Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A Trillion-Dollar Blunder
Townhall.com ^ | October 2, 2018 | Stephen Moore

Posted on 10/02/2018 8:57:46 AM PDT by Kaslin

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-47 next last
To: central_va; Theoria
Low taxes with massive Government spending. Ya can’t cut debt doing that. - Theoria (
Lowering taxes(rates) actually HELPS to cut debt due to increased revenue
True, for the same reason that - even without price regulations - prices are finite. If you overprice something, people do not choose to do it - even if that “thing" is legitimately earning money, and the “price” is a tax rate.

"Ya can’t cut debt “ by overspending. Still less can you do it if you “overprice” your “merchandise” with high tax rates.


21 posted on 10/02/2018 11:31:05 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (Journalism promotes itself - and promotes big government - by speaking ill of society.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin; bitt; ransomnote; Steven W.; Jim Robinson
Moore has done an excellent job - as he always does. He overlooks one fact, however: (I have heard that) government revenues are at record highs. That means smaller deficits and less debt [if the Congress can be held in check.]

In addition, we have been losing about a trillion dollars a year in trade deficits; while equalizing that imbalance does not affect the govt debt, it does affect our annual economic deficits, which adds to economic growth in various ways. It is stunning to see how quickly the economy is turning around - proof that much money has been sitting on the sidelines, or cached off shore, in rsponse to the Obama / Harvard economic disaster.

The CBO has been a partisan hack office for a long time - so much so that one wonders if they even understand how taxes affect the economy. They foster the propaganda that the economy is a 'pie' and the more that one entity gets of that pie, the less the rest can have. If that were true, we would still have the same economy we had after WWII. That would be true if we were still on the gold standard. It is good to back up the dollar with gold, but it has to have a growth dynamic, not a constant 1:1 type ratio... we have much greater intrinsic value than gold alone.

Money is taxed when it is moved; money sitting in a can cannot be taxed directly. Lowering taxes motivates more economic activity (movement) which raises more govt. revenues. The CBO never seems to have grasped this true dynamic.

22 posted on 10/02/2018 11:47:10 AM PDT by Bob Ireland (The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

LOL I was thinking that DC is just like a majority of those who win a million bucks and are broke in 7 years.


23 posted on 10/02/2018 12:41:04 PM PDT by huldah1776 ( Vote Pro-life! Allow God to bless America before He avenges the death of the innocent.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
This is Reagan 2.0. Massive .gov spending with lower taxes.

If you continue to connect reducing tax rates with the debt you are playing into the Democrats hands. Spending and revenue are polar opposites. What needs to happen is reduce spending and reduce tax rates but you can't seem to get there. You have a cognitive problem I usually associate with liberals...

24 posted on 10/02/2018 1:16:00 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

I wish you’d quit posting you are an embarrassment. What you are saying is tax rates need to go up to reduce the debt. THAT IS CRAZY. THAT DOESN’T WORK, IT REDUCES REVENUE BECAUSE THE ECNOMY DOESN’T GROW.


25 posted on 10/02/2018 1:19:02 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: central_va
We differ. You favor tax cuts more than spending reductions. I favor cutting .gov. We have gotten tax cuts in the past. Not hard to do. Cutting .gov is the problem.

Second. You are much older than me. You don't care about the added debt to myself and countless millions. Party like there is no problem.

Keep on celebrating tax cuts and I will always bring up the added debt for not restricting spending. For all the growth generated, it has been done on the back of debt. Good luck to you when we start fixing that.

26 posted on 10/02/2018 1:29:29 PM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Bonemaker

Moore really explains things having to do with the Federal budget in a tremendous manner.


27 posted on 10/02/2018 2:52:34 PM PDT by AFPhys ((Liberalism is what Smart looks like to Stupid people - ® - Mia of KC. Rush - 1:50-8/21/15))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
You are economically retarded. You think someone that is for tax rate reductions is a Keynesian. This is wrong headed. Keynes was an idiot.

You think raising taxes would help reduce the debt. It will not. In addition you think I am against spending cuts, somehow you link being for tax cuts then automatically makes someone calling for spending increases? Moreover to you, if person A is for tax rate reductions then person A must also be a government spend thrift? THE TWO ARE NOT CONNECTED OR RELATED TO EACH OTHER. Tell me, can someone be for tax rate reductions AND be for spending cuts?

How your mind works or doesn't is amazing. I am all about spending cuts because that needs to be done but has nothing to do with increasing revenues with tariffs and tax rate cuts.

You are OLD school stupid GOPe. I care deeply about he debt but fighting ignorance like you show is critical to getting the Republicans to stop the stupid which you are a prime example.

Please go over to the DU where you belong. You sound like Juan Williams to me.

28 posted on 10/02/2018 11:06:25 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants; DoughtyOne; Kaslin

This better be Trump’s next big priority. The entire fiscal situation remains extremely dangerous IMO.


29 posted on 10/03/2018 4:30:57 AM PDT by 4Liberty (Where are the Obama-Creamer audio tapes?/GM bondholders: America's SAfrica White farmers...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: central_va
'You are economically retarded. You think someone that is for tax rate reductions is a Keynesian. This is wrong headed. Keynes was an idiot.'

