AB Harvard, PhD Berkeley, Yale Law School 2011, software entrepreneur, blogger
Kwak received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in French intellectual history from the University of California, Berkeley (1997)
Posted on 10/25/2012 6:34:29 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot
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The huge tax cuts passed under Presidents Reagan and Bush II (surrounding smaller tax increases under Bush I and Clinton), in the short term, contributed to the largest budget deficits in peacetime U.S. history. In the long term, they undermined the federal government's ability to pay for the social insurance programs that make up the largest part of the federal budget: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But the most remarkable victory of the conservative revolution has been taking tax increases off the policy table, to the point where even letting tax cuts for the very rich expire as scheduled is a non-starter in Washington. Instead, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan can claim with a straight face that the solution to our long-term national debt problem is to lower taxes.
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It doesn't have to be this way. We can continue to pay for our modest social insurance programs, so people who are laid off have time to look for good jobs, poor people can get health care, and the elderly can retire with a minimum of security. It's just a matter of choice.
But, the Serious People and the self-appointed centrists say, that would require raising taxes to unprecedented levels (as a share of the economy), which is Bad Bad Bad, because then people wouldn't work as hard.
There are at least two major problems with this argument. ....
In other words, there's nothing wrong with a society and an economy where we vote ourselves increasing levels of security and we pay for it with higher tax rates. Rising productivity means that our real after-tax wages will still go up and the incentive to work will remain at least as strong. It's a choice we can make. It's just not a choice we have in this election.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
We need to tax the Senators and Representatives 25% on the money of ours that they spend........
I didn’t read the entire article, but I would assume that the author is remiss in mentioning that Obama extended the Bush tax cuts in December, 2010.
” SPENDING causes deficits, not tax cuts.”
BINGO
AB Harvard, PhD Berkeley, Yale Law School 2011, software entrepreneur, blogger
Kwak received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in French intellectual history from the University of California, Berkeley (1997)
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