Re: McCain-onomics

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:36:37 -0700, Rita <Rita@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:05:31 -0400, "George Z. Bush"
<georgezbush@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

California Poppy wrote:
On Apr 16, 2:25 am, El Castor <No_...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:32:01 -0700, Rita <R...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:21:33 -0700, El Castor <No_...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:55:08 -0700, Rita <R...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

More Reasons to Worry about McCain-onomics
By Jared Bernstein - April 15, 2008, 4:15PM

As Jonathan Taplin's discusses in an earlier post, candidate McCain
gave a big economics speech today. Allow me to elaborate on why this
stuff should scare you.

First, the gas tax holiday is smart politics but lousy policy. As
Taplin aptly described, high gas prices are sending an important
economic signal and jamming that signal is ill-advised. On the other
hand, as one of the commenters points out, this idea could really help
some strapped families.

The problem is there's absolutely nothing to stop the oil companies
from claiming a big chunk of this subsidy by raising the pretax price
of gas at the pump. Prices go up in the summer anyway, and I'll bet
you a gallon of premium that they go up even more than usual, such
that some of that 18.4 cents/gallon ends up back in Exxon's wallet,
not yours.

Which leaves us with a nice little transfer from taxpayers to oil
companies. Nice work, John.

Also, and this is an important theme re McCain-onomics, he assiduously
avoids connecting the dots between taxes and what they finance. As the
AP wrote today, "The federal gasoline tax helps pay for highway
projects in nearly every town through a dedicated trust fund. In the
past, such proposals for gas tax holidays have not fared well as
lawmakers and state and local officials prefer not to see changes in
their revenue source."

Next, there's his idea to simplify the tax code by introducing "an
alternative new and simpler tax system" that offers taxpayers the
choice of staying in the current system or opting to pay taxes under
"a vastly less complicated system with two tax rates and a generous
standard deduction" (I couldn't find what the two rates are but I'll
bet they're 15 and 25 percent...just a guess.)

As John Irons (EPI's research director) recognized, this is absolutely
nuts from a simplicity standpoint: McCain just gave every taxpayer a
huge incentive to calculate their taxes twice...three times if you
include the alternative minimum tax (AMT...more on that below). Just
what we need: a whole other layer of choices and schedules, surely
with their own income definitions, loopholes, etc.

Finally, and this is the most worrisome aspect of McCain's economics,
if he gets what he wants, he has two fiscal choices: deeply cut
entitlement programs, especially those related to health care, or blow
a massive hole in the budget.

I give the details here, but the arithmetic is simple: you can't
extend the Bush tax cuts forever, same with the war, end the AMT,
finance big health care subsidies, and slash the corporate tax rate
all on the backs of "savings from earmark, program review, and other
budget reforms." Like I said, you either end much of government as we
know it--a standard conservative goal--or become unsustainably
indebted.

This is seriously scary stuff, and Senators Clinton and Obama need to
stop duking it out long enough to tell the electorate all about this
agenda and its potential impacts on America. McCainonomics is
threatening to make Bushonomics look reasonable.

http://tinyurl.com/683573

I find it curious that Democrats who are running on a platform of
higher taxes, increased spending, more regulation, and restraints on
free trade, should lecture John McCain on economics.

So what do you think of his proposed gas tax holiday?

I generally support cutting taxes. Since the tax in question is
essentially regressive, it's hard to oppose a cut.

And how do you finance the war he insists he would continue in
Iraq with cutting all taxes to the bare bone?

He doesn't propose "cutting all taxes to the bone" -- and you know it.
I would hope he intends to pay for the Iraq war by cutting spending.
Do we really need a $280 billion farm bill? Earmarks? $7 billion
ethanol subsidy? Do we really need ...

