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$10,585 - small companies with fewer then 20 employees
$7,755 - large companies with over 500 employees
As you pointed out, the tax code favors big businesses over smaller ones, which suits big business just fine - drive out the smaller competition. Big government likes it too, because if they can eliminate thousands of smaller companies, then they only need to get a few big corporations in their back pocket.
Obama wants gut tax laws for oil companies, some which have been in effect since 1913, and most of which are only available to small independent oil companies.
Status of Tax and Environmental Issues, April 2009 (http://www.ipaa.org/issues/hot_topics/docs/TAXENVIROIssues_April2009.pdf - broken link) America’s independent natural gas and oil producers develop 90 percent of US wells, produce 82 percent of US natural gas and produce 68 percent of US oil. Independent producers reinvest over 100 percent of American oil and natural gas cash flow back into new American production. Lower natural gas and oil prices and the tight credit market are limiting investment capital; drilling activity is down over 25 percent since a year ago.
What "certain constituency" ? Fannie and Freddie bought run of the mill, middle class, 30-year loans.
Yes, but this practice went on for decades without any serious problems. It's bad, but it's not the proximate cause of the financial crisis. Things didn't go bad over $180 billion.
Yes, we do. You didn't address any of the laws and practices we have that enable these financial firms to create asset bubbles. Fannie and Freddie absorb risk for the banks, and they provide liquidity, but they don't drive monetary policy.
Fannie and Freddie absorb risks with our money to be more specific.
Easy to solve. Keep government out of regulating the free market like they did the Housing industry. The free market doesn't make those loans and never have since they wouldn't lower the standards and increase the risk. It wasn't profitable.
None of this would have happened if it wasn't for the Federal Reserve manipulating with interest rates. The lower than market interest rates enticed businesses to make those loans. Market interest rate is X the profit isn't there. Market interest rate is .75x then the profit is worth the risk.
It isn't a coincidence that EVERY time since 1913 economic disasters have happened with one thing in common. Interest rates manipulated to lower than market by Federal Reserve. That causes mal investment. Same thing happened with interest rates before the great depression, before the dot com bubble and is the reason the cost of college has sky rocketed. Free money.
Which (A) has not a damn thing to do with GSE's or regulation, and (B) doesn't answer my question.
You have that backwards. The point of low interest rates is not to help finance the government's operations.. the point of low interest rates is to keep property values (the typical retirees' bread and butter assets) from collapsing. Low interest rates actually make it more difficult for the federal government to spend, because it reduces the demand for gov't bonds.
The point of low interest rates is to spur investment.
We have low interest rates now and are in a bond bubble. Gold AND bond prices rising at the same time???
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