A Question for Tax Cut Advocates for Getting Out of the Recession

Is your premise really valid, that the money we get to keep will be used to purchase goods from China? Granted that it's hard to FIND certain items that are made elsewhere, but if I had enough discretionary income to buy, say, an American-made electric bass vs. one made anywhere else, I'd go American.

But assuming your premise is valid, people will buy more of this foreign-made stuff from the local Mart*Mart, which will then be able to hire more people (and hopefully will see that they NEED to).

Distributors will need to import more of this junk, so they will also need to increase their staffs.

Distributors and Mart*Marts will need more infrastructure support - maybe increase floor space. More work for construction crews (including the illegal aliens that liberals love so much).

More people working will help the housing market. Lending institutions will need loan officers again.

I could go on and on...

Will this stimulate the economy? Heck, I don't know.

Will it end the recession? Heck, I don't know.

But it seems to me that it will help, especially if the cuts are at the lower end of the tax scale. I'd sure like to pay fewer taxes.

But this is only common sense. I'm sure that rich politicians, rich major-network newscasters, rich actors and actresses, and other people who live in the real world, know a lot more about this stuff than I do.

And if some of those who got to keep a little more of their own money actually bought American stuff with it, I imagine it would help even more.

And did I mention that I'm a selfish son-of-a-gun and would just like to have less money taken from me?

 

How can they buy more at Walmart when the Walmart shoppers are loosing jobs at the rate of 500K per month? The Walmart shoppers have also cut spending and have button down the hatches in preparation of worse times ahead. Walmart is down 7.5%. I don't think a tax cut will help Walmart. What they need is workers with a paycheck consuming their goods...

 

So you think all these people are not eating and buying clothes?

 

Because it worked in the early 50's when Ike cut taxes and we were in a recession. Because it worked in the early 60's when JFK cut taxes and we were in a recession. It worked in the early 80's when Reagan cut taxes and we were in a recession. It worked in the early 2000's when Bush cut taxes and we were in a recession that he inherited from Clinton, and this despite the setback of 9/11.

Also, your reasoning is faulty and simplistic to think that if you buy a product from China that it only helps the Chinese. It doesn't - it also helps the American retailer, distributor, etc. - and all the American workers employed by such.

 

Isn't it obvious? If Americans have more money, what will they do with it? Historically, it hasn't been to save it. They will spend it. Furthermore, very few purchase good from foreign countries. The duties are too difficult to deal with. Most buy them from local retailers that employ local people who spend their money to eat in local restaurants and buy gas at local stations.

Try outsourcing your kitchen remodel to China. Try getting your car fixed in China. Try having a date night with your wife in China. It won't happen.

This kind of regressive thinking is why we are where we are at. Your ideas are old and tired, and they didn't work previously. Why should we try them again?

 

One idea I would have to encourage people to buy american made products is this:

Impose a 100% tarriff on all imports coming into our country. A country (let's say China) will have to pay more to sell their product here. Naturally, this will drive up the price of the cheaply made, Chinese products, that don't last very long. I will typically buy whatever is the cheapest. If I see an expensive, cheaply made, Chinese product vs. a quailty made, cheaply priced, American product, I would buy the latter.

 

This would backfire tremendously. It would have the effect of forcing Americans to pay higher prices (the American-made goods cost more to make, and a tariff wouldn't drive the price down for them), and it also would limit our exports, as other countries would likely retaliate with tariffs. It would have the effect of reducing spending, thereby worsening the recession.

 

This will also drive up the cost of the American made product. If the American made product no longer has the cheap competition from the Chinese made product, they will simply raise their prices. Tampering with the free market is bad, just let it do its thing .

 

BTW...it's "losing," not "loosing."

Congrats on combining two villains--tax cuts and Wal-mart--into one post.

I'm still confused about something: for years, our country has had a negative savings rate. This is disastrous for personal finance, and is one of the primary causes for the real estate bust, ergo the economic collapse.

Now Americans are saving more...like they should have done all along. This is good for them, and it is also good for the banks, who are able to use the money saved and put it to work.

Yet, the current administration and its followers are bothered by the fact that people are saving and not being foolish with their money. They also completely ignore the fact that people saving will ultimately be a good thing for banks (but you don't get over an economic mess overnight).

Why are the powers that be in Washington so bothered by folks saving money, and not spending like the idiots in Congress do?

 

Because we had fewer overpaid, overcompensated, lazy union workers forcing companies to seek cheaper slave labor abroad.

Look at the American auto manufacturers. The big three are suffering because they cannot afford to pay workers hundreds of thousands of dollars to sit and do nothing. They are bankrupt and running to the government to keep them on life support with an IV injected into their veins from your wallet.

Look at Japanese auto companies like Honda and Toyota. They employ American workers in American cities to build cars for plants located in America. The workers receive good market-level salaries and benefits that are less than the unreasonable American counterparts. They are not suffering with bankruptcy like the American manufacturers.

The free market works! Government intervention to "stimulate" the economy always results in problems. The effects are not always immediately realized, but they will happen once the market fails to sustain the imbalances.

 

Who says they'll be used to "purchase goods from foreign countries such as China" as if that's the whole story?

Money from tax cuts would be used to purchase goods and services or to make investments in new business.

Even if the goods are made in China, for example, there's still the services associated with getting them to market which involve people and facilities living and working in America. Further a lot of goods are still made right here in America and the majority of services are still provided right here in our country.

If we'd work on some issues to make American enterprise more profitable in our own nation - such as reduced taxes, less unnecessary regulation, less frivolous liability exposure, less government imposed social re-engineering, etc. - perhaps we could create a realistic incentive to manufacture the goods in this country. There's certainly nothing wrong with fundamental abilities of Americans to get things done.

Besides all this it would put the money in the hands of its rightful owners - not the hands of someone else who didn't do the work to earn it. It shouldn't be a tax rebate scam either - the kind whereby one gets back 1% of what they paid and another 10% - it should be a reduction in taxes by a reduction in costs by a reduction in government.

 

... and we can do it again if we'll stop looking to fools in Washington to figure it all out for us, take our money, spend it on dumb ideas, and then leave us with more taxes to cover the principal plus interest.

 

Again, in a gross show of reading comprehension problems, the statement was about "overpaid, overcompensated, lazy union workers," not just union workers.

Trying to get to your talking points causes you to miss a lot of good conversations. Read more carefully. Don't embarrass yourself more by continuing to answer questions that aren't being asked. Pay attention, please.

There is no doubt that the unions are among the largest cause of problems with the Big Three. Were the labor movement as strong now as it was 50-60 years ago, this economy would be much worse than it is, and it would have been that way for twenty years. One of the best things to happen to the economy has been the weakening power of labor unions.

Now Obama wants to end secret ballots and allow intimidation of workers by the union. Hopefully that will never see the light of day. But since Obama is bought and paid for by big labor, it probably will.

 

Nice strawman. It is not an either or scenario.

 

So this endorses middle and lower income tax cuts which is in the plan. :thumbsup:

 

Sure, it's all the unions fault.... The CEO get's a $10 Million bonus on top of his huge salary to include company perks and expense account and the union is the only problem...


Sure...! Keep believing that. :thumbsup: