Free Republic

Like many Americans who watched their savings nosedive in the market crash of '08, I've had to retrench, rethink and re-strategize my retirement plans. One course I've considered is to spend less and save more. The second is, somehow, to get a nickel for every time some Liberal said or wrote something like this: The last time the top income tax rate was 39%, the United States enjoyed a booming economy, rising incomes, low unemployment and expanding budget surpluses. Unfortunately, that simple truth has been ignored by Republican propagandists and mainstream media alike during the debate over President Obama's stimulus...

As the Congress hurdles itself to putting a Health Care legislation on the desk of the the POTUS, American voters are once again telling the Democratic party that they would prefer a different approach to using that money. According the the latest Rasmussen study, 54% rate middle class tax cuts as the priority over more health care spending, 33% prefer spending on heath care.

Doug Hoffman, a conservative running as a third-party candidate, is adding intrigue to the race to replace Republican Rep. John M. McHugh by trying to tap the electorate's anger and overcome long odds to upset the establishment candidates, Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava and Democrat Bill Owens. Mr. Hoffman's message is simple: no more bailouts, no more tax increases and no more trillion-dollar deficits. "People are fed up with the two major parties, and they want someone who's going to take some action," said Hoffman spokesman Rob Ryan.

For President Obama and his party, last week brought another stiff dose of pain: the announcement of 263,000 more jobs lost, while unemployment ticked up to 9.8 percent. And by all indications, Democrats must endure that form of political torture for at least several more months. Whatever the fate of health care legislation, persistently high unemployment has made “Where are the jobs?” the most potent Republican campaign argument as next year’s midterm elections come into view. Publicly, White House aides and Congressional leaders have responded with incessant attempts to highlight benefits from the $787 billion economic stimulus package they enacted...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives vowed on Monday to seal a coalition deal, including tax cuts, with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) within a month after Sunday's election victory. Merkel's conservatives won a parliamentary majority with the FDP, her partner of choice, enabling her to end her awkward four-year-old partnership with the Social Democrats (SPD). "Considering the strength of the junior partner, (the ideas) of that party will penetrate negotiations. That includes the simplification of the income tax system as well as tax relief," said Heino Ruland of Ruland Research in a note.

Sweden's centre-right government on Saturday announced income tax cuts of 10 billion kronor to stimulate the job market, its primary objective. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and three other ministers in the four-party coalition said the reduction would mean most wage earners would have 200 to 250 kronor (20 to 25 euros, 29 to 36 dollars) more in take-home pay every month. The proposal, to be presented to parliament on Monday as part of the 2010 budget bill, is the fourth leg of a tax cut programme introduced in January 2007 to stimulate employment. The fourth leg would enter into force...

I wonder how long it would take for the ACORN crowd to understand things when put this way: (I read an email like this the other day - so I'm putting this up in summary as I deleted it by accident) Dear Employees: As of yesterday, the Democrats in congress decided that our business will begin paying higher taxes in 30 days. Unfortunately, with the economy as poor as it is, we're not looking good. I've already reduced our expenses as much as possible. I've taken a reduction in salary and so has management. We've cut our energy expenses, cut...

The government announced today that unemployment hit 9.7 % a 26-year high. Although the White House will tell us that the rate of job loss is shrinking signaling the start of a economic comeback, that belies an understand of how companies lay people off. Usually the first layoffs are lower level employees, they make less money so companies have to lay off many of them to have a bottom line effect. As more layoffs are needed a company will start to get rid of the bigger salaries or else no one will be left to do the work. So even...

HIS NAME WAS KENNEDY. He was the preeminent figure in the Democratic Party. And he was a resolute supply-side tax-cutter. "It is a paradoxical truth," he once told the Economic Club of New York, "that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now." What he had in mind, he said, was not "a 'quickie' or a temporary tax cut." He wanted nothing less than "an across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes." Those were not the...

HIS NAME was Kennedy. He was the preeminent figure in the Democratic Party. And he was a resolute supply-side tax-cutter.

We don't want more government spending !! That is the message that the American People are sending the federal government in this latest Rasmussen Poll. In a poll released today 62% of American Voters say they prefer Tax Cuts to more government spending. In other words the SCHMOTUS, Joe Biden was wrong when he said that paying taxes is patriotic. Maybe, he should learn that listening to the voters is even more patriotic. The poll reports that it is not that public does not want to pay more taxes, they just don't want big government, nearly four-out-of-five voters, the problem...

