Well…while cruising my online papers for the second time today, a thought came to me that should put the “tax cuts make tax revenues grow” nonsense that is still a staple of all of the economic plans of the repubs across the country to rest. If that is the case, why did the Bush tax cuts take the economy from the surplus that he was handed when “elected”, to the huge deficits that we now see? Shouldn’t those cuts have driven tax revenues so high that even today there would be no deficits? Just asking….
Tag Archives: Tax cuts
I’ve already made the goal…
Well…just looked at the count for the month and realized that I’ve already made my goal of two per day for the month…but, I thought I’d do another one just for the hell of it..don’t know if I have very much to say but I’m going to say it anyway…I did get the papers out for recycling as I said I would but that is about it…I think I’m going to stay on this topic for a while…that the intelligence and memory of the people in the US must be questioned when polls come out that put Romney and Obama almost even in the general election….I can still remember the Bush years…the unfunded wars we were lied into, the erosion of our civil liberties, the shredding of the constitution, the continued concentration of wealth in the top 1% while the rest of the country struggles….let’s say it again…all of the problems we have now are a direct result of repub policies and they are promising more of the same if elected…they are planning to gut social security and medicare while giving tax breaks to the rich that will give them an AVERAGE of $146,000 cut while raising them on everyone else. No society can survive when one percent of the country controls everything….
I have one question to ask…why can’t ceo’s take only half of their outrageous pay and give pay raises to the people that work for them? This one move would put billions if not trillions of dollars into the hands of people who would spend it, increasing demand across the entire economy and putting people back to work….just saying….
The republicans are even ignoring business…
Well…this is going to be a shorty since I’m over my quota for the month and really don’t have a lot to say today…but, I did want to get to one thing…all of the repub candidates jobs plan consist of more and more of the same…tax cuts for business and the rich hoping that the largess heaped upon them will “trickle down” and create jobs; never mind that tax cuts have never created one job when there is no demand for the goods or services that job will create. Even business leaders are saying that it is not the tax burden that is holding back the economy but it is the lack of demand that comes from the falling real wages of everyone but the rich….on this point, there is plenty of blame to go around and the question I have for these same business leaders is “why would you expect rising demand when you keep cutting the real wages and benefits of your workers by outsourcing and not sharing the rise in productivity with your workers?” The real problem here is who goes first? People won’t start to spend again until they are comfortable that their rising wages will make it feasible to buy things again and business won’t raise wages or hire until demand is rising. So, as always, we’re stuck in a “Catch 22″ without any visionary person or company that will make the leap of faith necessary to break the gridlock…and on it goes….
Okay, I’m six short for the month…
Well…I don’t think I’ve been so far behind in numbers here since I started this thing so I guess I’d better get my butt in gear and get a couple more out today….it was a tiny bunny day out on the trail today and I was really amused how they would never just cross the trail in front of me but would cross then run down the trail for a few yards…they are much faster than they look…I was going 15 and they were keeping up….just a bit of trail weirdness…
I did want to get to the nonsense that Bachmann and her ilk are peddling on the campaign trail about the stimulus package…their contention being that the stimulus did not work at all and it was a waste of 700 billion dollars…well, Michele, the stimulus was almost half tax cuts so what you’re saying is that tax cuts don’t work to stimulate the economy, right? So, why are you and the rest of the nut job right continuing to push more and more tax cuts? It just shows that these guys don’t give a damn about the economy except how it can be used to benefit the rich and connected….geez….
A busy day….and more nonsense..
Well..it’s been a busy day today..had lots to do to get to this point and I am now just sitting down for the first time today to take a look at the world of politics and put in my two cents. I am just amazed at the repub hypocrites that have the gall to ask ‘where are the jobs?” as a campaign slogan when, for the 8 years they held power, not one net job was produced by them or their voodoo economics of tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts. As I have said many times before, if tax cuts spurred job growth, why aren’t we swimming in new jobs with tax rates being at their lowest overall level in more than 50 years. I am more than frustrated by the dems not standing on any flat surface and shouting these facts; that the repub policies do not work for job creation…and I’m sure that business is not hiring just for the fact that they want a repub back in the White House to de-regulate some more and take the remaing shards of the American dream and rip it from the last few hands of the middle class…ignorance is going to be the end of this country I fear…
Pushing toward 1,000…
Well…got lunch in the oven (making some Texas style ribs with roasted red potatoes)…can you smell that? That’s some good food that I’m really looking forward to…made them with G’s recipe in a foil pouch…yummy….was just looking at the dashboard for this thing and found that I’m quickly approaching the 1,000 post mark and I’m not sure how I feel about it….I know it’s some sort of an accomplishment to have written more than two of these every day for over a year…but then I sit back and think what has been the point? No, I’m not dropping back into depression…just thinking about a lot of things…doing a little introspection over the past two days and I’m not sure if I like what I see…always too self critical but that’s me I guess…
Now, on to other stuff…I find it funny that the repubs are bitching so much about the stimulus package not working and that it was such a waste of money even though over 200 billion of the 800 was tax cuts and other tax relief. Now, what its it repubs? Do tax cuts spur job creation or don’t they? If we look at the math, and I want to, let’s compare what they are doing here in Michigan with the 2 billion in tax cuts for business that our gov Snyder and all of the other repub crazies here say will create thousands and thousands of jobs. If that will work here, why hasn’t the 200 billion in tax cuts on the federal level resulted in millions and millions of new jobs across the country? This just points out the repubs reliance on outdated ideas that have been shown over time to not work…but here’s the kicker…why do the repubs want so much measurement of middle class workers (i.e teachers) and to eliminate the jobs of those that don’t perform while they give billions and billions to corporations with no strings attached? In the latest budget giveaway to business here in Michigan, no metric is in place that would tie the tax breaks for business to anything…that means they can spend the tax windfall any way they want…outsourcing jobs, giving the ceo’s raises, or stock buybacks that do nothing to spur the economy or create jobs. This just isn’t fair and I think America is starting to see who these idiots for who they are…a paid arm of business that is ruining our democracy…
Did you expect anything different?
