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| TheRumpledOne 6,407 posts msg #71467 - Ignore TheRumpledOne |
2/16/2009 2:59:48 PM February 13, 2009 The Greatest Economic Stimulus Plan Ever! Part I By Wayne Allen Root Now that Barack Obama is in the Oval Office, it would seem like an ideal time to talk about the greatest challenge facing his new administration - the triple whammy of economic meltdown, credit crisis, and a crisis of consumer confidence. All of them have combined to create the "Perfect Storm" - what appears, to a small businessman like me, to be The Great Depression, Part II. Obama believes that the way to get out of an economic toxic disaster caused by too much government spending and debt is to spend more and go further into debt. Interesting logic. I, on the other hand, have an economic stimulus plan that is unlike any ever offered before. Instead of raising taxes on the successful Americans who create virtually all of the jobs, I want to give taxpayers a one-year "Income Tax Vacation." Yes, I want to suspend income taxes for 2009 and tell the IRS to take the year off. I can hear the liberal tax and spenders screaming right now. But before I get into the details of my stimulus plan, let me explain where the liberal tax and spenders have gone wrong in their thinking. Liberal tax and spenders complain that we cannot possibly allow the Bush tax cuts to become permanent. Why? Because the federal government cannot afford it. The cost? About $400 billion per year. Until recently, that sounded like a lot of money. But now we all realize that $400 billion is chump change. How is it possible that we could afford to spend $80 billion on a bailout for one company (AIG), almost $50 billion (and counting) on a bailout for the failed Big Three automakers, $7 trillion in total bailouts - but $400 billion in tax cuts is unaffordable? How is it possible that our new president could give away almost one trillion dollars in an economic stimulus package without hesitation, but $400 billion in tax cuts for millions of hardworking Americans is unimaginable? When Obama campaigned for president, his position was that extending Bush's tax cuts would be unaffordable and irresponsible. Yet, it turns out that when Obama wants to spend a cool trillion dollars on his pet project, it's available, reasonable, and necessary. They say that a tax cut is a "giveaway to the rich," and that it's "unfair" and "greedy." Really? How can it be a giveaway when it's our money in the first place? The real giveaway is Obama offering a "tax cut" to the 40 percent of Americans who paid no taxes last year. The real giveaway is the millions of people (virtually all Obama supporters) who are on welfare, Medicaid, food stamps, aid to families with dependent children, housing assistance, free school breakfasts and lunches ... the list goes on and on. And as for the "G word" - you mean it's greedy to want to keep more of your own money, but it's not greedy to ask government to give you someone else's money? Obama calls tax-cut "spending," claiming that tax cuts add to the budget deficit. Wrong! Letting people keep more of their own money does not increase government spending. It isn't the government's money in the first place. It belongs to the taxpayers, so it shouldn't even be in the budget. If someone steals your car, then has a change of heart and gives back your four tires, would that be a "giveaway"? Would you thank them for being so generous and "fair"? Would you say they increased the spending in their personal budget by giving you the four tires that they just stole from you? I think not. When President Obama spends a trillion dollars on building infrastructure-or when he spends a trillion dollars giving away money to people who don't pay taxes-the liberal tax and spenders don't consider that to be "government spending." Why not? Doesn't it add to the budget deficit? But letting taxpayers like you and me keep more of our own money - which isn't spending at all - that is blamed for busting the budget? Now, into this miasma of misguided thinking enters Barack Obama with his first big act as president - an almost trillion-dollar stimulus plan (which I predict he'll expand dramatically after only a few months in office). He wants to build infrastructure with a large portion of it - highways, bridges, and schools. With the rest, he will send government checks to millions of Americans who've never paid taxes, and millions more (including government workers) who have steady jobs. So why give them a check? The people who need the money are small-business owners who are struggling because consumers have stopped buying. Unfortunately, they made too much money last year, so Obama has disqualified them. Oh, and just for good measure, Obama will spend a bunch of "leftover" money on creating 600,000 government jobs that will bankrupt taxpayers not just today, but for decades to come. Those 600,000 new government employees will be getting bloated salaries, pensions, and health benefits for the next fifty years. This is Obama's version of Economics 101: Massive Spending + Massive Debt = Economic Recovery. Good luck to all of us. We'll need it. Because it's not going to work. In Part II of this article, I'll tell you what will. (Wayne Allyn Root was the 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate. His new book, to be released by John Wiley & Sons in May, is entitled The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution With God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts. He also happens to have been Barack Obama's college classmate (Columbia University Class of '83). For more of his views and commentaries, and to watch his many media interviews, please visit his website at: www.ROOTforAmerica.com) |
| TheRumpledOne 6,407 posts msg #71468 - Ignore TheRumpledOne |
2/16/2009 3:00:08 PM February 14, 2009 The Greatest Economic Stimulus Plan Ever! Part II By Wayne Allen Root As I pointed out in Part I of this article, Obama's solution for the current economic tsunami is more government spending in the form of bailouts, a massive trillion-dollar economic stimulus package, and "tax cuts" offered to people who never paid taxes in the first place. What is interesting about this is that it proves we have once again elected a president who is either ignorant of, or oblivious to, the United States Constitution. Nothing in the Constitution authorizes this kind of government intervention in the economy. Which means that Obama's entire economic game plan is not only unworkable, it's unconstitutional. Now, as promised, let me give you my version of an economic stimulus plan that makes sense. * For openers, I propose giving American taxpayers a one-year Income Tax Vacation. Of course, Obama and his tax-and-spend friends will howl that we can't afford it. But keep in mind that individuals in the United States of America pay a total of about $1.3 trillion in income