I was speaking with a friend the other day that is a died-in-the-wool advocate of supply-side economics that is knowledgeable enough to correct my misconceptions about the Laffer Curve. He told me that it was necessary that our government reduce the tax rate on corporations lest they would all relocate to Caribbean tax shelters, thus diminishing our revenue.
I haven't really thought about it until just now...a sleepless night, and I'm lying in bed thinking about the relative effect of tax rates on government revenues, what a life a mess can be. Back to the story, he's promised me statistically inviolable evidence that cutting taxes increases revenues, by the way. I hope to share that with you good people. But that's not what's been eating at my craw while I lie awake in bed.
What's eatin' at me is the constant assault on the patriotism of individuals and small groups coming from the likes of Bill O'Reilly and his Fox cohorts. A lack of patriotism for one or two folks while traditional (that's a key word here) American companies dive for the nearest tax shelter or overseas headquarters to avoid paying American taxes to fund the programs that they have lobbied to enact. If patriotism is so damn important to these Fox people, why don't they apply the same standard to the people that really have their hands on the wheel? (Answer: because they know who butters their bread.)
It's no secret that our government is run by corporations that pay huge amounts of money to K-Street firms to write legislation that increases their bottom line or eliminates their liability. But they do this while employing teams of lawyers and accountants to take advantage of every loophole and offshore opportunity to duck paying the taxes that pay for their legislation.
O'Reilly gets his ratings on a kind of traditional populism. He's a classic patriotic flag waving fear monger that is willing to shred the constitution if it means killin' terrorists. He conducts "War on Christmas" campaigns to rally the bigoted elderly Christian majority against the sometimes equally repugnant far left multiculturalists (that he labels Secular Progressives). It's a pretty easy fight considering his major demographic is the seventy plus crowd.
Well I've got a storyline for you Mr. O'Reilly. Stop being a hypocrite and start some true populism. Rage against the machine (that owns you). If O'Reilly were true to his populizm, he should demand that corporations that are profiting from war pay their taxes. Likewise, corporations benefiting from lenient regulations garnered through lobbying should pay their taxes. Corporations based in Nassau should lose their lobbying privileges (in the US, that is. They are welcome to lobby the government of Bermuda for anything they like.)
In conclusion, it's five A.M. and I'm obviously overwhelmed by idealism, naivety, and delusional thinking. I'll return to my normal cynicism sometime tomorrow (today) or the next day (tomorrow).
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5 comments:
Steve -- Thanks for writing. I'll read a lot of your blog over the next day or two and comment. My posts have been less frequent lately because I am on extended assignment out of town, although when I get back I visit as many good Fort Worth eateries as I can.
I don't know anything but I like to think about things and join the discussion when I can.
And I will here.
Ciao.
www.ripsreviews@blogspot.com
(better known as Food and Fort Worth)
After reading your blog, my comment is that you were being polite or maybe euphemistic when you said our views are not completely synchronistic. A few thoughts:
I liked Lili's and have emailed back and forth to the owner Vance. Good folks.
Crosswords: I like the NYTimes but after Wednesday I'm pretty much toast. USA Today's can be good. I buy the wire-bound Simon-Schuster crossword books for traveling.
The quotation question has bugged me as well. I have read other opinions than those stated and quoted from Chicago Manual of Style.
Religion: don't argue or fuss much anymore. Same with politics and philosophy. We all "see through a glass darkly." Truth is knowable even if many truths are known imperfectly. I am too often satisfied with the "shadows" as Plato said.
That's it.
Thanks for posting on my blog. I'll add yours to my links.
On Religion: I thought it was interesting that Drudge misquoted Ron Paul today as saying (I'm paraphrasing) that when tyranny hits the US, it will be draped in the flag and carrying the cross. Was actually Sinclair Lewis many, many years ago.
On crosswords, keep chugging. I'm prepared to supplant the NYT Saturday with the Newsday Saturday Stumper as the most difficult puzzle of the week. I usually eke out the NYT Sat after about an hour, but I was utterly dumbfounded by this week's stumper. The new "bitch mother" of all crossword puzzles (hat tip: Paul Sorvino).
Idealism? Naivety? Delusional thinking? NOT!!
I enjoyed the post and wholeheartedly agree with you. I have a feeling that 2008 is going to be a really fun filled year of news stories!! Thanks for sharing your "overwhelming thoughts" with us.
Corporate tax rates are about being competitive globally. Ours are 35%. Around the globe, that is not competitive. Furthermore, they are just passed along, to us, and not paid by corporations at all. Corporations really don't pay taxes. Those that complain, don't understand this, or how it impacts things like why we outsource. It is all tied together. Ideally, we would have the most benefits, the highest corporate taxes, the highest minimum wage, etc. BUT, it's a global business environment now. Our choices: Isolationism, which would be a sure death sentence, or tough, choices. I prefer tough choices. Oddly enough, the more competitive we are, the more jobs we provide. This lowers the poverty rate. If you really are in love with statistics, I challenge you to study whether the great society programs lowered poverty rates: they didn't. Then look at societies that lowered capital gains tax rates. In every case, employment went up and poverty went down. Look it up, assumptions and intuition sometimes give way to what the Sherlock Holmes character would have you do: examine the facts. Please don't paint economic conservatives as all being Bill O'Reilly's and we will try not to paint all non-conservatives as Marxists, or worse, Hillarys.
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