Jason Moyer on 28/7/2011 at 01:07
I consider myself a libertarian, but on a practical level there are 2 things that need to happen if the government wants to avoid a shutdown and start reeling in the deficit: 1.) raise the debt ceiling, which has happened during the administration of every president other than Truman - the teabaggers hero (for reasons I don't understand), Reagan, did it himself 18 times and 2.) get rid of the Bush tax cuts. I'd go further and say that we should raise the highest marginal tax rates back to historical norms (currently the highest rate is 35%, which is ridiculous - historically it's typically been in the 75-90 range) and close corporate tax loopholes. It's sort of crazy that personal income tax accounts for 800 billion USD in revenue and corporate tax is under 200 billion.
From an idealist point of view I'd like to see income tax eliminated entirely as well as social security/medicare and at least a 50% cut in the defense budget. Obviously that willl never happen so the only real workable solution is to increase revenue, which means more taxes and bringing corporate tax laws back to where they were 15 years ago.
The GOP, fwiw, are complete hypocrites when it comes to economic policies. I'm 34 years old, and I've spent my entire lifetime hearing them preach about smaller, more accountable government. In reality, they've actually done more than anyone to increase the size of the deficit. They support the always popular position of lowering taxes, particularly taxes on the wealthy and corporations, while simultaneously raising the defense budget and pushing through legislation like the 2003 increase in medicare, which was the biggest increase in medicare funding since the program was created.
Also, this is fun:
(
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/07/the-chart-that-should-accompany-all-discussions-of-the-debt-ceiling/242484/) The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling - James Fallows - Politics - The Atlantic
Scots Taffer on 28/7/2011 at 02:58
Saw that graph doing the rounds, pretty illustrative for silencing the Republican pundits obviously but that's not going to actually achieve anything. Any administration takes on (and acknowledges they are taking on, I imagine) the trailing surpluses and deficits that will continue to be impacted by the prior administration's policies for the foreseeable future. That's what I was getting at with regards to finding a workable solution to this stalemate, it needs to be a realistically sustainable approach that lasts more than one term of different political bodies.
Jason Moyer on 28/7/2011 at 03:18
Well, like I said, the only way we can really reduce expenses at this point is to cut the defense budget or medicare, neither of which is going to happen. Social Security being cut wouldn't help much since that's basically the only part of the government that sort of makes money (payments into SS are higher than payments out). So we need to increase revenue. Unless we find a magical way of doing that, that means higher taxes.
Nicker on 28/7/2011 at 03:27
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
Well, like I said, the only way we can really reduce expenses at this point is to cut the defense budget or medicare, neither of which is going to happen.
You could take the profit made by the private insurance companies, along with the money they spend either evading their obligations or disputing them in the courts, and use that for hospitals and clinics.
But that's not going to happen either...
I bet the surplus from that would fund public education too.
Scots Taffer on 28/7/2011 at 03:57
I agree notionally that it would seem that there is greater capacity to increase corporate taxes, but I'm not really across how that currently works and the benefits/drawbacks of doing so other than potentially driving more business overseas (the old chestnut that gets trotted out the second companies cannot continue to achieve or exceed prior obscene profits).
Jason Moyer on 28/7/2011 at 04:04
For a hundred years, there's been a conspiracy of plutocrats against ordinary people.
Number one: In 1945, corporations paid 50 percent of federal taxes. Now they pay about 5 percent. Number two: in 1900, 90 percent of Americans were self-employed; now it's about two percent.
It's called consolidation. Strengthen governments and corporations, weaken individuals. With taxes, this can be done imperceptibly over time.
CCCToad on 28/7/2011 at 05:53
:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
Another issue with the tax system isn't just the cuts, but the enormous loopholes in it. It just seems bizarre to me that everyone's complaining about the 250 grand + tax cuts, but nobody wants to address the fact that many of the largest corporations not only pay NOTHING in federal taxes, but get multi million dollar "rebate" checks from the government.
It doesn't matter how much you charge in taxes if you don't enforce those tax rates by closing the loopholes, and right now the system is skewed against small business(historically the largest job creators) in favor of mega-corporations because of that.
Muzman on 28/7/2011 at 08:58
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
Number two: in 1900, 90 percent of Americans were self-employed; now it’s about two percent.
*raises hand* Um, not to dispute the overall sentiment exactly, but 90 percent? Doing what exactly? What percentage do you think it ought to be given that the population has quadrupled in that time?
Jason Moyer on 28/7/2011 at 11:05
(pssst. that entire post was possibly trolling/quoting something)
Muzman on 28/7/2011 at 11:21
I'm afraid I don't get it. There has been a need to expand Poe's law to politics for some time though.