Which U.S. president ranks as America's greatest depression fighter? Not the fabled Franklin Delano Roosevelt, since unemployment averaged 17 percent through the New Deal period (1933–1940). What banished high unemployment was the conscription of 12 million men into the armed forces during World War II. FDR actually prolonged high unemployment: he tripled taxes; he signed laws that made it more expensive for employers to hire people, made discounting illegal, and authorized the destruction of food; and he launched costly infrastructure projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority that became a drag on states receiving TVA-subsidized electricity. America's greatest depression fighter was...

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday unveiled a roadmap for reforms in direct taxes that promises to drastically cut the tax liability of most individuals by considerably raising tax slabs. The new direct taxes code, proposed to be implemented from April 2011, aims to moderate effective tax rates in the hope that this will encourage more people to pay up. The most significant changes proposed are in personal income tax, which could lead to tax savings of up to Rs 2.67 lakh each year. The 10% tax rate, currently applicable for incomes between Rs 1.6 lakh and Rs...

As my fellow Politicizer writer Malcolm-Wiley Floyd recently pointed in his article “Extend Unemployment Benefits Now,” the recession has left many Americans either unemployed or underemployed due to the struggling economy and government assistance could help improve this situation. While the markets have recently experienced a surge and some analysts have speculated that the economy is on its way to recovery, the unemployment rate is still worryingly high and now sits at 9.7 percent, which is shockingly high compared to the pre-recession rate in 2007 of 4.6 percent. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to determine how soon the recession will...

President Obama is quickly approaching the moment when he will have to emulate President George HW Bush, who told us to read his lips, "No New Taxes." Barack Obama promised us that he wouldn't raise taxes on families with income of less than $250,000, he is already hinting that the pledge will soon have to fall. Problem with that broken pledge, is that Christina Romer, a top Obama's top economic adviser did a major study that proved for every 1% increase in taxes, the US Gross Domestic Product falls by at least 2%. As we are already in an economic...

At last, there's a place in America where tax cutting to promote growth and attract jobs is back in fashion. Who would have thought it would be Maine? ... One question is how Democrats in Augusta were able to withstand the cries by interest groups of "tax cuts for the rich?" Mr. Baldacci's snappy reply: "Without employers, you don't have employees." He adds: "The best social services program is a job." Wise and timely advice for both Democrats and Republicans as the recession rolls on and budgets get squeezed. Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A13

There's a serious debate in this country as to how best to end the recession. The average recession will last five to 11 months; the average recovery will last six years. Recessions will end on their own if they're left alone. What can make the recession worse is the wrong kind of government intervention. I believe the wrong kind is precisely what President Barack Obama has proposed. I don't believe his is a "stimulus plan" at all -- I don't think it stimulates anything but the Democratic Party...

In March the American workforce lost 633,000 MORE non-farming jobs. The full unemployment number is 641,000 and the new national unemployment rate is 8.5% nearly double what it was for the majority of the previous administration. But since March is just a single month let's get a feel for the full picture since Obama's clock stated ticking. In February the unemployed persons number exceeded 851,000 additional jobs but the unemployment rate at that time was only 7.1% across the nation. February would be the only other month fully on his watch.

81% Say Middle Class Tax Cuts Important for Budget Plan Monday, March 30, 2009 Eighty-one percent (81%) of voters nationwide say it’s important to keep the promised middle-class tax cuts in President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget. That figure includes 55% who say it’s Very Important.The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 15% do not see the tax cuts as important.<snip>By a 51% to 38% margin, voters say the tax cuts are more important than new spending on health care reform. While voters remain divided over the president’s budget, health care reform has emerged as the most significant...

A trade group representing finance executives and treasurers wants Congress to cut the tax rate multinational corporations pay when they tap cash held by foreign subsidiaries. Such a move could help companies hurt by tight credit markets, giving them an alternative source of liquidity, the group said. “Allowing firms to repatriate funds and bring back foreign earnings into the U.S. will free up much needed working capital for U.S. companies,” said Jim Kaitz, the CEO of the Association for Financial Professionals, the organization behind the letter, in a statement. Mr. Kaitz cited a similar tax break enacted in 2004, which...

