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Edited on Wed Oct-08-08 09:26 AM by Brotherjohn
He also said "Even France is lowering taxes" (and rattled off a bunch of other Eurpoean nations as though everyone in the Western world were lowering taxes). He actually said no one "since Hoover", I believe.
A) Don't you only need to go as far back as the Bush I economic downturn, during which he raised taxes (against his "no new taxes" pledge) to prove this false? And haven't economists at least partially given that tax increase credit for starting to set our economic course right?
B) ARE all of these European countries in fact lowering taxes right now?
C) Even if they are, isn't it a different situation there (apples and oranges), b/c people and businesses have been typically paying a much higher taxes there? If they are much higher there and much lower here (particularly on business), wouldn't what both Europe and the U.S. be doing be in fact the same thing if Obama "raised taxes" (in fact refused to extend the supposedly temporary Bush tax cuts)... i.e. moving towards more tax FAIRNESS, which is what Robert Gibbs was talking about (on the same show I believe)?
What conservatives fail to realize (and Democrats to their detriment fail to make a case for) is that lower taxes are great, sure. No one wants to pay more taxes; people or businesses. But if you cut them to the bone, as Bush has done and Reagan did before him, you end up with skyrocketing deficits and debt, which hurts everyone. What they also fail to realize is that although you can argue that higher taxes on business hurts the economy, higher taxes on the middle class ALSO hurts the economy (no one spends, businesses fail). And again, you can't just keep cutting taxes across the board, year after year, to the bone. And if you WANT to give some tax relief but you disproportionally shift the tax breaks to the rich and large corporations, that comes out of little people's pockets. And I think the 1980s and now the 2000s have doubly proven (say it with me):
TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS DOES NOT WORK!!!!
It's a lot more complicated than giving people more money. It's also about:
- FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY and BALANCING OUR BOOKS. As anyone who has accumulated significant credit card debt knows, your money becomes worth less if you have to use a large chunk of it to pay interest.
- TAX FAIRNESS. We have swung back WAY too far in the direction of big business. Disporportionate taxes on the little guy hurt the economy too, perhaps more than on business (certainly than on big business).
And one more thing in my (admittedly economic neophyte) rant: The "300,000" new jobs that McCain/Palin keep citing as being the "one bright spot" in the economy? Well, they're 300,000 compared to MILLIONS LOST under Bush, and I would venture to say that if they are jobs created by small businesses, the vast majority of them are low pay service sector jobs with no benefits. If that "bright spot" is the best evidence they can come up with, then tax cuts to businesses haven't really yielded much, have they?
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