I have stated in the past that the reason I don’t want the democrats to raise taxes was because I believe (I am not an economist) that taking money OUT of the economy specifically at this time in our history, is detrimental to the economy; money should be in consumer’s hands.
I also believe that if democrats raise taxes, they will spend the extra revenue on their pet welfare projects and also, they will not cut waste in a serious manner; don’t give them money to play with.
I still believe as I expect everybody else does, that the economy can only recover when consumers start spending again and they will not do that if they are scared about tomorrow or if they are out of a job, so confidence and jobs (low unemployment) are the key.
The “debt ceiling” battle in Congress is all politics; Bush did it numerous times without a peep out of anybody. The Republicans want Obama out in 2012 so they are making political hay at the economy’s and our expense.
I also want to throw in the role of the so called TEA PARTY RADICALS who Congressmen and women think have control over elections and that is just not so. Also, many Tea Party members are ignorant about economics and think they know how to solve our fiscal morass; they don’t.
I think it bears repeating what Brian O’Conner wrote in his column, as a means of helping to dispel the many economic myths that seem to get people all upset and angry.
The biggest myth is thinking that the DEFICIT is somehow hurting the economy as the Tea Party would want you to believe but it is important to show the difference between WASTEFUL spending and spending that creates jobs.
In other words, cutting spending on programs that support jobs is counter-productive; we do not need to loose any more jobs and add to the unemployment lines. We do need to cut spending on programs that basically “waste” taxpayer’s money.
Again, in a down economy like ours, the government by necessity has to show a deficit because the tax revenues are down (because of the down turn) but spending on safety net programs like unemployment, food stamps and Medicaid is up. Add to this “stimulus” spending and the deficit goes way up; the spending is a must and actually keeps the economy alive.
Now add to this our myriad wars or military actions that cost billions per month and the Bush tax cuts on the rich…are you starting to see the problem?
More on the flip side…
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