Taxes, the Economy, Healthcare, and Iraq

[KenMcCoy]

....and globalists think that they are saving the world by employing Asian women and children in sub-human sweetshops for less than a dollar a day and abetting greedy politicians to put the will of multinational companies over the will of the people of this country...

Find 10 things in your house that were made entirely in the US...don't rush, i'll wait...

Businesses are in business for one thing, and that is to make money. I believe that most of the American born companies that choose to outsource jobs overseas would love to bring most of them back to the US; but that isn't going to happen until taxes are lowered making it feasible fiscally.

[clambake]

Find 10 things in your house that were made entirely in the US...don't rush, i'll wait...

nostalgia of the american dream was suffocated some time ago.

Businesses are in business for one thing, and that is to make money.

mostly american business. I spent some time as a hammer for bechtol, so you want to make it global. why do you avoid the easy pickings?

I believe that most of the American born companies that choose to outsource jobs overseas would love to bring most of them back to the US; but that isn't going to happen until taxes are lowered making it feasible fiscally.

horse . you're not a very good tax consultant poster if you're not willing to divulge your clients aspirations.

[2centsworth]

Ken,

You're arguing with communist.

[boutons_]

"I believe that most of the American born companies that choose to outsource jobs overseas would love to bring most of them back to the US;"

"There they go again", with their evidence-free, faith-based "believe" bull .

The only reason a corp would re-patriot a job is to reducie costs, to increase profits, not for some altruistic, philanthropic policy of hiring Americans just because they're Americans. Jobs are input to production which are subject to continuous pressure to be eliminated, and under-paid, and over-worked.

If the US govt wanted to increase domestic jobs, it could start by taxing fuel for ships which is now on corporate welfare with tax-free fuel. High fuel+tax costs would make importing more expensive, facilitating the "make it here" above "buy it over there" decision.

[clambake]

Ken,

You're arguing with communist.

i drive a car built in 1999

i don't have a flat screen tv

i'm heavily invested in amer. stock

gee......i do resemble today's communist!

[KenMcCoy]

Ken,

You're arguing with communist.

Yeah...I'm done there's no use. The only reason I posted was to give a first hand account that corporate tax cuts DO have a direct impact on jobs in the US. If people want to believe otherise, that's fine. They can fingerpoint and blame big business all they want...but at least show me one economic theory that raising corporate taxes creates new jobs.

[spurster]

All the promises from both parties to cut my taxes and your taxes doesn't make sense to me. We're already running huge deficits (while fighting two wars). The last time I checked, paying off a debt costs more than paying off the bill right away. To my mind then, these tax cuts are really tax increases in the long run. As for stimulating the economy, if the huge deficits we currently have (and have had for most of BushCo) aren't stimulating the economy that much, how does a bigger deficit change that?

[KenMcCoy]

I agree. If the main goal is to reduce the deficit, the best thing to do would be to raise everyone's taxes but no one would vote for someone proposing that.

[Yonivore]

I agree. If the main goal is to reduce the deficit, the best thing to do would be to raise everyone's taxes but no one would vote for someone proposing that.

If you want to reduce the deficit, reduce spending. President Bush has already proven that CUTTING taxes increases federal revenues...not raising them.

Raising taxes <> increased revenues.

[KenMcCoy]

Yeah that goes straight to my point that cutting taxes increases jobs thus increasing revenues.

[Nbadan]

Find 10 things in your house that were made entirely in the US...don't rush, i'll wait...

Businesses are in business for one thing, and that is to make money. I believe that most of the American born companies that choose to outsource jobs overseas would love to bring most of them back to the US; but that isn't going to happen until taxes are lowered making it feasible fiscally.

I think you overestimate the the ethics of business...why pay an American $15/hour plus benefits, plus social security, plus having to deal with American regulations when they can make the goods in China, Mexico or some other third world -hole for a fraction of the costs? It's not about taxes, countries in Europe have much higher tax rates than the U.S. but they also have tighter import restrictions to protect native businesses...

[Nbadan]

If you want to reduce the deficit, reduce spending. President Bush has already proven that CUTTING taxes increases federal revenues...not raising them.

Raising taxes <> increased revenues.

Cutting taxes without concurrent cuts in spending only increases the size of the national deficit...you want business to expand in the U.S., trim spending on military endeavors that don't benefit anyone but a few powerful businessmen with political connections and quit printing money like it's toilet paper...during economic expansions the government is supposed to pay down the debt not increase it...Clinton was on the right track...

[Nbadan]

Yeah that goes straight to my point that cutting taxes increases jobs thus increasing revenues.

Cutting taxes does stimulate the economy, but only when taxes are very high which hasn't been the case for many years....businesses get to make a lot of deductions that you and I don't get, plus they hide many of their profits in offshore accounts...every few years a Republican President will give them amnesty to bring the cash back into the U.S. system without risk of forfeiture....

[KenMcCoy]

...Clinton was on the right track...

Sure...Clinton was on the right track...Bush has to bail out the mortgage industry problems that Bill Clinton created.

Billionaire Sanford I. Weill, who according to Louis Uchitelle made "Citigroup into the most powerful financial ins ution since the House of Morgan a century ago," has what I call the Wall of Me leading to his office, which he has decorated with tributes to him, including a dozen framed magazine covers. A major trophy is the pen Bill Clinton used to sign the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a move which allowed Weill to create Citigroup.

http://www.progressivehistorians.com...ge-crisis.html

Look at the sub-prime mortgage numbers before and after Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act.

