Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Kennedy's most significant events are (a) the showdown with Kruschev over short-range nuclear missiles, and (b) the tax cuts he shepherded through Congress (signed by LBJ after Kennedy's assassination).
No doubt the Cuban Missile Crisis will get a lot of attention in the coming memorials.
But Kennedy also put in place across-the-board tax cuts. When he first took office, the highest income tax rates were 92%. He lowered them to "only" 75%, while lowering all the rates on lower incomes proportionately.
He gave a speech in New York, describing why he felt such tax cuts were necessary. Will any of the following quotes even get any mention in the coming memorials?
“...any new tax legislation enacted next year should meet the following three tests:
“First, it should reduce the net taxes by a sufficiently early date and a sufficiently large amount to do the job required.... Second, the new tax bill must increase private consumption, as well as investment.... Third, the new tax bill should improve both the equity and the simplicity of our present tax system.
“For all these reasons, next year's tax bill should reduce personal as well as corporate income taxes: for those in the lower brackets, who are certain to spend their additional take-home pay, and for those in the middle and upper brackets, who can thereby be encouraged to undertake additional efforts and enabled to invest more capital.
“The final and best means of strengthening demand among consumers and business is to reduce the burden on private income and the deterrents to private initiative which are imposed by our present tax system — and this administration pledged itself last summer to an across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes...”
Quote:
“...an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenues to balance our budget — just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits.
“...our practical choice is not between a tax-cut deficit and a budgetary surplus. It is between two kinds of deficits: a chronic deficit of inertia, as the unwanted result of inadequate revenues and a restricted economy, or a temporary deficit of transition, resulting from a tax cut designed to boost the economy, increase tax revenues, and achieve, I believe — and I believe this can be done — a budget surplus. The first type of deficit is a sign of waste and weakness; the second reflects an investment in the future.”
My guess is, tax cuts might get mentioned in passing, followed by a quick change in subject, if they are mentionend at all.
The reasons for the cuts, which he explained in the above speech, will be carefully omitted. Though they are as true today as they were then, they don't jive with the present administration's beliefs of the way tax cuts work.
(This tells you as much about the present administration, as it does about the effects of tax cuts)
Significant, but the events I mentioned were more so.
The beauty of the Kennedy administration for Demcrats is that he was not in office long enough to get into any public scandals. He is like and empty vessel that they can pour a bunch of "He would have done X if he lived". Camelot is a myth concocted by media. The Kennedy's were a bunch of arrogant trash living off of criminal proceeds.
I'm always amazed when he ranks high on lists of the greatest Presidents. What exactly did he do? He wasn't even able to finish his first term. I always think of him as the Kurt Cobain of Presidents...
Personally, I think the media's PR campaign of "Camelot" served to elevate the reputation of the Democrat Party and his idiot brother Teddy.
I'm always amazed when he ranks high on lists of the greatest Presidents. What exactly did he do? He wasn't even able to finish his first term. I always think of him as the Kurt Cobain of Presidents...
Personally, I think the media's PR campaign of "Camelot" served to elevate the reputation of the Democrat Party and his idiot brother Teddy.
The Democrats look at Kennedy throw rose colored glasses. When people remember Elvis, there is the guy from the movies in the 1960s and then there is the bloated and drug-addicted buffoon sweating on stage while stuffed into a white jumpsuit from the 1970s.
What do Curt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Jimmie Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jame Dean all have in common?
They all died at the peak of their popularity and never became the "Las Vegas Elvis".
Last edited by Spaten_Drinker; 11-19-2013 at 11:55 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
