this is a case of great cartoonists thinking alike. Though they probably have great minds as well. But I don’t want to make too many fawning comments since I would modify both of these cartoons so that the kids were looking at papers that said “[Medicare](/whos-right-on-medicare-reform-ryan-and-rivlin-or-obama-and-gingrich/)” and “[Social Security](/the-case-for-social-security-personal-accounts/)” instead of “debt.” It’s always important to focus first and foremost on the disease of spending, after all, and [not the symptom of red ink](/the-problem-is-spending-not-deficits-2/). Last but not least, I can’t resist [linking to this comedian’s video](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/halloween-tax-video/), which includes some very good economic insights about work incentives. Sort of like this [Wizard of Id parody](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/this-cartoon-is-very-funny-but-also-does-a-great-job-of-teaching-economics/) featuring Obama. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).