Re: I am ashamed
See, snapper, here is where you and I disagree a bit. I actually liked RR's tax cuts.<br /><br />Reagan took over with double digit interest rates and all sorts of other economic problems. It was difficult to get investment capital to get the economy going when you could get a double digit return with no risk as an investor.<br /><br />To get the economy going again, he had to get investment going back into the economy, and the quickest and best way to do that at the time was thru modifications of the tax code.<br /><br />It wasn't the tax cuts, per se, that helped solve the problem, but the effect they had on the economic problems we faced at the time. Sure it increased the deficit, but at the time it was manageable and necessary.<br /><br />OTOH, the Bush tax cuts did not seem to be targeted at the problems we faced, but rather as some sort of idealogical policy. The current economy did not hinge on new investment, as with low single digit risk free returns, investment capital was not difficult to find. What it hinged on was consumer spending. To the extent that the middle class tax cuts (and yes the $300) helped the consumer, and put more money back into the economy, those did help. However, the cuts for the wealthy tax payers (they are already buying what they want) and the corporate welfare programs did little if anything to improve the economy, but as they were the bulk of the tax cuts, they drove up the deficit for no reason.<br /><br />Kind of like an outboard mechanic who remembers that 10 years ago when his motor was running bad, he changed the spark plugs and fixed it. Now he has a rod sticking out of the side of the engine block, and he keeps trying to change the spark plugs, because it worked before.<br /><br />Different problems require different solutions.
