Stimulating Ideas
"Not a single Republican voted with the majority last week when the House approved (the) ...$819 billion combination of tax cuts and new spending."
Yahoo News, Feb. 1, 2009
Although there is widespread agreement that the US government must pump money into the economy to alleviate the current recession, Republicans in the House would rather cut taxes than spend money on government programs. Still, Gov. Sarah Palin (R, Alaska) came to Washington to urge fellow Republicans to support aid to the states, especially Alaska.
I would support both tax cuts and public works programs provided that they were in accordance with these principles:
1. Tax-cuts for business must be tied to increasing employment.
2. Tax-cuts for individuals must be directed to the lowest-income tax-payers.
3. Public works programs must be geared toward reducing dependence upon oil and reducing pollution.
Here are some specific examples of stimulus provisions I want to see in the final bill:
1. Cut social-security taxes from about 15 % of base pay (including both employee and employer portions) to about 11%. This would encourage businesses to hire more workers, and would reduce the tax burden for all workers, including those who earn too little to pay income tax. Raising the taxable pay-base from about $100,000 to about $150,000 would soften the impact to the Social Security Trust Fund without hurting low-income workers at all, or deter firms from hiring them.
2. Emphasize public mass transit in allocating federal transportation grants. For example, the New York City subway system, which provides essential transportation for millions of commuters daily, needs massive repairs and modernization. Public regional transit authorities also need money to keep riders from driving to work instead, which helps to hold down oil consumption and air-pollution. Federal money could enable these systems to replace old gas-guzzling buses with hybrids and electric vehicles.
3. Establish Summer Boot Camps to provide college and trade-school students with two months of military training each summer, between academic years. Participants would receive the same pay as army recruits, but would not be required to enlist in the military. The program should be integrated into ROTC, so those who successfully completed eight months of training over four summers and graduated college would be eligible for officer commissions in the National Guard or any other branch of the service.
Although participation would be entirely voluntary, I predict that many of the young people who completed the training camps would find military life attractive and would enlist after college. (If the civilian economy does not improve in the next four years, there should be more than enough young people to fill enlistment requirements.)
Even those who do not enlist would be in better physical condition as a result of the boot camps, which is highly desirable anyway in view of the current physical state of many young adults today.
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Yahoo News, Feb. 1, 2009
Although there is widespread agreement that the US government must pump money into the economy to alleviate the current recession, Republicans in the House would rather cut taxes than spend money on government programs. Still, Gov. Sarah Palin (R, Alaska) came to Washington to urge fellow Republicans to support aid to the states, especially Alaska.
I would support both tax cuts and public works programs provided that they were in accordance with these principles:
1. Tax-cuts for business must be tied to increasing employment.
2. Tax-cuts for individuals must be directed to the lowest-income tax-payers.
3. Public works programs must be geared toward reducing dependence upon oil and reducing pollution.
Here are some specific examples of stimulus provisions I want to see in the final bill:
1. Cut social-security taxes from about 15 % of base pay (including both employee and employer portions) to about 11%. This would encourage businesses to hire more workers, and would reduce the tax burden for all workers, including those who earn too little to pay income tax. Raising the taxable pay-base from about $100,000 to about $150,000 would soften the impact to the Social Security Trust Fund without hurting low-income workers at all, or deter firms from hiring them.
2. Emphasize public mass transit in allocating federal transportation grants. For example, the New York City subway system, which provides essential transportation for millions of commuters daily, needs massive repairs and modernization. Public regional transit authorities also need money to keep riders from driving to work instead, which helps to hold down oil consumption and air-pollution. Federal money could enable these systems to replace old gas-guzzling buses with hybrids and electric vehicles.
3. Establish Summer Boot Camps to provide college and trade-school students with two months of military training each summer, between academic years. Participants would receive the same pay as army recruits, but would not be required to enlist in the military. The program should be integrated into ROTC, so those who successfully completed eight months of training over four summers and graduated college would be eligible for officer commissions in the National Guard or any other branch of the service.
Although participation would be entirely voluntary, I predict that many of the young people who completed the training camps would find military life attractive and would enlist after college. (If the civilian economy does not improve in the next four years, there should be more than enough young people to fill enlistment requirements.)
Even those who do not enlist would be in better physical condition as a result of the boot camps, which is highly desirable anyway in view of the current physical state of many young adults today.
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Labels: stimulus
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 2:31 PM
2 Comments:
I like the idea of cutting social security taxes. They're a real job killer.
I am against your idea that "tax-cuts for business must be tied to increasing employment." The last thing we need is for the government to be telling private businesses how to spend the money that they have earned. Besides being immoral and imprudent, can you imagine the practical problems? Would the governement specify how many jobs and at what salary would have to be created for every dollar of tax cut? Would it also mandate how long each position must be maintained? Sounds like the former Soviet paradise. I'm confident that cutting taxes would lead to more jobs, anyhow, without such goverenemnt shenanigans. We absolutely must cut the corporate tax just to remain competitive with Europe (it's astonishing that Europe has lower taxes than we do!)
I also oppose "tax-cuts for individuals must be directed to the lowest-income tax-payers." Again, not only is this unfair but you will remove the incentive for being successful. Your plan would mean that we would have less people creating wealth and more people not working (or at least not working hard). I only am in favor of reductions in marginal tax rates, not Obama's Orwellian "refundable tax credits" whic are actually spending disguised as "tax cuts."
With regard to "reducing pollution," what type of pollution are you referring to? I'm not aware that pollution is nearly the problem it was three or four decades ago.
I oppose what Palin is doing. It shows me that she does not deserve the "Reagan Republican" tag that so many conservatives have put on her from the beginning. I'm less and less impressed with her the more I hear her open her mouth.
The history of stimulus packages involving increased spending is that they do not work. If they do work then please list a single example where they did.
The stimulus we got last year of $500 or $1000 per houshold had NO effect. The stimulus a few months ago of $800 billion had NO effect. The Japanese have tried stimulus packages for 8 years and none of them worked.
The stimulus packages of Roosevelt during the 1930's did NOT work.
The ONLY stimulus plan in history that has ever worked has been reducing taxes. Reducing taxes worked for Bush for the recession after 2001, and they worked for Reagon after the recession caused by Carter.
While Mr Glazer's suggesttions maybe worthwhile, they will have no effect on economic recovery.
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