Wednesday Open Thread
Katia’s being watched closely. (Read)
Can you sum up Wilmington in photograph? (Read)
Happy words outnumber negative words in the English language (Read)
Irene from birth to death:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTji4qwE4lg[/youtube]
No new jobs plan, just another speach, poorly read from the teleprompter.
President Barack Obama, in an Aug. 29, 2010 interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, said he would propose a plan for jobs and economic growth when he returned from his summer vacation, the same claim he made after returning from his vacation this year.
“We anticipated that the recovery was slowing – the economy is still growing, but it’s not growing as fast as it needs to. I’ve got things right now before Congress that we should move immediately, and I said so before I went on vacation, and I’ll keep on saying it now that I’m back,” Obama told Williams when asked if he had a jobs plan.
“There are a whole host of measures we could take – no single element of which is a magic bullet – but cumulatively can start continuing to build momentum for the recovery,” he said.
The promise of a plan echoes a similar promise Obama made on Monday, saying that in the coming week he would present concrete proposals that would spur hiring and economic growth.
“Next week, I will be laying out a series of steps that Congress can take immediately to put more money in the pockets of working families and middle-class families, to make it easier for small businesses to hire people, to put construction crews to work rebuilding our nation’s roads and railways and airports, and all the other measures that can help to grow this economy,” Obama said on Monday at a Rose Garden ceremony for new Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Alan Krueger.
Atlas,regurgitating Rush “OxyDeaf” Limbaugh is not the best way to make your case.
FAIL.
The words he happens to be quoting are those of the President himself. I like the new Chairman. He is an advocate of a consumption tax. He understands that the long run savings and investment not just short run consumption and debt are the keys to prosperity.
Public works would provide jobs. Trouble is, virtualy all the folks I met on my east coast tour who were outta work, were tea party types. They railed against the “govment” and “socialists” even as they were buying beer with their unemployment checks. What the hell is that. I’ll tell you. The republican base.
Look, I banged nails and dug dithches for a few years, but even the idiot that I am knew then that there was really no “American Dream” in that.
My conclusion or opinion, if you will, is that people don’t like change, but sometimes they do. A real revelation, I know.
If the median US income is around $40k, then most peeps don’t need, and can’t afford, a giant flat screen. Why are football players paid so much? Because Americans are idiots.
As a country, we can not continue to be paid for doing each others laundry.
DISCLAIMER: Still on vaca, but can’t find a decent hoppy beer anywhere in the southeast.
The closest I could find….
http://victorybeer.com/beers/hopdevil/
I’ve enjoyed it before though.
I have a question about consumption tax
if I am to be taxed on what I buy/comsume (so to speak) – then its in my best interest to keep that tx low
therefore I buy as little as possible – or buy privately or at thrift stores
so that way I pay as little tax as possible – so businesses are not selling as much – so they in turn do not buy as much… etc etc etc
so the ecomony is not stimulated – businesses need to sell – to create more product to then add new hires to create the new product because there is a demand for the product
if the demand dies, the supply dwindles, the jobs go away…
am I just dumb/too simple minded and didnt get it – or is this the reason a consumer tax wont work and a tax on income does??
The real reason the Fair/Flat Tax scam is a scam should be obvious, though of course not to David: It would eliminate all investment taxes. No more capital gains, no more tax on dividends, no estate tax, etc.
The net result is the same every time the analysis is run: The rich pay less than they do now, the poor pay a little more and the middle class pays quite a bit more.
When an idea is backed by an anti-tax rich guy like Steve Forbes, only a buffoon thinks it’s a good deal for working people. Yes, David, I’m looking at you.
All the changes we’ve made so far to capital gains (dividends & estate tax) in the interest of “helping the economy” has done the opposite. It has locked up billions that would otherwise be in play.
The Fair/Flat tax is best described as the “No Tax For Steve Forbes Tax.”
Apart from the crazy low rates for investment taxes, Bush destroyed the preferential tax treatment of long-term capital gains, which was a successful cornerstone of American business policy for most of the 20th century. Now short-term gains (dividends) are taxed at the same absurdly low rate as long-term capital gains (15%). Before Bush, dividends were taxed as regular income at 39%, while long term capital gains were taxed at 20% (stupidly cut to 20% in 1998 which launched the equities bubble and crash).
I’d prefer 25% for capital gains, but I’d even OK with leaving capital gains at 15%, as long as dividends went back to being treated as regular income. It’s the differential tax on long-term vs. short-term that drives business investment, and equal treatment that destroys it.
Also capital gains is really 18% now, because the HCR bill applied a 3% capital gains tax which kicks in next year. I think this is a stupid way to fund health care, but it is what it is.
In fact my preference would be to let the rich have their Bush 36% top marginal rate, but treat dividends as regular income, and long term gains at 20% or 25%. Those are the kind of ratios that drive hiring and investment.
I’d also be willing to eliminate corporate income taxes, in exchange for raising the top marginal rate to whatever it takes to make up the difference.
That would stop corporations from cooking the books to hide profits, and make CEOs think twice before taking big salaries.