This is not about party politics, it is about how the capital gains rate effects the total value of the equity market. If Kerry was for 0% capital gains and Bush for 20%, my support would be for Kerry on this issue. Didn't Wharton teach you that the Stock Market and the Economy aren't the same thing?
Well, here are the facts:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the measure of the USA's output of goods and services, is calculated by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis using the following items:
- Personal consumption expenditures: Personal consumption expenditures are far and away the largest and tends to be the most stable of the four expenditures, averaging about 65-70% of gross domestic product.
- Gross private domestic investment: Expenditures on capital goods to be used for productive activities in the domestic economy that are undertaken by the business sector during a given time period. Gross private domestic investment tends to be the least stable of the four expenditures, averaging between 12-18% of gross domestic product.
- NET EXPORTS OF GOODS AND SERVICES Net exports of goods and services is the smallest of the four expenditures, averaging around 2% of gross domestic product. Unlike the other expenditures, net exports of goods and services can be either positive or negative. They are positive when exports are greater than imports (Trade Surplus) and negative when exports are less than imports (Trade Deficit). In recent years, net exports of goods and services have been negative.
- Government consumption expenditures and gross investment measures government purchases undertaken by the government sector. Government consumption expenditures and gross investment averages between 15-20% of gross domestic product. This percentage tends to be ebb and flow a little with the political winds.
It doesn't say anything about the equity market, does it?
Willie Green
America First! Buchananite
Penn State MBA ('76)
BTW, Welcome to FreeRepublic.
And I have no intention of voting for either Bush OR Kerry.
IMHO, they're BOTH economically irresponsible boobs.
Willie: GDP refers only to the economy's annual activity. The wealth of the economy (or its balance sheet, if you will) is my focus, and increasing national wealth by changing the tax code is my objective.