Quote:
Originally Posted by Imperator
spending was the issue goober NOT tax revenues....
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OK, if spending was the issue why didn't anyone do anything about it?
That's twice now we've had huge tax cuts, followed by huge spending increases, which kind of destroys the argument that tax cuts force the government to live within it's means.
To me, it seems that raising taxes to balance the budget would force spending cuts, because then politicians would think twice about spending if they actually had to present the voters the bill.
And when the government is running a deficit, tax cuts or tax increases for the wealthy have little effect on the economy, because for every dollar in reduced taxes that is now available for investment, there is a dollar borrowed that is no longer available for investment, you could even make the argument that tax increases on the wealthy stimulate the economy, because reducing the deficit lowers long term interest rates, which promotes long term investment far more effectively than tax cuts, at least that's the way it seems to work in real life.
Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy, the deficit went away, and interest rates fell, and the economy boomed, Bush cut taxes for the wealthy and well, here we are in an economic crisis.