There is nothing remotely Conservative about giving kudos to the Treasury Secretary for not raising Capital Gains taxes as much as anticipated. A true Conservative would argue that taxing the movement of capital is contrary to a growing, expanding economy. A true Conservative would point out the folly of raising taxes, any taxes, in this economy. In fact, a true Conservative would argue that taxing the movement of capital in a Capitalist system is absurd. I would further state that if the gubmint truly wanted a growing economy, while at the same time insuring massive additional revenue flowing into the Treasury coffers they would be eliminating Capital Gains taxes entirely, not raising it. Eliminate the Capital Gains taxes and lower the corporate income taxes to 10% and our economy would explode. Think about all the investment capital that is just sitting idle out there right now. Manufacturing would flood back to the USA and we'd be at full employment again within 9-12 months. As it is now this is the most hostile business climate I have ever seen in my 47 years and it is 100% being created by the Federal gubmint, either through direct action or inaction that breeds uncertainty......
It's a nice sentiment, unfortunately it's completely without merit. Manufacturing hasn't left the country because of the corporate tax rates, although those haven't been helpful. Manufacturing has left the country because they can't make money here. Taxes are levied on profits, not revenues. If there are no profits, there are no taxes. If you can't turn a profit, the tax rates are wholly irrelevant.
To see manufacturing return to the US in any substantive way, the federal and state governments will have to address the underlying fundamental reasons that manufacturing left in the first place - Regulatory burden, to especially include environmental regulation, the labor burden associated with the strong union presence in most of our Rustbelt states, and the high costs of health care and energy. Without addressing those concerns, our corporate tax rates are meaningless to our manufacturing base.
There is NOTHING that can get us back to full unemployment in 9-12 months, short of the hand of God. We have lost FAR TOO MANY jobs in the last two years for us to recover them in 12 months, no matter what economic policies we adopt. And, this doesn't even address the larger malaise that has settled over the global economy. Like it or not, we do operate in a global economy, so irrespective of our own economic policies, we won't see a full recovery until we see a broader global recovery.