Any comments/opinions?

 

Yes just one comment. I wish, just once, when the TV commentator says that the tax cuts will give the biggest break to the wealthy, they would finish the statement by saying, "of course, since 59% of the taxes collected are paid by the top 10% of taxpayers, maybe they deserve a break!"
(per Wall Street Journal)

 

I know that any money I don't have to pay in taxes will be spent on things I want so I guess I'll be doing my part to stimulate the ecomomy. If other people are like me it just might work.

 

I was pretty confident that Twig (aka Bush) was a knee jerk slave to the fat cats who financed him in the first place, but I had hoped that even HE would have had better sense. Even the most pro-administration economists are not claiming that the proposal will have any beneficial effect on the short term problem. Of course, the short term IS the problem. To give less than 3% of the population a PERMANENT tax break is moronic given the present state of the economy and the present unbalanced budget. Who'd have believed that the traditional Republic Party wailing about deficit spending would be totally ignored by the present crop of alleged "conservatives"??

BTW, while I often vote Democratic, I've voted for a Repblican candidate on many occasions. I'm by nature an independent and I think of myself as a TRUE conservative. I'm in favor of limiting governmental intrusion into the affairs of the citizens (not the GD corporations) by effectively preventing the cops (state or federal) from spying on us; from arresting us and keeping us locked up w/o right to counsel (exactly what they did to that US Citizen who they claim is maybe a Muslim terrorist - no, not the "American Taliban").

Traditional "conservatives" don't want the police powers of the states or the Fed. to allow detention of U.S. citizens w/o formal charges or right to counsel. True conservatives are not biased one way or the other on the never-ending rich vs. poor fight. True conservatives are not biased one way or the other on the rights of business vs. individuals. True conservatives are not biased one way or the other on matters of race, age, gender, religion, etc. For damn sure true conservatives are VERY wary of the negative effects of allowing religion (anybody's) to influence political policy. A true conservative does not allow promises of money to influence public policy.

OK - I'm off the soap box. Now have at me.

 

I haven't read it in detail, just the blurbs on cnn.com and such. Really, it seems like a good way to help the rich get richer. Not a good thing, IMO. I don't see how it'll impart any energy to the economy. Any economists here wanna talk about what the package will do, and what their thoughts are on the effects it'll produce?

 

yeah Elistan, I'd like to hear some qualified opinions. As it stands I agree with you.

 

Well, I had a nice long reply typed it, and it's gone... god damn it

I'll cut short to my summary... As a whole, I don't particularly care for the plan. I really like the small business tax write-off increase, as it helps not only the small businesses who are struggling right now, but also many areas of manufacturing and 2nd tier service industries that are waiting for the phone to ring, so to speak. The rest of the plan mostly benefits the rich (as any tax cut inherently does) and middle class families with children. However, I don't see the situation for the unemployed and underemployed being improved by this bill, at least not in the near future. Overall, I'd give it a

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Elistan
[B]I haven't read it in detail, just the blurbs on cnn.com and such.

 

I think, and this is just my personal opinion, that your income level and whether or not you get corporate dividends from your investments (if at all) will more likely sway your decision on this plan than any analysis.

If I was one of those few making over $1M a year, with lots at stake in the securities market, I'm sure I'll love Bush's plan. Maybe if I made more than 250K I'll still be a big supporter. But at my current pitiful level of income, a good tax cut and reduction/elimination of the marriage penalty tax would do more for me, just like that $600 check we got a while back.

Just what is middle income nowadays? The range seems to be rather wide lately...

You know what would make LOTS of people happy: tax deduction on ALL loan interests: credit cards, car loans, unsecured loans, etc. - but nobody would do it.

 

Mingster: A tax deduction on all interest payed would encourage more debt-spending, which while helping the economy short term, would eventually destroy the economy because people would become so far in debt (think massive individual bankruptcy cases). Essentially, the more debt you had, the less taxes you would pay, and thus you'd have very little incentive to pay off debt.