WTF do you think we are doing!! We are not cutting .gov spending! . Massive pumping of the economy with .gov spending and tax cuts. That is keynes. That is reagan 2.0 Good grief. There is no escaping interest rates. No doubt, you are a older person.

30 posted on 10/03/2018 5:06:24 AM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
God help me. I will try again, Keynes was for higher taxation and more govenment spending and not lowering the tax rates. You have confused spending and taxation together.

Historian Peter Pugh has stated that a key cause of the economic problems afflicting America in the 1970s was the refusal to raise taxes to finance the Vietnam War, which was against Keynesian advice.[81]

Thank God they didn't listen to Keynes because raising the tax rates would have made revenues drop even more....

You are right about the 1980s; spending was the problem BUT NOT LOWERING TAX RATES. REVENUES DOUBLED IN THE 1980s did you know that?

31 posted on 10/03/2018 5:25:51 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: central_va
'REVENUES DOUBLED IN THE 1980s;

And we did that on the back of .gov spending. Which we almost trebled the national debt! Increased .gov spending with tax cuts. Reagan 2.0 Increased revenue with more debt! How is that on the long term?

Your argument that we will fix the deficit without cuts is the test. The only recent example has been Reagan, how did that work out for us concerning debt? We are going to grow faster than the spending of the.gov without cuts? Make your case. And that is on the back of rising interest rates.

'God help me. I will try again, Keynes was for higher taxation and more govenment spending and not lowering the tax rates.'

You're so wrong. Keynes advocated increased government expenditures and lower taxes to stimulate demand and pull the global economy out of the depression. Not to make it policy forever. He wanted a balanced budget. Not what these politicians do today.

32 posted on 10/03/2018 4:20:27 PM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
My take away is that you were against Trumps cutting tax rates, am I wrong?

Listen, please quit being an idiot. I will try to talk to you like you are third grader so maybe you can understand. A guy is married. He loses his job and his "revenue" goes to zero. His wife can still go out and spend on the credit cards. Get it? The revenue has nothing to do with the spending.

If you can't understand that you are incompetent, a loser. An embarrassment to Free Republic. If you keep trashing Reagan's economic policy I will keep calling you stupid. Was there too much spending in the 1980's? HELL YES. But there was a cold war gong on "youngster", you wouldn't know about that would you? This was somewhat offset by skyrocketing revenues due to growing economy which was caused by TAX RATE CUTS.

33 posted on 10/03/2018 6:41:33 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
You're so wrong. Keynes advocated increased government expenditures and lower taxes to stimulate demand and pull the global economy out of the depression. Not to make it policy forever. He wanted a balanced budget. Not what these politicians do today

If you would take an hour and research government revenues you would see that I am correct. Every time taxes were cut in a major way like in both 1963 & 1983 for example, REVENUES grow substantially. Look at the raw data.

Like you, Keynes also stupidly thought lowering taxes rates always decreased revenue. This is fallacy. Every heard of the Laffer curve? I am sure you have. It is just common sense.

34 posted on 10/03/2018 6:53:43 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: central_va
I've never been against the tax cuts. Tax cuts come and go. That is not a problem. The problem comes with the spending. There isn't spending cuts. That is the situation.

Rising debt has destroyed any long term gains. Especially for the younger generations. Yes, Reagan grew the economy. But, that was debt based growth. Just like now. Do you think we will continue growing like this once we are forced to cut the trillion each year in additional spending and faced with higher interest rates and servicing the debt? And, more to the point, the GOP were 'against' spending during the Obama years, but Trump has signed off on a larger budget, etc, etc. That debt will not be on you, since you are much older than I.

35 posted on 10/07/2018 6:57:52 AM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

“Low taxes “

What low taxes?? We have massively HIGH taxes.


36 posted on 10/07/2018 7:01:22 AM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

“You keep expecting a different result from repeating the same things. “

You mean like higher taxes and higher spending with the Democrats?? The Tax-n-Spend Democrats??

You obviously know nothing about taxes and revenue. Typical Democrat that thinks raising taxes increases revenue when raising taxes actually decreases revenue.


37 posted on 10/07/2018 7:03:45 AM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

“That is reagan 2.0”

It wasn’t Reagan, sunshine. Reagan demanded spending cuts 2:1 over revenue, but the Democrats that controlled the House since 1955 kept spending the extra revenue and then some.

Get your facts straight. Your liberal propaganda doesn’t work with us educated folk.


38 posted on 10/07/2018 7:08:03 AM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

“Yes, Reagan grew the economy. But, that was debt based growth.”

No, it wasn’t. It was production-based growth. Your Democrats kept spending more than what revenues grew. The Reagan tax cuts grew revenues but the Democrats kept spending on social programs.


39 posted on 10/07/2018 7:10:45 AM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

“This is Reagan 2.0. Massive .gov spending”

No, it was Democrats spending since 1955. They controlled the House from 1955 to 1994.


40 posted on 10/07/2018 7:11:22 AM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-47 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson