"Responding to a complaint from Republicans about his proposed tax on the wealthy, Obama added: "This is not class warfare. It's math."" (AP)
"If the President wants to increase the amount of money Uncle Sam takes in, all he needs to do is unleash the economy. Maximizing fossil-fuel production could bring in as much as $50 billion a year in royalties beginning a few years from now. Easing the regulatory burden and throwing the arbitrary authoritarianism in the trash could easily lead to at least much in additional annual income and other tax collections within a year, if not sooner.
In any event, the problem isn’t the intake, it’s the outgo. If fiscal 2011 spending comes in at roughly $3.60 trillion as expected, that will represent a 32% increase over the $2.73 trillion spent in fiscal 2007. What in the world do we have to show for it?"
BizzyBlog
Monday, September 19, 2011
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2 comments:
Let's start at the beginning. The wealthy (those with an AGI of over $250,000) are pay taxes a the the lowest rate in history and a the lowest rate of any industrialized democracy. Over the last 30 years the top 5% have enjoyed increasing income growth while the bottom 80 percent have actually lost ground to inflation. This resulted from tax, trade, and labor policies made by politicians feed and financed by the same wealthy supporters who benefited from their decisions.
As for regulations which ones would you like to dispose of? Clean Air Act, Consumer Product Safety, Mining Safety, FAA? Are you suggesting that the ENRON, Country Wide, Lehman Brothers, BP, Exxon etc. of the world should be allowed do what they want or that the "market" will provide any needed self correction? Regulation is a required part of a capitalist system else we would all be potential victim to the desire for short term profit.
Yes, $2.73 trillion is a big number and your question is a good one. Here's a few answers - a world wide financial disaster was averted (at least so far) that would make our current situation look like good times, two inherited wars are being wound down in such a way as to at least give the Iranians and Afgans a chance at self determination, benefits have been paid to your fellow citizens without job to help them feed their families and keep their homes. maybe you should ask some of the recipients what we have to show.
The jury is out and wavering more every day whether a financial disaster was averted.
Heritage Foundation used to complain bitterly about regulation costs going up during the Bush years, maybe $30 billion the 8 years. But it was a pittance compared to Obama.
"In the first six months of the 2011 fiscal year, 15 major regulations were issued, with annual costs exceeding $5.8 billion and one-time implementation costs approaching $6.5 billion. No major rulemaking actions were taken to reduce regulatory burdens during this period. Overall, the Obama Administration imposed 75 new major regulations from January 2009 to mid-FY 2011, with annual costs of $38 billion."
Whether you call it a tax, and whether or not some of it is justified, it is still a tax.
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