Day: February 24, 2009

Why Not Lower The Corporate Tax Rate?

That is the question that conservatives have been asking year after year after…….

The massive Obama stimulus is already finding its opponents to include former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who like his Republican colleagues wants more tax cuts in the plan.  And of course, that will include the standard lower of the US corporate tax rate.  Let’s look at their argument.

Unfortunately, according to the CBO, cutting the corporate rate “is not a particularly cost-effective method of stimulating business spending” and “does not create an incentive for them to spend more on labor or to produce more.” In other words, it doesn’t create jobs.  The Repubs used the CBO to criticize the stim plan but somehow overlooked the report on their tired old mantra of cutting corporate tax.  Cherry picking facts to make a point..,.,a typical political tactic from both sides…personally I want the truth…the whole truth…and nothing but the facts…all the facts.

US business just plain sucks!  Corporations fail, people lose jobs and banks make money.  I have heard some conservs say the way to stop this erosion of American business is to lower the high corporate tax.

Better yet, WHY lower the tax rate?  I wish that they would please stop using this tired piece of garbage as a way for the US to regain its rightful place as a world leading manufacturer.  It will not help, just as the whole “free trade agreements” have not helped.  (This subject to be covered at a later date).

For years I have listen to conservatives bitch and moan about the fact that US corporations are taxed the 2nd highest in the world.  And that it must be lowered to make them more competitive in the world economy.  And now with the onset of the current economic crisis, I hear the argument yet again.  Believe it or not people are buying this whole barrel of BS.

And when these people start the lower corporate tax tango I have heard NO mainstream economist dispute the fecal they spread.  Why is that?  Mainstream economist are the high priests and priestesses of the corporate world.  Just look to the first corporate bailout of Wall Street.

Let us look at one fact that craps on the conservative concerns.  Since corporations in the US get special preferences on taxes and with all their tax incentives that Washington grants, the US collects the fourth lowest corporate taxes in the industrialized world.

A corporate tax structure that closes loopholes and requires all companies to pay their fair share would both enhance America’s global competitiveness and allow government to pay for the public programs that benefit all Americans and, in doing so, foster a healthier business climate.

Now my question is, when the conservatives start their pro-corporate tap dance, why does not someone call them on the crap?  Instead they allow the morons to continue spreading LIES and misinformation.  The American people trust their conservative reps, why I dunno, call it lack of truth or just plain stupidity, but they allow these guys to keep helping the wealthy and ignoring the workers.

Time for that to change!

Copyright:  CHUQ/Info Ink

There Goes Another TARP

Jesus Christ!  Just how much more will we waste throwing at banks?  I mean it is somewhere in the multi-trillions now.  Just where is there an end to this?

Officials will begin so-called stress tests of about 20 of the nation’s largest banks tomorrow with the aim of ensuring they have sufficient capital to withstand the toughest of economic times. Institutions that cannot privately raise the added capital they need will get taxpayer money, regulators said yesterday.

“What we need to clean out the system is for investors to know that there are not more crises to come,” said Raghuram Rajan, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund who’s now a professor at the University of Chicago. “The stress tests, if they are followed by action, can help do that.”

The administration’s strategy is not without its risks. By shining a light on banks’ potential problems, it may end up fanning investor fears, rather than quelling them. It may also highlight how little firepower the government has left for fixing the banks’ problems after spending more than half of the $700 billion bank bailout fund authorized by Congress last year.

Policy makers are struggling with that issue as they try to decide how much more help they can provide Citigroup Inc. without diluting the value of shares held by investors too much, a person familiar with their deliberations said.

The initial reaction yesterday showed some relief that shareholders won’t be wiped out by full nationalization of some lenders. Citigroup gained 10 percent to $2.14 after losing more than 40 percent of its value last week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Banks Index advanced 2.1 percent to 59.41 even as the broader S&P 500 Stock Index tumbled 3.5 percent.

The Treasury, Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision vowed to preserve “the viability of systemically important financial institutions” and stated their “strong presumption” banks should remain in private hands and not be nationalized.

I have been bitching about the bailout of banks and Wall Street for months…please make them stop!  Main Street is crashing and burning and the best they can do is offer limited help to limited people….but banks….all help all the time…please MAKE them stop.