The tools are in place to get us out of the recession, and could already have been used to good effect. Ideal and Actual Anti-Recession Policy As macro-economies falter and the aggregate demand for labor falls, monetary authorities should automatically expand the money supply so as to quickly restore the original demand for labor and corresponding wage level. Failing to do so invites many workers to erroneously maintain their previous wage demands in the face of a falling aggregate demand for labor and thereby lose their jobs, creating inefficiently low aggregate employment levels. In most cases, achieving the optimal, employment-maintaining,...

Gov. Jennifer Granholm had a familiar message today for lawmakers pushing tax cuts: Find a way to pay for them. Advertisement Granholm said she won’t support tax cut proposals, such as a Senate plan to give home buyers a new property tax credit, if they result in less revenue that would force more state cuts. Some lawmakers are pushing for additional property tax cuts, as property values continue to drop around the state. “If there’s a way to pay for it, I’m always willing to look at it,” Granholm told reporters as she toured a statewide high school robotic competition...

Bloomberg - Headline and link only. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDCOM2mACDYY&refer=home

You thought the analogue-to-digital conversion box fiasco had people confused?Just wait.This is something I can guarantee the overwhelming vast majority of Americans are not aware of – and come next April 15th, there are going to be a whole lot of irate people frantically screaming at their payroll departments demanding to know what the hell happened.And meanwhile, not one official from the Obama Administration – the folks who care so much about America’s working families – is bothering to inform anyone about it.If you are married, and both you and your spouse are entitled to President Obama’s economy-saving blockbuster "tax...

Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he intends to lower taxes this year, despite the global economic crisis and the sharp drop in income tax revenue. Against the Treasury's and Bank of Israel's recommendations, he said he will put into action a series of processes, as soon as he becomes prime minister, most likely in the coming two weeks. The first step, Netanyahu said, will be lowering income tax for low and medium income earners, and corporate tax for small business, in an effort to boost the private sector and encourage consumer spending. He specifically promised help for factories...

President Barack Obama ordered the U.S. Treasury on Saturday to implement tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans, fulfilling a campaign pledge he hopes will help jolt the economy out of recession. The tax cuts are part of a $787 billion economic recovery plan passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress over Republican opposition.

An email saying: “Tax cuts to increase American companies’ ability to compete, lower corporate tax rates, lower capital gains rates and repatriate that $500B plus overseas that companies don’t want to pay 35% confiscatory tax rates on. Stop pandering to the lowest common denominator and grease the skids for what has made this country great, CAPITALISM!” I agree with one of the three tax ideas Terry supports: the last one. The other two, while certainly fine on their own merits, don’t do anything to boost job growth, which is why our economy is in the tank right now After all,...

In their zeal to oppose the lunacy of the so-called "stimulus" plan, many radio talk show hosts and other pundits have fallen into the Keynesian trap. Rather than the politicians spending nearly a trillion dollars, they argue, it would provide much more stimulus if the government gave massive tax cuts. This would "put money back in the pockets of average Americans" and they would go to the mall and "get that money into circulation and boost the economy." Although the instincts behind such arguments are sound, they often betray an underlying Keynesian mindset. By justifying tax cuts on the grounds...

(Rep. Michelle Bachmann) This might come as a surprise to you, but the United States is near the top of the list of industrialized countries with the highest corporate tax rates. You may be asking yourself “so what,” or “who cares,” but it’s important to recognize that lower corporate tax rates result in attracting more investment capital. A reduction of the federal corporate tax rate would increase firms’ productivity and investment incentives, and ultimately stimulate our nation’s long-term competitiveness by enhancing economic freedom. The end result would be a boon to your family budget. The trend for countries around...

Spread it out, and they will spend ... that's what Democrats say.Okay then.I'm ready to do my part by giving this economy a good swift kick in the pants.Let's see ... Eight dollars will almost get me a pack of cigarettes in New York City – and at some places in town, a full one. Eight bucks, however, will not be enough to get me across the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island by car (that’s $10.00), but I would be able to take four subway rides. It’ll also score me a McDonalds double quarter-pounder value meal in Manhattan, or...

Never heard of it? That's not surprising - it didn't last long. The 20's were roaring, not greatly depressing. Yet virtually none of the American population knows that the nation's economy actually took a worse hit in 1920 than it did at any point during the Great Depression. Federal spending was cut from $6.3 billion in 1920 to $5 billion in 1921 and $3.2 billion in 1922. Federal taxes fell from $6.6 billion in 1920 to $5.5 billion in 1921 and $4 billion in 1922. Harding's policies started a trend. The low point for federal taxes was reached in 1924;...

House GOP Offers Plan B by: Heather Latham, February 13, 2009 Responding to a request given by President Obama for involvement, the House Republicans came up with the House Republican Economic Recovery Plan. It is their alternative to the stimulus package. It is intended to make “twice the jobs at half the cost.” There are five parts of this plan— 1. Cut tax rates for “every taxpaying-family in America.” 2. Tax cuts for small businesses so they can “free up funds…to retain and hire new employees.” 3. “Any stimulus spending should be paid for by reducing other government spending, not...

One of the things that haunts me about Barack Obama—and there are many—is his unwillingness to accept indisputable facts, evidently due to his unswerving adherence to leftist ideology. One example, which I have cited before, was from a debate between Obama and Hillary Clinton last April: Moderator Charles Gibson: [I]n each instance, when the [captial gains] rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in...

Harvard economist Robert Barro being interviewed by the Atlantic: Atlantic: And I take it from the Wall Street Journal piece you wrote last week . . . well, the piece is just specifically about measuring multipliers, but I take it that you are fairly skeptical in general that fiscal policy will boost aggregate demand. Barro: Right. There's a big difference between tax rate changes and things that look just like throwing money at people. Tax rate changes have actual incentive effects. And we have some experience with those actually working. Atlantic: What would you say is the best empirical evidence...

Economy: Given the forces brought to bear in Washington, the chance of some kind of big-spending "stimulus" package getting passed looks pretty good. The only question is, what kind of stimulus?he answer to that question matters. It will go a long way toward deciding whether the bill will be acceptable to voters — and whether it will work economically. As it is now, the Democrat-crafted stimulus package is nothing short of a disgrace. It spends money on all sorts of things we don't need right away, creates new permanent spending programs and flushes literally trillions of dollars down the government...

All week the word I kept thinking of was "braced." America is braced, like people who are going fast and see a crash ahead. They know huge and historic challenges are here. They're not confident they can or will be met. Our most productive citizens are our most sophisticated, and our most sophisticated have the least faith in the ability of our institutions to face the future and get us through whole. They have the least faith because they work in them. Tuesday I talked to people who support a Catholic college. I said a great stress is here and...

Four days before President Bush makes his State of the Union address, the Senate's top Democrat mounted a fresh attack Friday on Bush's tax cut plan and offered an alternative that he said would give the sluggish economy a quick boost. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle proposed giving working families tax rebates of up to $1,200, extending benefits to the unemployed, giving businesses new tax breaks and pumping $40 billion to financially distressed cities and states. With Republicans controlling Congress, Daschle's $112 billion proposal was essentially a manifesto of opposition that has almost no chance of becoming law. B ut...

Far from rolling over, House Republican leaders are trying to win concessions from President Obama over the massive economic stimulus package and have proffered a bill of their own to put on the negotiating table. The counter-package would shift focus entirely from spending to tax relief. Though a full House vote on the Democratic package is expected in a matter of hours and President Obama said he's confident it will pass, GOP lawmakers are hoping their substitute proposal at least influences the final product.

(snip)This week the House will be voting on a two-year, $825 billion economic stimulus package. This is on top of vast sums already being spent in the financial bailout packages. The program is immense. Will it work? The idea is to jump-start "aggregate demand," according to traditional Keynesian precepts. Milton Friedman, on the other hand, taught us that government spending and tax handouts do not stimulate demand, because every dollar doled out by government must be first taken in by taxes, borrowing or other spending cuts. The net effect on aggregate demand is zero.(snip)

President Barack Obama took the oath of office last week (twice, in fact) and prepared the nation for “gathering clouds and raging storms.” Obama is spending the early days of his presidency flooding Congress with a so-called “stimulus” plan saturated with special-interest projects and causing turbulence with the nomination of Eric Holder to be the next attorney general. Conservatives certainly have their work cut out for them. Obama’s spending plans have some problems, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The AP reported that CBO discovered the congressional Democrats’ spending plan was full of waste. The report stated that only...

