Posted on 03/09/2008 12:00:47 PM PDT by kellynla
Congratulations. The nomination of the Grand Old Party is yours. Now comes the hard part, winning, and the almost impossible part, governing sensibly. Since you were, in your usual modest way, genial enough to acknowledge recently that you know little about economics, may I offer you some thoughts on a big part of economics, namely tax policy, bearing in mind that no one knows much about it?
Let’s start with the obvious. Almost everyone dislikes taxes. No sane person enjoys writing out a big check to Uncle Sam when he could spend that money or bank it for retirement. By the same token, almost everyone likes the phrase “tax cuts” for the same reason.
The problem, and it’s a killer, is that over the years we have obligated ourselves as a nation to spend truly staggering sums. These sums are growing rapidly. They consist mostly of entitlements, like Social Security and Medicare; fixed obligations like interest on the national debt, pensions for federal and military employees and various subsidies that have already been enacted; and morally mandatory expenses like those for national security.
All politicians campaign on the promise to cut federal spending by identifying hitherto unfound waste, fraud and corruption. None of them ever do so in a meaningful way. Total federal spending has not once fallen noticeably since 1954, no matter the party or the promises of the incoming chief executive.
That is the first thing you need to know. The next thing is that the Republican Party (my party and yours) has for the last 30 years or so been operating under a demonstrably false and misleading premise: that tax cuts pay for themselves by generating so much economic growth that they replace the sums lost by tax cutting.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Gezzzzzzz, I don't know where to start but this comedian thinking he knows enough about economics that he can "teach" anyone is a j...o...k...e!
"In fact, tax cuts lower federal revenue and generate federal deficits?"
Sorry, Ben, but it has been documented that after the tax cuts, revenues actually INCREASED and the reason for the federal deficits were SPENDING.
"The first step toward putting our house in order, once we are past the seemingly looming recession, is much higher taxes on the truly rich and serious enforcement to prevent offshore tax evasion."
No, Ben, the first step is to BALANCE THE BUDGET.
As long as budgets are not balanced, no matter what the revenues are; continued budget deficits will be a fact.
And what McCain could do about taxes is propose an elimination of the IRS and replace the federal income tax with a national sales tax since half of America doesn't pay ANY income tax and half of Americans receive some kind of government assistance meaning those of us who actually pay taxes help support those who don't!
Ben, you should stick to comedy 'cause you obviously don't know squat about getting this country back on the RIGHT track!
We will be better off as a party when we stop adhering to the fiction of the Laffer Curve. Balancing the budget means cutting entitlements, not cutting taxes.
The next thing is that the Republican Party (my party and yours) has for the last 30 years or so been operating under a demonstrably false and misleading premise: that tax cuts pay for themselves by generating so much economic growth that they replace the sums lost by tax cutting.
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Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben .... how can you ignore something as obvious as the results of the Reagan tax cuts? Was “Win Ben Steins Money” real? I’m beginning to think you were given the answers..
both need to be done..
Just a bit about this “comedian”.
Ben Stein (Benjamin J. Stein) was born November 25, 1944 in Washington, D.C., (He is the son of the economist and writer Herbert Stein) grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and attended Montgomery Blair High School. He graduated from Columbia University in 1966 with honors in economics. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1970 as valedictorian of his class by election of his classmates. He helped to found the Journal of Law and Social Policy while at Yale. He has worked as a poverty lawyer in New Haven and Washington, D.C., a trial lawyer in the field of trade regulation at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., a university adjunct at American University in Washington, D.C., at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. At American U. He taught about the political and social content of mass culture. He taught the same subject at UCSC, as well as about political and civil rights under the Constitution. At Pepperdine, he has taught about libel law and about securities law and ethical issues since 1986.
But you already knew that, right?
