The link below is to a column by James K. Glassman at the National Review Online website. It pretty much encapsulizes my opinion on what we need to do to resolve our growing financial crisis before we crash and burn.
The guts of it is that we need to enact policies now that spur economc growth to the tune of 4%, which is a little higher than the average 3.3% we've had since WWII. Currently the CBO estimates our long term annual growth rate at 2.4%, and some economists believe that number is overly optimistic because they're using some factors and assumptions that may be unrealistic.
Tax-wise he recommends a consumption tax instead of a personal income tax, and lowering corporate income tax from being the highest in the developed world and using the same territorial system that other countries use instead of a universal tax that incentivizes US multinational companies to keep business activities and profits offshore. [I.E., you only pay corp tax on business inside the US, we're not getting the advantages of having that money re-invested here instead of somewhere else.]
We should have learned over the last couple of years that more gov't spending does not produce long term growth. Didn't work under Bush in the last couple of years of his admin, and it hasn't worked under Obama either. We've GOT to curb gov't spending, we simply cannot pay for the entitlement programs we have now. The so-called unfunded liabilities for healthcare and social security cannot be met, we won't have the money. And at some point, foreign investors will stop buying our paper. Seems ridiculous to think that, but once our debt and deficits get to be too high, the bond market is going to crash and then it's Depression 2.0.
"Government's role in the economy is to create a benign environment for private enterprise to trive." And we sure as hell ain't doing that. There's no other way to grow an economy, our current policies are killing our competitiveness in the global market. Personally, I don't see another way out. We either get our economy going or we're screwed.
The 4 Percent Solution - James K. Glassman - National Review Online
The guts of it is that we need to enact policies now that spur economc growth to the tune of 4%, which is a little higher than the average 3.3% we've had since WWII. Currently the CBO estimates our long term annual growth rate at 2.4%, and some economists believe that number is overly optimistic because they're using some factors and assumptions that may be unrealistic.
Tax-wise he recommends a consumption tax instead of a personal income tax, and lowering corporate income tax from being the highest in the developed world and using the same territorial system that other countries use instead of a universal tax that incentivizes US multinational companies to keep business activities and profits offshore. [I.E., you only pay corp tax on business inside the US, we're not getting the advantages of having that money re-invested here instead of somewhere else.]
We should have learned over the last couple of years that more gov't spending does not produce long term growth. Didn't work under Bush in the last couple of years of his admin, and it hasn't worked under Obama either. We've GOT to curb gov't spending, we simply cannot pay for the entitlement programs we have now. The so-called unfunded liabilities for healthcare and social security cannot be met, we won't have the money. And at some point, foreign investors will stop buying our paper. Seems ridiculous to think that, but once our debt and deficits get to be too high, the bond market is going to crash and then it's Depression 2.0.
"Government's role in the economy is to create a benign environment for private enterprise to trive." And we sure as hell ain't doing that. There's no other way to grow an economy, our current policies are killing our competitiveness in the global market. Personally, I don't see another way out. We either get our economy going or we're screwed.
The 4 Percent Solution - James K. Glassman - National Review Online
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