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The Economic Stupidity of the Carrier Bailout
National Review ^ | December 2, 2016 | Kevin D. Williamson

Posted on 12/02/2016 3:09:18 PM PST by EveningStar

One particularly tough and indigestible nugget of talk-radio stupidity afflicting the guts of conservatism is the idea that there is some sort of fundamental difference between bribing a business with tax cuts and bribing it with a wheelbarrow full of cash. The Trump-Pence bailout of Carrier’s operations in Indiana provides an illustrative case...

Republicans might have had a little bit of a point in the question of general tax cuts: A tax cut and spending are different things, even if the budgetary effects are exactly the same.

But in the matter of industry-specific or firm-specific tax benefits of the sort extended to Carrier in Indiana, they do not have a leg to stand on. These are straight-up corporate welfare, ethically and fiscally indistinguishable from shipping containers full of $100 bills...

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Mexico; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Indiana
KEYWORDS: bailout; carrier; carrierbailout; corporatewelfare; freetraitorsite; kevindwilliamson; nationalreview; pence; trump
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To: Lorianne
I hate to admit it but he has a point.

I agree. But I'm willing to give Trump a little room in this case. The PR value alone makes it worth it to me.

But giving a specific company in a specific industry a gift/bribe is really not where Trump needs go. Fortunately I believe he know that. Time will tell but I'm not going to ring my hands over this one.

21 posted on 12/02/2016 3:23:40 PM PST by InterceptPoint (Ted, you finally endorsed. About time.)
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To: Don Corleone

Exactly. So tired of these establishment big gov conservatives and their globalist free trade babble. We were sold a bunch of bs by these guys years ago with all this “we should build up their country, keep them from flooding our border, and prices will drop for US consumers”
It turned out to be a big lie to benefit big profits and big govie lovers and the illegals who vote for them.


22 posted on 12/02/2016 3:24:31 PM PST by snarkytart
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To: EveningStar

Kevin is upset because the hated white males just don’t go dead straightly this time.


23 posted on 12/02/2016 3:27:00 PM PST by Rebel2016
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To: Lorianne

>Shouldn’t every business get the same tax cuts, not just ones threatening to move their business to a different country?

BINGO! Glad to see not everyone has the (R) knee-pads ready and waiting when “we win”.

Biz (and taxpayers) of Indiana should be asking the same question: “What about ME?”. How many small biz would fail to close shop if the same incentive were presented, or divided out?


24 posted on 12/02/2016 3:27:08 PM PST by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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To: EveningStar

The difference is that if there were no tax cuts, the plant would close down, the workers would all be laid off, and the state would lose ALL the tax revenue from the plant AND the workers. Plus they would be paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars every week in unemployment benefits to the laid off workers, many of whom many never find another job.

Not only that, the local economy would be devastated by the loss of income from the workers. And then tax revenues from the stores around town would go down and THEY would be forced to lay off people.

It’s a vicious cycle.


25 posted on 12/02/2016 3:27:20 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Conservatives love America for what it is. Liberals hate America for the same reason.)
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To: EveningStar

I don’t know if it is a bailout — all I know is that there are 1000 families who will have the merriest of Christmases in their lives. I should know; I have a son (engineer) who has been out of work since March and I can feel the agony he has suffered. To us, Christmas is not a pleasant holiday. Hopefully Mr. Trump will do something to enhance the situation in the oil industry without having to arrange a direct bailout.
Dear God, MAGA please.


26 posted on 12/02/2016 3:28:21 PM PST by 353FMG (AMERICA IS ALL THAT TRULY MATTERS)
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To: Lorianne
You're not alone in your thinking.

Palin slams Trump Carrier deal as 'crony capitalism'

27 posted on 12/02/2016 3:30:15 PM PST by PROCON (Onto the Great American Rebirth!)
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To: EveningStar

This from the guy who thinks these kinds of places “deserve to die”: http://hotair.com/archives/2016/03/13/those-white-working-class-trump-supporting-communities-deserve-to-die/


28 posted on 12/02/2016 3:30:15 PM PST by Behind the Blue Wall
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To: Lorianne

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3500848/posts?page=25#25

And Trump ran on a platform of cutting corporate taxes for ALL businesses.


29 posted on 12/02/2016 3:30:39 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Conservatives love America for what it is. Liberals hate America for the same reason.)
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To: EveningStar

More fake news from the Alt-Left corporate media.