President Obama's senior economic advisor made clear Sunday that any idea of renewing the Bush tax cuts, set to expire in 2010, is a dead issue. Lawrence H. Summers, a former Treasury secretary and head of the White House's National Economic Council, made clear to “Meet the Press” host David Gregory that Obama is committed to allowing the tax cuts to die. Summers also left open the possibility that the administration may revoke the tax cuts early, an idea pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But he emphasized that the Obama administration is dead against extending the tax cuts, an...

... It seems to me and a lot of other folks that we might label the current bunch of bozos in Congress the Know-Nothing Party because, Democrat or Republican, they have reached a point at which they can be stampeded into voting for the expenditure of huge amounts of money without a clue why or to whom. Now it appears they are getting ready to “stimulate the economy” with a giant, political grab-bag in excess of a trillion dollars. Much like earlier efforts, it is likely to fail while at the same time plunging the nation into deeper and deeper...

by Gina L. DiorioFor once, a politician is coming through on his campaign promises. President-elect Obama promised he would be the candidate of change, and he is, indeed, proving himself to be just that. He hasn’t even moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and already he’s changed not one but several things.Change #1: Campaign Promises  Bloomberg reports that in an interview with ABC’s “This Week,� Obama stated, “I want to be realistic here, not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped.�Translated: I promised Camelot, Utopia, and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats said on Sunday President-elect Barack Obama's proposals to stimulate the economy would likely undergo big changes to address their concerns and ensure they will revive economic growth. Obama's outline for an $800 billion stimulus plan called for 40 percent of it to be in the form of tax cuts, an effort to win over Republicans who have expressed concerns about major spending on infrastructure projects also in the package. But Democrats complained that the $10 billion in energy tax breaks were not enough and also questioned whether a $1,000 tax cut for middle class workers...

Despite their political appeal, $500 per worker tax credits will do very little to actually boost the economy. We know that tax cuts are coming—the only question is what kind. Earlier this week, President-elect Barack Obama suggested that 40 percent (about $300 billion) of his proposed economic stimulus package should come in the form of a tax cut. At least half of that tax relief is expected to be aimed at helping middle- and low-income individuals. Obama advisers have begun outlining a “temporary” $500 per worker tax credit. Aside from being temporary, this Obama policy seems nearly identical to the...

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan. They were especially critical of a proposed $3,000 tax credit for companies that hire or retrain workers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama, seeking to drum up support from both political parties, plans to propose up to $310 billion in tax cuts for businesses and the middle class as part of his massive economic stimulus package, senior Democratic aides said on Sunday. Obama intends to discuss his proposal during private meetings on Monday with Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives, the aides said. Joined by Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Obama will seek swift passage of the measure to stem a deepening U.S. economic recession. With the new Congress set to convene on...

Washington -- Love him or hate him, George W. Bush leaves office among the most consequential presidents in modern history. Like his home state of Texas, his presidency was big. He sought "to end tyranny in the world." He began two wars. He cut taxes three times, tried to privatize Social Security, and added the biggest expansion of Medicare since it was created under Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. He took on AIDS in Africa and redrew the federal role in education. He named two relatively young conservatives to the Supreme Court. He declared by himself a "global war on terror"...

President-elect Barack Obama may be about to make a big mistake: raising taxes in the middle of a recession. That's what his top political aide, David Axelrod, hinted Sunday: The Bush tax cuts are "something that we plainly can't afford, moving forward," Axelrod said. "Whether it expires, or whether we repeal it a little bit early, we'll determine later. But it's going to go." Either way, of course, would deal a significant blow to the economy. But moving up the hit to a time when the nation is struggling to recover from a brutal downturn would simply intensify the pain...

With the holidays rapidly approaching, my wife and kids have asked me several times what I would like for Christmas. Like most men, it’s easier for me to identify what I don’t want, because most things I would like are out of range for my family’s budget, like a Bentley or a secluded vacation beach house in Maui. What I definitely don’t want is anything pitched by Billy Mays on television. I don’t need a liquid that mends rips in my jeans, or putty that can be used to replace the broken handle on my coffee cup. I would sooner...