Since the Reagan years, the right wing has trumpeted, "Deficits don't matter!" because they argued that the only thing that mattered in terms of a budget deficit was whether it would be balanced during full employment. The full employment level of unemployment has been assumed to be about 4.5% and recent experience shows that's about right.
So why have we had a budget deficit for the past 7 years even with full employment? The only possible answer is that taxes are too low. Too low for whom? The very wealthy is the answer. They are the people who can shelter more of their income from taxes and they are the people who have seen their incomes increase faster than their tax burdens.
So, those of us who think it's scurrilous to pass the legacy our own profligacy (Sorry for the big words, Quad. Just remember the dictionary is in alphabetical order. Let me know if you need any help with the order of letters.) on to our kids and grandkids should be advocating for higher taxes, especially reinstituting the inheritance tax and treating most capital gains as regular income.
Posted by wormwood, 2/1/2008 5:49:22 PM
"(never mind that U.S. individuals and corporations are pretty much the least regulated in the developed world)"
"the least regulated" maybe you should check and see how easy it is to develop land with a swamp spit hole in the center....or divert a 6 inch wide creek or try to open a oil well in a virgin area..Or build a boat house on the river...or a skimpy deck.. or maybe cut a couple of trees to get a better view.. etc. etc..Some simple facts for simple minds with tunnel vision ...Many people can't buy starter homes because with all the Gov regulations as it is much more profitable for developers to suit lots with larger homes..It would be better if you did research before spouting off gump..Exactly what subject did you try to teach?? In case you still don't catch on the extreme Gov regulations hurt the poor the most...
Okay so now I go to your other comments of today..The truth is that the rich already pay MOST of the taxes...Have you thought out your inheritance tax...Would you add that to the Estate tax or The Death Tax. Would you offer any exemptions? What of the family who has owned the thousand acre farm in Charlottesville for five generations. If they WANTED to sell they could get millions.. But they want to keep farming so they don't sell...Under your plan is it your desire to force them to sell to Libby Corporation so they can pay your tax??
Wormwood at first I believed you had tried to be a teacher but couldn't pass the grade...Now I am more inclined to think your lifes work has been at a campus book store. Why else would you be so caught up in the old World where you tell me to look up words up alphabetically..Remember this word...Google
only in the mind of a statist lib moron is revenue, or income, the only factor in budgetting.
the rest of the world deals with expenses as well.
statist lib morons don't need to concern themselves with expenses like the rest of the universe because they have a endless supply of OPM to fund their self-serving dreams of utopia.
BTW, I think you're a fucking hypocrite. You throw shots at Quad while calling for civility. You have one last chance.
"BTW, I think you're a fucking hypocrite. You throw shots at Quad while calling for civility. You have one last chance."
I am having fun with wormywood making a fool out of himself...Laughter is my best medicine
Oh come on. . .
I bet you can come up with at least ONE other possible answer.
-- Modified on 2/3/2008 11:12:18 AM
"And the ad hominem attacks begin"
Gosh. . .
I wonder who could have recently said those things.
http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion_boards/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=57706&boardID=39&page=
but you don't seem to be able to take it. I make a little good-natured dig at Quad and suddenly all you tighty rightys are in a giant huff. LOL
As for spending being a root cause of the deficit, I concede you might be right. Especially since spending per capita has skyrocketed during the Bush Administration, even before Iraq. This after years of declining spending per capita during the Clinton administration.
However, it's far easier to increase taxes than to cut spending. Also, tax increases have a smaller drag economy that do spending cuts because they are affected by different multipliers. balancing the budget with a tax increase makes much more sense than cutting spending.
cause it was easy, LOL.
We need some people in D.C. who are willing to do things that are hard, even if it means that don't get returned to office. (That's the main reason I'm in favor of term limits.)
BTW, what new upper marginal rate do you propose? And oh yea, since you concede that controlling spending is too hard (and won't be done), then what new programs or program expansions do you predict this new money will fund. Because it will. And how will that government spending help the middle class economically better than the rich investing it directly in the economy? I know this last question goes directly against your stance that the rich "hoard" their money, but I asked it anyway.
Lastly, the retorts to your "good natured digs" came on the heels of recent calls here for more civility coming from who?
-- Modified on 2/3/2008 3:22:38 PM
Just reinstitute the inheritance tax (no need for the sob stories about family farms, etc. Those were already protected in the previous law) and close many of the loopholes in the current laws. Treat income as income rather than capital gains and clamp down on tax dodges by large corporations. If spending could be cut, cutting corporate welfare would be a good start, though.
Government spending helps the middle class because they are the primary recipients of that spending and , as I mentioned before, spending stimulates the economy more than lower taxes. A significant portion of the wealth of the very rich isn't invested directly in the economy; it's in currency speculation, the secondary stock market, collectibles, etc. which have no impact on increasing wealth. I never said that the wealthy hoard their money, merely that there has been an enormous transfer of wealth to those at the very top. Do you have any data which support another position?
Hooraah for communism Wormie!!! You got it right, it is the answer to all the world's problems.
If you aren't paying enough send in more. Better yet, Wormie, get a job!!!!
Taxes equate to communism. Yeah, right.
And it's certainly irresponsible to think that we should pay our own way now and not saddle our kids and grandkids with trillions in debt.
Yep. If by communism you mean that the budget should be balanced during full employment and we should care about what we leave our kids, then sign me up.
Since 1980, we've had 19 years of GOP administration and in those 19 years we've piled up more debt than in our entire previous history. A tremendous amount of that debt is held by foreign banks so the interest payment will go overseas rather than stay here. Yeah, I'm a commie for wanting the U.S. to behave in a fiscally responsible manner.
get a job? No thanks. I'm a business owner.
...are you going to reduce your margin and subsidize your business out of your pocket or perhaps roll over to the informal "not-for-profit" status? Or, will you pass your tax increase through to your customer as you have in the past?
Just think a bit before you call for the inheritance tax a bit. Consider the family farm or family business in which a lot of value (inventory, real estate, equipment) may be taxed upon the transfer of assets to the next generation. Would it be fair for the kids to have to leverage a successful operation just to buy it from the parents?
A good friend of mine has a high production machine shop, employing 60 people. His wife died of cancer two years ago and his adult son and daughter work in the business.
His biggest risk right now is not the economy, it's the dems bringing the inheritence tax (death tax) back. If he gets hit by a bus or drops from a coronary during Hillary's inauguration speech, his kids will find themselves prepared to liquidate the biz and assets just to pay the IRS $3,000,000+. And going by previous standards, they will be given a very short period of time to do so.
Yes! That's good for the economy!!
I want YOU to pay my taxes!!