[KenMcCoy]

Do you understand how long it takes to turn around an economy??? Clinton gets credit for the benefits of the economic policy of Reagan and HW Bush. Now...W is stuck with cleaning up Clinton's mess AND having to deal with the aftermath of 9/11 which might not have happened if Clinton had had any balls after the USS Cole attack.

[Wild Cobra]

I think you overestimate the the ethics of business...why pay an American $15/hour plus benefits, plus social security, plus having to deal with American regulations when they can make the goods in China, Mexico or some other third world -hole for a fraction of the costs? It's not about taxes, countries in Europe have much higher tax rates than the U.S. but they also have tighter import restrictions to protect native businesses...

But it's taxes that make the difference. The difference in wages alone are about the same difference as shipping costs. Most other countries use a consumer based consumption tax for good. That means they leave their country untaxed. Since we use a production based tax, we don't tax the product coming in. Imports under these conditions effectively have no taxes applied, except for the business profits here. Now our products get taxed as they are produced as well. Now it's even worse for the products we export. We tax them when produced, adding costs, then the overseas retailer taxes them again, making USA products too expensive to buy elsewhere.

The overvalued dollar of the past also didn't help. Now that the dollar has been dropping, the USA is becoming more compe ive. If we were to change our income (productive) tax to something like the Fair Tax (consumption tax), then we would truly be compe ive with the rest of the world.

Cutting taxes does stimulate the economy, but only when taxes are very high which hasn't been the case for many years....businesses get to make a lot of deductions that you and I don't get, plus they hide many of their profits in offshore accounts...every few years a Republican President will give them amnesty to bring the cash back into the U.S. system without risk of forfeiture....

Almost right. Cutting any tax level does stimulate the economy. Maximum economic growth would be at 0% tax. The democrats seem to think that more revenue is generated with higher taxes. However, if you take 100% of the wages, people will simply not work. Again, a 0% revenue. There is then no revenue for the government to operate with. As tax rates increase, economic growth diminishes and government revenues increase. At least until the drop in the economy becomes greater than the increase in revenue from a smaller economy. Raising taxes looks like on the surface to increase revenue. What happens is it also decreases the incentive to be productive.

What is the best tax rate? I can only guess. I would say 10% is too low. 15% is about right, give or take a little, but that the 25% and higher tax rates are too high. Now that's for the federal tax rate to provide the best revenue and economy. Combined with all taxes, probably about 20%-25% for optimum revenue and economy balance. It doesn't help to redistribute wealth like we have been doing with "tax credits" and "earned income credit." These programs need to be eliminated.

[KenMcCoy]

But it's taxes that make the difference. The difference in wages alone are about the same difference as shipping costs. Most other countries use a consumer based consumption tax for good. That means they leave their country untaxed. Since we use a production based tax, we don't tax the product coming in. Imports under these conditions effectively have no taxes applied, except for the business profits here. Now our products get taxed as they are produced as well. Now it's even worse for the products we export. We tax them when produced, adding costs, then the overseas retailer taxes them again, making USA products too expensive to buy elsewhere.

The overvalued dollar of the past also didn't help. Now that the dollar has been dropping, the USA is becoming more compe ive. If we were to change our income (productive) tax to something like the Fair Tax (consumption tax), then we would truly be compe ive with the rest of the world.


Almost right. Cutting any tax level does stimulate the economy. Maximum economic growth would be at 0% tax. The democrats seem to think that more revenue is generated with higher taxes. However, if you take 100% of the wages, people will simply not work. Again, a 0% revenue. There is then no revenue for the government to operate with. As tax rates increase, economic growth diminishes and government revenues increase. At least until the drop in the economy becomes greater than the increase in revenue from a smaller economy. Raising taxes looks like on the surface to increase revenue. What happens is it also decreases the incentive to be productive.

What is the best tax rate? I can only guess. I would say 10% is too low. 15% is about right, give or take a little, but that the 25% and higher tax rates are too high. Now that's for the federal tax rate to provide the best revenue and economy. Combined with all taxes, probably about 20%-25% for optimum revenue and economy balance. It doesn't help to redistribute wealth like we have been doing with "tax credits" and "earned income credit." These programs need to be eliminated.

well put...

[KenMcCoy]

I think you overestimate the the ethics of business...why pay an American $15/hour plus benefits, plus social security, plus having to deal with American regulations when they can make the goods in China, Mexico or some other third world -hole for a fraction of the costs? It's not about taxes, countries in Europe have much higher tax rates than the U.S. but they also have tighter import restrictions to protect native businesses...

The EU also has higher unemployment rates than the US...How can this be??? I thought that the candidate who is proposing raising corporate taxes would create new jobs???

[SnakeBoy]

Interesting...many things that i agree with. But not so sure I trust an analysis that doesn't mention the costs of malpractice suits. Doctors are so scared of getting sued nowadays that if you go into the hospital for heartburn they check you for everything that begins with "H".

Yep. My wife is a physician and when I went to have a small cyst removed the surgeon sent me for a CT scan. I asked her why he wanted it for such a minor surgery and she said oh that's just CYA.

[KenMcCoy]

Yep. My wife is a physician and when I went to have a small cyst removed the surgeon sent me for a CT scan. I asked her why he wanted it for such a minor surgery and she said oh that's just CYA.

Yeah my dad's a retired doctor and they hated him when he was in the hospital because he kept on telling them that he didn't need all the they were trying to do to him. Of course he also swears that Tim Duncan wouldn't have had plantar fascitis if he had worn cowboy boots instead of flip flops.