Day: October 3, 2011

Plan 999 From GOP Space

They (whoever the ominous they are) say that great minds think alike……Terrance of Sibboleth (go to blogroll and visit a very good site) has a post on the same issue today……

The plan is the taxation one that GOP presidential candidate is trying to sell to the American people or should I say the conserv voter?

For all his crazy stuff on Muslims and such I found the simple definition of his 999 plan was 9% corporate tax, 9% income tax and 9% national sales tax….I could agree with all those as long as the tax code was simplified along with this plan…like everyone pays 9% income tax regardless with the exception of pewople living below the poverty line….no deductions, no breaks…….  Would I ever vote for him?  NOT a chance but the idea , as I knew it, was appealing…..

But as I look at his plan I found that it was not as simple as I had originally thought….check it out from his website……

  • Achieves the broadest possible tax base along with the lowest possible rate of 9%.
  • It ends the Payroll Tax completely – a permanent holiday!
  • Zero capital gains tax
  • Ends the Death Tax.
  • Eliminates double taxation of dividends
  • Business Flat Tax – 9%
    • Gross income less all investments, all purchases from other businesses and all dividends paid to shareholders.
    • Empowerment Zones will offer additional deductions for payroll employed in the zone.
  • Individual Flat Tax – 9%.
    • Gross income less charitable deductions.
    • Empowerment Zones will offer additional deductions for those living and/or working in the zone.
  • National Sales Tax – 9%.
    • This gets the Fair Tax off the sidelines and into the game.

What can I say….there is not much more in Cain’s platform that I can get on board with but I think his idea on taxation could use some consideration….the problem is there are too many ifs , ands and maybes in his proposal….if he would simplify it a little more….I think it would be better…..typical Repub stuff with capital gains….still protects them from taxation…..and the business tax would be abused beyond today’s attempts…….all in all a 999 plan that is more simple and easy would be more to my liking….but at least he tried.

Now I would like to ask my readers to tell me what their ideas are on taxation……thoughts?

The Birth Of Capitalism

College of  Political Knowledge

There are times when I just sit and think…..and suddenly the bright flash of inspiration crawls out my butt and into my head……both locations are seldom in the same place…….contrary to popular belief……after endless debates and politicians rattling on and on about the joys of capitalism…….. I feel I need to set the record straight…….

I was recently having a conversation with a friend….we were talking about federalism and how it had caught on across the world and how cool it was that it had its simple beginnings here in the good old US of A……and then my friend said that it was also cool that capitalism had its beginnings in the US as well….I had to set him right……

This is the silly season and there is a wealth of promises and historical re-writes going on……we hear all about the benefits of capitalism or the free markets or a wealth of other such things……but you realize the politicians have NO idea what they are talking about….and that is most of the time since a majority of them have a very limited knowledge of economics in the first place…….

Let us begin with the birth of capitalism…….believe it or not capitalism was NOT born when the US came into being and NO it was not born with the publishing of Smith’s, The Wealth Of Nations……..sorry to burst your bubble but the birth of capitalism had NOTHING to do with the Constitution or the DoI……or the publishing of a book considered the bible of capitalism….even though they were done in the same year….1776.

If not then….when?

The year is 1648 and after 80 years of fighting Spain finally gives the Netherlands their independence…..this small country had no aristocracy and no discernible class system….but what it did have was a fairly large middle class that had been developed over the years with city dwellers, merchants and small manufacturers and through the massive trade structure like the Dutch East India Company.

The capital Amsterdam was a great city in Europe up to the Industrial Revolution…..if was the first stock exchange and the first insurance company…..all these developments labeled the Netherlands as the first truly capitalist country.

The economic system of the day was mercantilism……..Theory of the responsibility of the state to protect and promote national wealth by encouraging exports and limiting imports.  Its central figure was the authoritarian monarch because only the monarch embodied the state’s general interests and only he could guide economic affairs.

So you see, regardless what you are told….capitalism did NOT originate with the founding of the United States….the concept was in play long before the birth of the US…..