Saturday, September 18, 2010

It's Caturday


WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'RE OUT OF TUNA FISH!

Just thinking about the Bush tax cut debockle. Here we are being held captive over partisan politics. Republicans with a gun to our heads wanting to protect their benefactors. They'd rather this country slide into a depression than turn things around.

I have an idea. Let's let all the tax cuts expire. After all when you figure exactly what the middle class got out of the deal in the first place it wasn't that much. As I recall my taxes went down by around $1200. That works out to around $24 a week. I'd gladly trade that for the rest of a pay check rather than wondering how I'll make it in the next few months. And for the side that keeps screaming about budget defecits this would provide much needed income to pay down the national debt. Because as we all know you can't pay off a bill with no income.

And for those of you out there who think that corporate America is broke, think again. I've witnesses the exact same things happen in past recessions. The economy goes down but companies are still operating. They cut back personnel but the cash flow doesn't stop. When their coffers are overflowing they have no choice but to start spending again lest they risk having to pay more taxes on their bounty. It's all a matter of balance. The bubble Bush created could not last forever. And speaking of bubbles if you have any gold laying around you might want to get rid of it in the coming months. Is $1200 an oz. really a realistic price?

5 comments:

Randal Graves said...

Fuck everything up, unwashed masses are screwed and the corporates buy on the cheap.

That cat looks nuts.

Tom Harper said...

I'm in favor of letting all of the tax cuts expire. It's not a popular idea, but that's $4 trillion we won't be adding to the deficit.

If there were any Democrats out there with the tiniest bit of shrewdness or initiative, they'd make the Republicans go on TV and explain why they're so worried about the deficit but not worried about the $4 trillion the tax cuts would cost.

S.W. Anderson said...

". . . my taxes went down by around $1200. That works out to around $24 a week. I'd gladly trade that for the rest of a pay check rather than wondering how I'll make it in the next few months."

Sheesh, this keeps popping up. Damned right-wing big-lie technique seems to be working better than ever.

What you've got there is a false dichotomy. That's not your choice, nor will it be your choice.

There's no way to bring down the deficit to any meaningful extent with the economy in its current condition – not by any tax-cutting, program-cutting, cost-cutting measures that people would stand for. You might do it by eliminating Medicare, slashing Social Security checks, shutting down VA hospitals and dissolving the Marine Corps, but you'd throw society and the economy into so much turmoil, dealing with the rioting and rebellion would end up costing much of the savings.

The problem here is a big, across-the-board lack of consumer demand. Raising working-class and middle-class taxes is a guaranteed way to make the demand situation worse than it is. Raising taxes on the top 2 percent makes excellent sense. The money should be funneled just as quickly and broadly as possible to people who are out of tuna, for their cats and themselves. Do that and you'll perk up demand. Perk up demand enough and you'll get the economy back on its feet.

Come on, guys, we're in a hole. The last thing we need to do is dig deeper.

Jim Marquis said...

Demeur, you make a good point. The whole country is in trouble and we all need to sacrifice.

Tim said...

Maybe we can pay our taxes in tuna fish. Better than money, at least it's worth something..