What recommendation other than lowering taxes would you suggest (unemployment, Iraq, wages)
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I think that some one brought up the Fair Tax Act in a previous thread. Which is a start.
Secondly, let the bad companies go....they are going to die off anyways. Now we are just letting the wound fester. If by some miracle they survive, chances are they will be problematic again in the future anyways.
Thirdly, make people accountable. Why bailout the home flippers? those subprimers? and other people who knew they were in over their head but bought homes anyways out of greed?
We'd all suffer for a while, but we'd all learn a hard lesson.
Good, good ...Just one thing though, not everyone that need the mortgage bail out purchased homes they couldn't afford, but also those who lost their jobs, no medical coverage, trying to send their children to college. We need to look at these people as well.
1. Obama should recognize that the US cannot afford every policy the Democrats have proposed. Think Health Care.
2. Obama should recognize that business is the lifeblood of the economy, and that by enacting, or proposing to enact policies viewed by industry as "anti-business" is particulary unwise during a time like this. Think "cap and trade", increased payroll tax cap.
3. Obama should recognize that asking most Americans to sacrifice while at the same time proposing the largest deficit in the history of the modern era is hypocritical.
4. Obama should remember Army Basic Training 101: "Men, when you find yourselves in a whole, the best thing to do is quit digging."
5. If he is going to proceed with his agenda (such as healthcare) then he should promise to reduce spending in other areas to pay for it.
6. Obama should eliminate refundable income tax credits. While I think everybody should at least pay something, I guess I could tolerate it if we at least quit paying people for doing nothing. I'd be happy with a zero tax liability at this point as opposed to a negative tax liability.
7. Obama should temporarily raise the payroll tax on the employee by ~5% (not the employer portion, though), and leave the cap alone.
8. Obama should revisit NAFTA. The agreement is one-sided.
9. Obama should promise to review the 14th amendment. The largest draw for illegal immigrants is the promise of citizenship at birth regardless of the parents status. At a minimum, a mother should at least be a legal alien before her child is granted citizenship.
10. Obama could ask the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of having to educate millions of illegal alien children at a cost of billions each year.
All of these actions would provide confidence to the investors and citizens that the govt. cares about the fiscal responsibility of the nation.
Now this is a dialogue, from your tag name it appears your a Republican. I could agree with all of your suggestions except number 7 and kind of on the fence about number 9. But this is the type of dialogue we need.
I would love for taxes to be elminated, one could only dream. So if that happens, how will the government pay their creditors?
What you fail to accept is that we could save the trillions of dollars Obama is spending on the so-called stimulus package and use just a small portion of that amount of money to cut taxes instead. When you cut taxes to businesses and individuals it spurs the economy from both sides. Cutting business taxes allows businesses to employ more people. Cutting individuals' taxes gives people more money to spend...and it comes back full circle back to the businesses and so on. The stock markets would love it. Likewise, Obama should cut capital gains and dividend taxes in half or even do away with them for a couple of years. Again, investors and the stock markets would love it.
Instead of reducing the mortgage interest deduction for individuals the government should allow the full amount to be deducted plus an additional 25%. If Obama wants the housing market to recover and the numerous houses on the market to be sold - why in hell is Obama reducing mortgage interest deductions? That's so stupid it's not funny!!!
Instead of Obama doing away with charitable deductions (which will dramatically hurt churches, Hospice, children's homes, homes for unwed mothers, and the poor that count on places like Goodwill and Salvation Army, etc., etc.) he should instead promote donations.
Let the free market forces take care of failing banks, financial institutions and businesses. Let them sell assets and try to restructure. If they can't recover let them file Chapter 11 BK and try to restructure. And if they still can't recover the business has no business being in business!
While we wait for businesses to recover with the tax cuts help the unemployed by increasing the amount paid and extending (as necessary) the time period people can get the insurance. Also, the government can set up a system to help "qualified people" that have lost their jobs to help them with delinquent payments until business turns around (with the aforementioned tax cuts) and they start hiring again when they see sales increase and profits grow.
Obama is going about this totally 180 degrees wrong. He is wasting trillions of dollars when just a mere fraction of this amount could be used to do a much better and faster job of turning the economy around.
I agree with your suggestions, but the outsourcing of jobs overseas is not only impacting the manufacturing area but also corporte. IT, Networking, Data Entry and now Project Management jobs are moving over to India because the government made it too easy on them. If the President directed the Labor department to go back and audit these companies and slap them with a hefty tax liability, we would either see a decrease in the deficit or increase in jobs.
And an increase in prices and a shortage of labor...but hey, it would make us feel better.
One serious question: I often see Democrats propose tax increases (tax penalties) as a stick to correct what they perceive as bad behavior while refusing to acknowledge that tax cuts are an effective "carrot". Why is that?
Credit is in the toilet, why? Previous administration failed policies. Again, assume the President did nothing, no stimulas to jumpstart credit again, how would that help the economy?
No, credit is in the toilet because banks were allowed to lend money irresponsibly, and greed found its way to that point of weakness and exploited--both in terms of buyers and lenders.
And where did the availability of money come about? Well, for starters, the Community Reinvestment Act that was enacted in the late 1970s and later reauthored in the mid-90s. Then you also have the creation of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in the 1990s, as well.
As for doing nothing, well, for starters, it would allow irresponsible lenders and unethical businesses to crash by the wayside and allow conservatively run businesses (not in a political connotation, mind you) pick up the slack in terms of market share. Is that desireable? Well, that'd debateable. The initial crash would have been much deeper than things are now. But the recovery would come all that much more quickly, as the agony wouldn't be protracted anymore than need be. Maybe. Even Bush was torn on this one, and he decidedly said he went against his own free market principles in propping up the banks. He'd rather have let them fail, to let newer, more responsible banks take the lead, and let the chips fall where they may. But there were astronomical risks in doing that, and it would undoubtedly lead to an immediate credit crunch.
So why tax cuts? Well, for one, they directly target the centers of business. The effect is immediate, as taxes are usually taken out in installments. This is opposed to spending programs, which can take years to implement. It also immediately allows struggling companies to have extra money literally come from nowhere (far more efficiently than finding them and giving it to them) and allows growing businesses to continue with their plans.
Further, our nation has a punitive rate of taxation on corporations--the second highest in the world. Cutting taxes there would encourage more investment in America. Why would I want to invest in a place that steals 40% of the income I generate?
Everyone talks about the big, evil oil corporations. Well, Exxon-Mobile brought in 42-billion dollars of profit last year. And the federal government? Well, they made 116-billion off of Exxon. Yeah, that's right. Our federal government profited more from Exxon than it did. But you tell me who is gouging profits and prices....
As for other arenas, a capital gains cut would be a BIG boost. First, retirees living off of the market have taken a HUGE hit with no real stimulus aimed at them. Cutting their taxes from 15% to 5% would help to ensure their funds down run out in hard times. It would also lure investors back into the market seeking stock dividends at the very least and minimizing the risk of investing. That would lead to an increase in stock prices.
Why hasn't the Obama administration considered these ideas? Well, because he's busy 1) raising capital gains taxes 2) increasing taxes on businesses 3) increasing corporate taxation 4) mandating spending by businesses to buy "carbon credits"
Now this is a dialogue, from your tag name it appears your a Republican. I could agree with all of your suggestions except number 7 and kind of on the fence about number 9. But this is the type of dialogue we need.
Thank you. In actuallity, with the exception of abortion, I am more Libertarian. Just don't tell anybody; I have a reputation as an evil corporate greedy bast**d to uphold.
And an increase in prices and a shortage of labor...but hey, it would make us feel better.
One serious question: I often see Democrats propose tax increases (tax penalties) as a stick to correct what they perceive as bad behavior while refusing to acknowledge that tax cuts are an effective "carrot". Why is that?
I agree tax cuts will definately help, but do you honestly believe that will deter these companies from shipping jobs off to India? I do not. These companies pay a worker $2-$4 per hour instead of $12-$15 plus benefits.
Other thoughts, and I'm going to get creamed here, is to do something about illegal workers. They take jobs from our citizen, pay no tax, and really chokes up the healthcare system.
I agree tax cuts will definately help, but do you honestly believe that will deter these companies from shipping jobs off to India? I do not. These companies pay a worker $2-$4 per hour instead of $12-$15 plus benefits.
That's easy! If they ship jobs overseas they don't get the tax cuts... Next!
That's easy! If they ship jobs overseas they don't get the tax cuts... Next!
Kootr, wish it was that easy but it isn't. I do not believe the tax cuts to these businesses is not the big answer to bring the jobs back to the US. The savings to the bottom line is too great. I should know, I work for a company the provide Business Processing Recommendations to Corporations and the bottom line is the most important thing to them. These jobs will not return anytime soon especially with a Tax cut, a few jobs will be created, but all will not return
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