This morning on Fox News, the panel of their Saturday financial know-nothings attacked an issue that has been burning at the heart of Americans for decades: U.S. Has As Many Tax Preparers As Police And Firefighters.

That’s right. Fox News is blasting the free market, small business owners who start companies aimed at providing services to individuals and businesses who can benefit from them. The quantity of tax preparers is driven by the demand in the marketplace, and that demand is creating jobs for hard-working, experienced entrepreneurs. Why would Fox object to that?

What’s more, the comparison to the number of police and firefighters makes no logical sense. What is Fox implying? Is it that we should have fewer tax preparers than the market demands? Is it that we should hire more first responders, whom Fox is generally opposed to funding? And how does the quantity of persons who are the victims of crime or fire relate to persons who desire tax advice?

Fox might just as well have compared the number of tax preparers to the number of janitors (2,310,400) or waiters (2,260,300) or nurses (2,737,400), most of whom outnumber tax prepares, police, and firefighters combined. Does that say something significant about the number of each of those professionals? Is it important to note that there are fewer firefighters than there are insurance sales agents (who ironically sell fire insurance policies)?

Let’s face it – Fox is only interested in insinuating that something is amiss because there are more tax preparers than first responders. It is Fox’s way of demeaning the tax system. However, Fox never mentions that there are many more people who pay taxes than there are victims of crime and fire. Just as there are many more people who dine at restaurants, creating the demand for waiters. And to the extent that our first responders are understaffed, Fox would object to spending the money required to hire more of them.

In fact, it would fit in perfectly with the Fox agenda if the number of people paying taxes declined and the number of victims increased. It would also fit Mitt Romney’s agenda, as he is on record opposing additional police, firefighters, and teachers.

The whole debate was a farce that served no purpose other than to fulfill Fox’s mission of making their audience as ignorant as possible. And on that measure, as usual, they succeeded quite well.