taxes every year. So, as expensive as my idea may sound, it wouldn't cost much more than Obama's $1 trillion economic stimulus plan. It's also only a tiny fraction of the $7 trillion the federal government has given away in bailout monies to fat-cat corporations and bankers. And it's far less than the $2 trillion or so that the Federal Reserve has printed up to try to put "liquidity" into the banking system. Obama wants to take our money away from us, in the form of taxes, and then give it to those he deems worthy (e.g., voters who did not pay taxes) in the form of government checks, so they're awed by the power and generosity of the government. My plan simply allows the taxpayers to keep all of their own money - for one year - without getting government (or government checks) involved. With my plan, most of the savings would go to the top 20 percent of earners - the people who own almost all of the businesses in America. They'd pump that money back into their businesses and start new ones - which would translate into millions of new jobs. Obama and his liberal friends wouldn't like that, because it makes too much sense. Another thing Obama and his friends wouldn't like about my Income Tax Vacation is that it would set a precedent. They'd be afraid that if we paid no income taxes for a year, we might start to like it. We might notice how being able to keep that extra money improves our quality of life. We might start to notice that the federal government can survive without it, and maybe we'd demand that income taxes never be reinstated. My plan, unlike President Obama's, rewards and incentivizes the American citizens who create most of the jobs, who buy the luxury goods, and who invest in the things that make our economy go and grow: stocks, bonds, real estate, investment property, small business. My plan puts money into their hands - our hands - the hands of people who know what to do with it in order to make more money. Now that's economic stimulus. The one-year Income Tax Vacation is the cornerstone of my economic stimulus plan. But that's not the only idea I have to motivate and stimulate the producers and earners and taxpayers and small-business owners ... and actually make money for the government. * I propose phasing out capital-gains taxes on individual investments over a five-year period. It would work like this: Buy a piece of America (stocks, bonds, real estate, a small business, etc.), hold that investment for five years, and pay ZERO capital gains taxes on it. In the first year, capital gains earned on your investment would be subject to a 15 percent tax rate. In the second year, the rate would be 10 percent. In the third year, the rate would be 7.5 percent. In the fourth year, it would be 5 percent. And after five years, any profits earned on that investment are yours to keep - tax free. * I propose the elimination of all capital-gains taxes on investments, dividends, and interest for Americans age fifty-five and older. The idea is to allow Americans who are entering their retirement years (after a lifetime of hard work) to retire on half the amount of savings they now require, because they would pay no taxes on their assets. With this kind of a reward, think of the trillions of dollars that older Americans would spend on investing in America - knowing that the big payoff (in the form of an inheritance) will be enjoyed by their children and grandchildren. * I propose a business income-tax cut. Corporate income tax rates in America are the second-highest in the industrialized world. To remain competitive and encourage big business not to move jobs offshore, we must cut that rate to 20 percent (or lower). Perhaps more important, to encourage the formation and success of small businesses - the economic engine of America - we should lower their rate to 10 percent. * I propose cutting capital-gains taxes on the profits from the sale of any American's principle residence to ZERO. To liberal tax and spenders who scoff at this, it was your hero, Bill Clinton, back in the 1990s, who cut the capital-gains tax on the sale of a principle residence to zero on the first $500,000 of profit. But I'm taking Clinton's idea a step further: Under my plan, any American who invests (and risks) his or her hard-earned money in a principle residence and holds it for a minimum of two years would get to keep any and all profits. Pass this law and just watch the housing market - perhaps the most important business in America - explode. * To encourage the creation of millions of jobs, I propose a $7,500 tax credit for employers. This credit would goes directly to any employer who hires a full-time employee during the next three years, and it would increase to $10,000 if the person hired was out of work at the time. * At the end of the one-year Income Tax Vacation that is the basis of my economic-stimulus plan, I propose that we institute a national Reverse Flat Tax. It's certainly in the government's best interest to motivate us to work hard ... to build more businesses ... to hire more employees ... to make and invest more money. But our tax system has the opposite effect. It punishes success, creativity, ingenuity, and productivity. My proposed Reverse Flat Tax would solve that problem by having just two rates: 15 percent on all income up to $500,000 per year, and 10 percent on all income above $500,000. In other words, the more money you make, the more you get to keep. How's that for incentive? And it's "fair." It treats every American same way. No one can complain. There are no losers with my plan. There are only winners ... and even bigger winners who take advantage of the opportunity to do better. For those who argue that my Reverse Flat Tax will not generate enough revenues to cover the government's expenses, they're right. But that's the point. We have to cut government spending dramatically so we can afford to let the American people keep more of their own money. In my new book, The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution With God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts, I explain exactly how that can be done. That's it - my Economic Stimulus Plan to get America moving and growing again. Does it cost trillions of dollars? Sure it does. So do all of Obama's plans. So do all of Congress's plans. But my plan puts the money directly into the hands of the taxpayers instead of diverting it through the middleman we call "government." Mine is based on incentivizing all Americans to invest and build. Mine is based on running the federal government (for the first time) like a business. Modesty aside, mine is THE GREATEST ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN EVER! |
| wwildeeeee 4 posts msg #74405 - Ignore wwildeeeee |
5/14/2009 11:13:20 PM I am a fairly new options trader of 5 years. Is there any way we can correspond by email? wwildeeeee@comcast.net |
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