Well…I’ve been reading about the big conference on Mackinac Island where the repubs and business leaders, who purport to represent the people of Michigan, are meeting to gloat over ramming through their radical right-wing agenda. Since this conference is supposed give voice to the plans to “reinvent” Michigan, where is the input from the ordinary Michigan citizen? Where is the input from organized labor? Where is the input from our retirees? The quick answer is nowhere….none of those groups were even invited to this “victory lap” where business and their repub lapdogs sip champagne on the porch of the Grand Hotel and make plans to steal even more of the state from you and me. What else can you call it when taxes are raised on everyone but business and then those taxes are given to the ceo’s who then will pad their pay that is already higher than ever in history. How does it feel to write a check to a ceo that makes 20 million dollars a year? What are you going to give up to make sure these guys get another summer home or two new Mercedes?
I guess we only have ourselves to blame for voting for these thieves…or, no, I blame everyone else…I didn’t and will never vote for these thugs….
An inconvenient truth…
Well…yeah, I know, I stole that from Al Gore but it does describe the situation here in Michigan where the misguided repubs are betting the future of job growth on tax cuts for business while raising taxes on everyone else. This idea came from a couple of columns I read this morning and caused some of the econ 101 memories to come back to the top of my head. One of the articles was by Brian O’Connor in the Detroit News…yeah, I know, with an article going against the repubs line, where is he going to go to work next? The article dealt with the repubs claim that tax cuts for business will cause the cost of labor to decrease so business will hire more people, and he used the example of a conversation with the owner of one his favorite pizza places; when asked the question, the owner wanted to know what corporation would be buying the extra pizzas he needs to sell to justify hiring new employees and expanding his business. With tax increases on everyone else, the first thing to go in discretionary spending is eating out, and without an increase in demand for his pizzas, no amount of tax cuts will make him hire even one more person.
This points to the inconvenient truth that the repubs don’t want anyone to think about…with tax cuts for business and increases for everyone else, demand is going to fall and no business is going to hire in the face of decreasing demand….gov Snyder might have made millions selling off Gateway, but he and his administration are acting like the truths of economics can be trumped by belief….a recipe for disaster for our state and country….geez…
Let’s end this Reagan as god nonsense….
Well….if you’ve read the papers or turned on the tv lately, you’ve no doubt seen the increasing deification of Ronald Reagan that has surrounded the 100th anniversary of his birth. You would think this guy was the second coming the way his legacy is being scrubbed and polished by the right as they bow to the altar of tax cuts. There is only one thing that this mediocre at best president should be remembered for and that was his fervent belief in tax cuts for the rich and the whole trickle-down economic voodoo that has been foist upon the country by the repubs ever since. The one thing these idiots don’t want anyone to remember is that those tax cuts that exploded the deficit in the 80′s never resulted in any additional growth in jobs or standard of living for the vast majority of Americans; exactly the same thing we saw with the Bush tax cuts…no job growth and an exploding deficit that the repubs now say is a bad thing when, up to the last year or so, they chanted the mantra that “deficits don’t matter” only to change their tune when the dems took the White House. I hope you remember that this whole tax cut nonsense was based on theories by the disgraced economist Arthur Laffer….and his “Laffer Curve” that proposed that cutting taxes would increase revenue….never happened and yet the repubs are still clinging to those old, thoroughly discredited ideas and trying the same thing again expecting different results.
So, let’s stop this nonsense that he was one of the best presidents in history…best for his party, maybe, but for the vast majority of Americans he was and still is a failure. One note of disclosure here…I voted for this guy…now I cringe at that thought.
Obama just doesn’t understand…
Well..this one just came to me a few minutes ago and I thought I’d try to see if I can make sense of it….looking at the political maneuverings going on over the tax bill I’m struck by one consistent theme, that Obama won’t take on a fight unless he is sure that he can win…even when he constantly disappoints his supporters with what looks like compromise for it’s own sake. What kind of a win is it when you just fold up? Does that make sense? I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are times when taking on a fight because it is the right thing to do is a much nobler thing than compromising your principles and allowing something you know is wrong to continue. I think this is one of the reasons the left is so frustrated with Obama right now; he doesn’t seem to think anything, any principle or goal is immune to compromise when it is clear that saving the middle class is worth a fight, that repealing DADT is worth a fight, that keeping the repubs from stacking the deck against us is worth a fight. This is the time when we need a fight, even one for a losing cause so we can hold our heads up and say “we tried”.
I’ll end this with one question for Obama, “what IS worth fighting for?”..geez…