"My understanding of the "model" allows me to see through the inchoate quality of the FT. And it allows me to correctly interprete economic and financial events."
That is wonderful. Can you tell me, then, what will happen to our trade deficit if we continue with a tax system which puts our producers at a disadvantage to every other producer in the world in a marketplace that is going increasingly global? The trade deficit is already over $600 billion/year and, at current trends, should be over a trillion $$ in a few years.
One must understand a little International Economics before one can comprehend what a Trade Deficit was. That is an archaic term applicable to the era when there was a specie based monetary system of fixed exchange rates. Under that system when a country imported more than it exported specie (gold, silver) had to be surrendered to pay the difference. This was the typical condition of the US until the 1870s.
Since 1973 we have not had fixed exchange rates but floating exchange rates with no specie backing for the dollar. This means we have NO "trade deficits" anymore. NOW we exchange dollars for goods. These "deficits" are actually a measure of economic health and only possible when the economy is growing. We can tank the economy and watch those "deficits" shrink as the nation becomes poorer.
"Deficits" are a measure of relative wealth. At present it is about 6% of the GNP.
Our income tax system has no effect upon pricing and thus is not disadvantegous wrt the rest of the world.