On Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:00:10 -0500, Eisboch wrote:

"thunder" wrote in message
t...

On Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:30:33 -0500, BAR wrote:


We need a long term solution, something that is going to give everyone
long term confidence that the economy is going to improve. Eliminate
corporate taxes, reduce capital gains taxes and cut personal income
taxes in half but, make sure that everyone who earns income pays
taxes. No individual gets a free ride on taxes. This will get the
economy moving again. The people will have confidence that they will
have more money to spend themselves. Businesses will have more money
to spend on capital equipment and the ability to hire more people.
Investors will be encouraged to move their money into ventures that
may produce greater returns.


Sell that tired Republican BS to someone else. If you haven't noticed,
we have been doing what you suggest for the past 20 years, and look
where it's gotten us.



A growing, expanding and healthy business base and Wall Street swindling
are two different issues. The latter was in some cases initiated by
government intervention and in all cases by the lack of government
oversight of what they initiated.

If we intend to keep capitalism as our economic engine, BAR is
absolutely correct and many honest (meaning non-politically motivated)
economic experts agree. Growing and investing businesses have always
been the catalyst for an expanding economy, employment and consumer
confidence/spending. Throw a wet towel on business in the form of
taxes and the economy slows down. Happens everytime.

Now, if you are suggesting we replace our business based economic engine
with something else, then all bets are off.

I'm suggesting that since Ronald Reagan, Republicans have been running on
"government being the problem". Deregulation and privatization were the
mantras. I'm suggesting recent events have put an end to such
silliness. A literal handful of fat cats have just choked the *world's*
economy, and people are looking to their governments to save it.

Now, I don't know how deep this recession is going to be, but if it is
deep and long, people are going to demand changes. Capitalism is going
to be redefined, and laissez-faire is not going to be part of the
definition.

Capitalism is a healthy and robust adjunct to democracy, but in my world,
business is here to serve people, not the other way around. When greed
runs amuck on Wall Street, and thousands on Main Street are put out of
work, there should be, and, I suspect, there will be changes. Look
closely at the social turmoil during the Great Depression. I would
suggest that as a country, we are not nearly as polite now, as we were
then.

I would also suggest that on this increasingly small planet, this
consumption based economy that has sustained us all these years, is a
dying paradigm, but that's another story. ;-)