Rep. Kristi Noem likes to pretend that balancing the federal budget is just like balancing the family budget with hubby Bryon at the kitchen table. (The analogy breaks down when we remember the Noems balance the family budget with federal crop subsidies and Bryon's federally subsidized crop insurance sales.)
Douglas Wiken snatches the government-family budget analogy away from our Congresswoman and points out families would handle the debt ceiling situation very differently from Noem's vague talking-point absolutism:
Assume your family finds that unless you can raise just an extra $500 in the next two weeks, your credit rating will be destroyed, you will thus lose your job, your car, and your only vehicle, no matter what you do after the two weeks are up.
Do you and your family immediately decide that the way to handle this is to reduce your revenue? Not very likely. The immediate problem is to add an additional $500 to your current income. Mama goes to work part time. Daddy doesn't buy gas or license for the boat. Junior mows a lot of lawns. Sis babysits for neighbors every afternnon and several evenings too. In even less than two weeks your immediate problem is solved by contributions by everybody. What you did not do was all argue until the night before the $500 was due [Douglas Wiken, "Revisit the Family Government Budget Foolish Analogy," Dakota Today, 2011.07.17].
Real families bite the bullet, make reasonable cuts, but also seek new revenue to pay the bills they've racked up. Real statesmen and stateswomen would acknowledge that fiscal fact instead of spinning voodoo economics to satisfy witch doctor Grover Norquist.
The only way to raise revenue is to lower rates. That is the fastest way to end a recession. Obama's "voodoo" ecomonics has not worked. We need to use that extra revenue, along with spending cuts, to balance the budget. That will also increase freedom in America.
Your statement assumes that lowering revenues raises rates. That cannot be an absolute truth: lowering tax rates to zero or even single digits would not result in sufficient economic growth to produce more revenue. The Bush tax cuts did not appear to produce enough extra revenue to produce sustained economic growth or pay for our expenses over the last decade (off-budget wars don't help). The voodoo here is that the GOP claims this abstract principle as an absolute but fails to identify where the optimum rate level is, or even to demonstrate that we are not actually below the optimum rate for certain income groups.
Rates that prevent the concentration of wealth and expand opportunity for all Americans increase freedom.
Cory, the rates do not matter to the wealthy...they have foundations. And the Bush cuts did raise revenues. So raising them will do the opposite.
Repeating a talking point does not make it true. The Bush tax cuts for the rich did not raise revenues.
You cannot raise revenue by... cutting revenue. Mathematically, if lowering the tax rate increased revenue, then if we lowered the tax rate to 0%, we would have infinite revenue. Yay! Free candy for everybody!
Chris, the rates affect middle class and the cuts did raise revenues. The wealthy that the left point to are on the receiving end of the taxes. Corporate welfare, social welfare increases consumption of their products, and then the bankers who own the federal reserve.
And would you work if 100% of your earnings went to the government?
Repeating a talking point does not make it so.
We've tried Trickle-Down Economics for 30 years. It was implemented with a vengeance during the Bush II years. How much more proof do we need that the only thing that trickles down isn't wealth and jobs? Yes, I know Arthur Laffer had a fancy curve that pretended to show otherwise, but empirical evidence trumps silly graphs scrawled on the back of a cocktail napkin.
Evidence!
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/reaganite-delusions/
As a business owner, I am waiting on investing any money into new equipment or hiring any new employees. I will continue to maximize our current resources.
Scale my actions up to the national level and you'll find that the inability of the US Congress to come to an agreement is driving the economy into a recession by creating uncertainty for businesses and consumers. You can only listen to the two parties bash each other and the promises of disaster for so long before you go into survival mode.
Michael, you got it exactly right. I can adjust to a wide variety of taxation schemes and levels, but no one can adjust when nothing stays the same for more than a few months at a time.
Investors and entrepreneurs in the current cyclone of uncertainty feel like they're shooting at a moving target through a picket fence -- with only one bullet in the chamber.
I'd say "cut, cap, balance, and stabilize." In my opinion a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases makes the most sense.
Star Trek: A Taste of Armageddon
ANAN: You realise what you have done?
KIRK: Yes, I do. I've given you back the horrors of war. The Vendikans now assume that you've broken your agreement and that you're preparing to wage real war with real weapons. They'll want do the same. Only the next attack they launch will do a lot more than count up numbers in a computer. They'll destroy cities, devastate your planet. You of course will want to retaliate. If I were you, I'd start making bombs. Yes, Councilman, you have a real war on your hands. You can either wage it with real weapons, or you might consider an alternative. Put an end to it. Make peace.
ANAN: There can be no peace. Don't you see? We've admitted it to ourselves. We're a killer species. It's instinctive. It's the same with you. Your General Order Twenty Four.
KIRK: All right. It's instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we won't kill today. Contact Vendikar. I think you'll find that they're just as terrified, appalled, horrified as you are, that they'll do anything to avoid the alternative I've given you. Peace or utter destruction. It's up to you.
FOX: As a third party interested only in peace and the establishment of normal relations, I should be glad to offer my services as negotiator between you and Vendikar. I've had some small experiences in such matters.
ANAN: There may be a chance. We have a direct channel with Vendikar's High Council. It hasn't been used in centuries.
FOX: Then it's long overdue. Shall we go?
(Anan and Fox leave.)
SPOCK: There's a chance it may work, Captain.
Look at the chart and see that reveunes increased after the Bush Tax "rate" cuts.
http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook/growth-federal-spending-revenue
Context: http://republicforsouthdakota.org/
My guess is that the GOP gimmicks, economic mythology, etc dumped into the debt debate as excuses for absurd policy in other areas have cost more job creation than any tax increase on the very wealthy ever would.