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German official flays US policy on tax breaks
The Peninsula ^
| November 14, 2004
Posted on 11/14/2004 11:13:30 AM PST by NCjim
The German deputy finance minister, Caio Koch-Weser, sharply criticised the US administration in an interview made available yesterday for showering tax breaks on the wealthy and letting deficits get out of control while failing to improve the economy.
He said it had handsomely reduced taxes for those who earn the most money. Economically speaking, that was not good, since it hardly succeeded in reviving the economy and has accumulated huge budget deficits.
In the interview, to appear in Der Spiegel magazine on Monday, Koch-Weser said it would have been wiser if President George W Bush had spread tax cuts more equitably.
The burgeoning budget and balance of payments deficits were a cause of concern to money markets that the recent presidential election had done nothing to allay, Koch Weser said.
He added that the US badly needs to restore budget discipline as deficits soar to record levels.
The current account deficit, reflecting international trade, reached more than $166bn in the second quarter of this year, and some experts predict the total for the year could be as high as $600bn.
Europeans suspect that the US government has deliberately allowed the dollar to slide in order to finance its deficits and sustain exports.
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: geopolitics; trade
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To: spinestein
That's true. Agriwelfare, funding for NEA, CPB, and NEH, while cutting taxes don't make a whole lot of sense, though. You can cut chunks out of those albatrosses while increasing military spending and lessen the deficits being racked up.
Bush was into buying votes. As with the steel tariffs, he learned the hard way that the left will take your money with no intention of changing its vote. In 2002, he wooed the wrong damsel. That was corrected in 2004.
61
posted on
11/14/2004 1:11:45 PM PST
by
gcruse
(http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
To: NCjim
The German officials parroting of the Kerry campaign's Party platform planks are pure theater designed to divert attention to the German governments real concern, which comes in the last sentence of the whine:
"Europeans suspect that the US government has deliberately allowed the dollar to slide in order to finance its deficits and sustain exports."
- I would add that I believe that Bush is deliberately allowing the dollar to slide against the Euro all right, in order to reduce the trade deficit but, just as importantly, to cut French and German exports to the US and to boost US shipments into the EU. This will of course have a negative effect on German company profits and further slow their economic recovery, which is anemic at best.
You see Hans, when you knee the giant in the groin time and again when he asks for your understanding and support, sooner or later there will be consequences.
To: spinestein
When they criticize our "obscene deficits" they are not suggesting we limit the growth of government spending. They think we should just jack up the tax rates, especially on the rich. Yes, I know that. But nonetheless, the deficits under Bush are obscene and inexcusable, except by those who willingly blind themselves to what's going on.
And with Bush's "free" pill vote-buying scam and other liberal spending initiatives he's approved, the situation is going to get much worse. "Tax cut" is the wrong label to apply to deferred taxation - that's all they are if you're unwilling to slash Big Stupid Government spending.
63
posted on
11/14/2004 1:25:23 PM PST
by
Hank Rearden
(Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
To: NCjim
Nice thread.
Cheers,
knews hound
64
posted on
11/14/2004 1:36:47 PM PST
by
knews_hound
(Out of the NIC ,into the Router, out to the Cloud....Nothing but 'Net)
To: Hank Rearden
I agree. Probably the most important policy change that came from the "Contract with America" (remember way back to 94?) was the spending caps imposed on congress. It is that more than anything else that ended the budget deficits and removed an obstacle to economic growth. Sadly, now that the spending caps have expired all the Democrats and most of the Republicans (including Bush) think that 8 percent growth rates in government spending are OK.
Bush has made noises in the past week about reducing this spending and that's encouraging, but I'll believe it when I see it. And you can bet that limiting the rate of government growth is only going to be done over the Democrats dead bodies, if you believe their rhetoric.
65
posted on
11/14/2004 1:49:28 PM PST
by
spinestein
(Do not remove this tagline under penalty of law.)
To: lepton
66
posted on
11/14/2004 1:58:01 PM PST
by
Moonman62
(Federal Creed: If it moves tax it. If it keeps moving regulate it. If it stops moving subsidize it.)
To: gcruse
Agriwelfare. From a farmer to a consumer: ESAD D!ckhead.
67
posted on
11/14/2004 2:44:39 PM PST
by
datura
(It's Time To Destroy The MSM, And Their Politically Correct Ideology/Gay Agenda)
To: datura
If I give billions to welfare queens, that makes them consumers, too. What's your point?
68
posted on
11/14/2004 3:23:07 PM PST
by
gcruse
(http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
To: Hank Rearden
"He's got a point about our obscene deficits?"
No he doesn't.
Germany's deficit as a percentage of GDP is much higher than that of the United States.
In fact Germany and France have persistently spent over and above limits that the EU has set. Limits that Germany itself campaigned forcefully to have the EU implement.
This guy should be looking to fix the log in his eye, before trying to fix the mole in someone else's eye.
To: Potomac
Not exactly. Cheap dollar is indeed improving American export, but it isn't blocking import, it just make it more expensive and this isn't good for US economy considering a huge trade deficit.
To: Grzegorz 246
Nonetheless you cannot argue that the impact on European exportation is considerable, and the slower importation for America is simply that.
71
posted on
11/16/2004 4:22:30 PM PST
by
Potomac
To: zahal724
"Well, the real thing to say is, why is German unemployment at 9% and ours ir 5.4%?"...sorry to have to disagree with you, but you don't take into consider germans on the dole, make work programs and so forth...bet the numbers are closer to 20%.
Watch the Germans and other socialist panic when we change our entire tax code!..Euro co.s will pour in here....as per a recent biz survey.
72
posted on
11/16/2004 4:27:09 PM PST
by
rrrod
To: Potomac
Cheap currency may give some illusory benefits in short period, but high budget deficit is extreme dangerous in long period. That's why budget deficit MUST be under 3% of GDP and shouldn't be higher than 1.5-2%.
To: Grzegorz 246
Let cheap dollar will kill European economy, then we'll balance currency:)
74
posted on
11/18/2004 4:30:48 PM PST
by
Potomac
Comment #75 Removed by Moderator
To: NCjim
West Germany screwed-up royally trying to absorb East Germany into their economic structure.
They still don't have a clue on how to do it so without upsetting the unions or making unemployment go higher.
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