I’m voting for Obama maybe he will make Oprah and the other Hollyweird crowd pay for all the government spending.. I mean then can afford it right? I’m tired of being told that tax cuts for the rich are bad... I agree so lets just tax the rich at about 90 percent earnings ratio... I mean they can live comfortably on 10 percent of what they earn and the rest can pay to run the govt for the rest of us...
Where is my forty acres and a mule?????
Define ‘rich’, Ben!!! Just because you have a high income—does not necessarily mean you are rich.
Did I miss the part where Ben mentioned his plan to make the congress spend within their means?
Ben—normally a smart guy—is an IDIOT on taxation. Hate to say it, Ben, but you would been paying taxes right up to the point they put you on the cattle car. You need to grow some balls if you’re going to be an American.
That said, there is a large amount of waste and redundancy in government which can certainly the extracted. The question is not whether or not it exists, but whether politicans have the fortitude necessary to stare down the unions and make the cuts necessary for the health of the country.
I usually like Ben Stein. This column I don’t.
Good info on this highly intelligent, but down to earth man. He’s also written many great books on investing and being successful. My favorite of all is “Bunkhouse Logic”. A short book on taking charge of your life that I found inspiring.
Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve, won’t. McStrawberries has had plenty of opportunities to introduce this in the Senate. The fact that he hasn’t ... speakes volumes.
This would be a lovely thing if true, and the best of all ideas, the “something for nothing” idea. In fact, tax cuts lower federal revenue and generate federal deficits. It is also true that they do stimulate the economy and after a long period of years, federal tax receipts go back to where they were before the tax cuts.
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But, Ben, how could tax reciepts go back to where they were before (or even beyond the previous amount) if “tax cuts don’t pay for themselves”? Am I hallucinating or did Ben contradict his whole argument in this very sentence?
The only partial answer I can fathom is to at least privatize part of Social Security. That one IMO is doable - although difficult as we saw that a Republican WH and Congress couldn't get it done. This would help at least one program.
“We will be better off as a party when we stop adhering to the fiction of the Laffer Curve”
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The Laffer Curve is hardly fiction. It is successfully employed everyday by countless businesses. For example, if you own a business what would happen if you increased the price you’re charging for your product or service?
If you start raising your price, you will make more profit per unit, but you may sell fewer units. If you continue to increase your price, at some point the loss of sales volume will more than offset the increase unit profit, such that your revenue and total profits will go down, not up. The Laffer Curve states that there will be an optimum price for your product/service that will maximize your revenue (and/or profit).
The same is true with taxes. If you continue to raise taxes there will be a point at which tax revenues will drop off, not increase.
You can certainly question where we are on the Laffer Curve relative to taxes. Are we at the point where increasing taxes will generate more revenue or less? However, there’s little doubt among economists that you cannot continue to raise taxes and expect an ever increasing revenue stream. The converse is also true. We may be at the point where lowering taxes will generate more tax revenue (as happened with the latest Bush tax cuts), but that does not mean that if you keep on lowering taxes that you will continue to generate more tax revenues. The Laffer Curve is real, not fiction.
and you want to increase revenues, do you increase the price you charge for your product or do you lower it? If you raise your price and generate more revenue, do you raise it again? The Laffer Curve states that there
Couldn’t care less about his background...Stein wouldn’t be the first “educated fool” produced by American colleges & universities. LMAO
From this piece, he definitely doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
We have deficits because the Feds are spending more than they are taking in...and when the tax rates were cut during the Reagan administration, revenues increased! The problem was that Congress continued to spend more than was brought in.
Everyone knows cutting taxes INCREASES government revenue because of increased economic activity. This guy is supposed to have received an education in economics and he doesn’t know that!? We should cut taxes, and then cut taxes again if we want to avoid this recession some think is coming, plus balance the budget.
“Everyone knows cutting taxes INCREASES government revenue because of increased economic activity. This guy is supposed to have received an education in economics and he doesn’t know that!? We should cut taxes, and then cut taxes again if we want to avoid this recession some think is coming, plus balance the budget.”
THANK YOU!
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