30 posted on 12/02/2016 3:34:05 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (President Trump is coming, and the rule of law is coming with him.)
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To: PROCON

See my post #25 above.


31 posted on 12/02/2016 3:36:50 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Conservatives love America for what it is. Liberals hate America for the same reason.)
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To: BigEdLB

Are we going to see companies threaten to move just to get tax breaks and incentives? How are you going to tell the difference? I like the tariffs idea he originally had and hope he goes with that on a more national policy level.


32 posted on 12/02/2016 3:39:10 PM PST by Nomad577
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To: EveningStar
A mathematical breakdown of why the deal Trump made with Carrier is PURE GENIUS

The deal announced today states that Carrier will keep 1,069 jobs in the US in exchange for $7 million , over 10 years, in tax breaks from Indiana. These jobs on average make about $30 an hour. Full time workers on average work 2,087 hours a year so that means 1,069 (2087)($30) gives you approximately $67 million dollars in income a year. The state tax rate in Indiana is 3.3% so $67 million (0.033) gives you about $2.2 million dollars in state income a year while the state is only giving Carrier a $700,000 tax break a year. Indiana is getting a 300% return, per year, on their investment. This doesn't take into account the extra flow of money into the economy and Carrier's plan to invest $16 million into the plant itself. Liberals who are complaining about this deal need to learn basic math.

Spez: Sources: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-indiana.aspx

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.usatoday.com/story/94781008/?client=safari

Trump literally saved Christmas for thousands of kids whose parents can afford presents now... St.Trump!

https://investmentwatchblog.com/a-mathematical-breakdown-of-why-the-deal-trump-made-with-carrier-is-pure-genius/

33 posted on 12/02/2016 3:39:35 PM PST by Lockbox
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To: EveningStar

I betcha these hypocrites at NRO wholeheartedly supported Reagan’s bailout of Harley Davison.


34 posted on 12/02/2016 3:41:23 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator
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To: PROCON; Lorianne

While I understand where Palin and others are coming from on this single business. The whole system has been out of whack for many decades and will take some time to fix.

Let’s just hope Trump is plugging the holes in the dyke, meanwhile working on a long-term solution fix so that businesses can thrive once again here in America. I believe he will.

CGato


35 posted on 12/02/2016 3:42:08 PM PST by Conservative Gato
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To: Lockbox

It’s apparent that the pointy-headed elitists scum at national review can’t even do basic math.


36 posted on 12/02/2016 3:42:34 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Oh, government makes special deals with companies precisely because it pays off for government and for the company.

That’s not the same as saying it is a good conservative thing to do, or that it is better overall for the economy. It’s certainly better for Indiana. And since the jobs were going to mexico, nobody cares that it isn’t good for wherever the jobs were going. But the tax revenue lost here is money that couldn’t be paid to lure another company in, or to give every company in the state a tax break which might have caused thousands of companies to each hire one more person.


37 posted on 12/02/2016 3:43:07 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: EveningStar

Shut up NRO ... you have the same credibility as the Dixie Chicks.


38 posted on 12/02/2016 3:50:23 PM PST by ThePatriotsFlag ( Anything FREELY-GIVEN by the government was TAKEN from someone else.)
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To: EveningStar

My comment (remembered, but the gist anyway)

Here’s the difference: with tax cuts, it’s the company’s money to begin with! The Government is merely agreeing to stop confiscating so much of it.


39 posted on 12/02/2016 3:52:46 PM PST by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: EveningStar
According to Scott Adams The New CEO’s First Moves (and Trump) the Carrier deal is Trump staking out his territory as the new CEO. A standard move for a new CEO. It doesn’t have to be good, in the long run - it just looks good right now.

Carrier will live, I’m not worried about the corporation. It’s not like Trump was shutting down every Republican-leaning Chrysler/Jeep dealer, which is what Obama did (lest we forget) in his first year. Now, that was tyrannical.

By the time Trump is through cutting corporate taxes, Carrier will be way ahead in short order. And Trump is giving them a PR boost in the meantime, predicting - implicitly calling for - a buycott of Carrier for their good deed.


40 posted on 12/02/2016 3:54:01 PM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion ('Liberalism' is a conspiracy against the public by wire-service journalism.)
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