342 economic development programs;

130 programs serving the disabled;

130 programs serving at-risk youth;

90 early childhood development programs;

75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training
exchange activities;

72 federal programs dedicated to assuring safe water;

50 homeless assistance programs;

45 federal agencies conducting federal crimi-nal investigations;

40 separate employment and training pro-grams;

28 rural development programs;

27 teen pregnancy programs;

26 small, extraneous K-12 school grant pro-grams;

23 agencies providing aid to the former Soviet republics;

19 programs fighting substance abuse;

17 rural water and waste-water programs in eight agencies;

17 trade agencies monitoring 400 interna-tional trade agreements;

12 food safety agencies;

11 principal statistics agencies; and

4 overlapping land management
agencies.http://www.heritage.org/research/budget/bg1840.cfm- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for that link, Jeff. It is most enlightening. I propose
eliminating most of the programs that you mentioned. I continue to
believe that the best government is the least government.

And will you still feel that way after you have to replace the springs and
shock absorbers on your car that were destroyed by repetitively hitting
potholes on the unrepaired Interstates or streets on which you normally
drive or commute? Oh, I know.....that wasn't one of the programs you'd
eliminate, just as if I couldn't find another service or program that we
normally rely on the government to provide to the public that we'd have to
learn to live without due to lack of tax revenues.

You won't admit it, but you real or pseudo Libertarians are only a hair
breadth away from being anarchists. Your mantra of the least government
being the best government ignores the services and programs that you may
expect or rely upon from your government simply because you don't recognize
that they (1) they're worthwhile to the members of the public who need them,
and (2) that they have to be paid for, and (3) that while most of them
undoubtedly contain waste in one form or another, eliminating that waste by
"throwing the baby out with the dirty bathwater" is not a viable option.

George Z.

Connie has said in the past she wants to privatize education and even
our national parks. But I doubt if she can think of a way to privatize
police service unless we follow the model I saw in Colombia where
homeowners hire guys they call "vigilantes" with big machetes to keep
their neighborhoods safe at night. I suppose we could privatize our
highways and pay by the mile driven to some private company that
fixes the potholes? Medical care for all she thinks can be solved
by Medical Savings Accounts and Walmart clinics.

This kind of thinking leaves no place for what was once called
"the common good" -- because there is no commonality in any of that
kind of .... may I use the word .... elitist thinking.

Rita, we need government, and perhaps more than libertarians would
like, but what we do not need is European socialism, which is exactly
where left wing democrats will lead us. All you Democrats promise come
next November is higher taxes, more regulation, tariffs and trade
restrictions, open borders, weak national defense, restrictions on the
First Amendment, and pandering to Gays, trial lawyers, unions, and the
rest of your alphabet soup of special interests. I have my fingers
crossed that you will fail miserably.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: We Needed A Big Gas Tax Like We Need a Scathing Case of Herpes
    ... good money, but not too high to cause investment in alternatives. ... don't trust the government to "redistribute" anything, ... Unfortunately in many states these taxes go directly into the states general funds and never do get spent on improving the roads if the roads in my area are any indicator. ... Just apply the state's sales tax rate. ...
    (rec.autos.makers.ford.mustang)
  • Re: OT: oil profits
    ... I was focusing on government as % of GDP. ... higher taxes to fund even more programs and with them, ... The USSR did have a modest tax to try to take account ...
    (alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox)
  • Re: OT: oil profits
    ... I was focusing on government as % of GDP. ... higher taxes to fund even more programs and with them, ... The USSR did have a modest tax to try to take account ...
    (alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox)
  • Re: We Needed A Big Gas Tax Like We Need a Scathing Case of Herpes
    ... then the American consumer is so darn happy with the cheap gas ... > I want the market to set the price of gas, not the government. ... the government gives us other breaks on other taxes. ... of tax breaks for the increase in gas taxes. ...
    (rec.autos.makers.ford.mustang)
  • Re: McCain-onomics
    ... avoids connecting the dots between taxes and what they finance. ... "The federal gasoline tax helps pay for highway ... should lecture John McCain on economics. ... 45 federal agencies conducting federal crimi-nal investigations; ...
    (soc.retirement)