tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743530438680774250.post1424080032432081741..comments2023-11-02T05:04:59.172-04:00Comments on Third Base Politics: Obama, The Downgrade And An Absolute Lack of LeadershipNick (aka Bytor)http://www.blogger.com/profile/15826772166599084105noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743530438680774250.post-56310585543422276282011-08-10T13:37:02.250-04:002011-08-10T13:37:02.250-04:00From Michael Tanner (CATO Institute):
Simply look...From Michael Tanner (CATO Institute):<br /><br />Simply look to those European countries today that have adopted such a “balanced” approach to debt reduction. Britain, Greece, Portugal, and Spain have all included major tax hikes as part of their austerity packages. The result across the board has been anemic economic growth and scant progress toward debt reduction. Britain, for instance, imposed a new 50 percent top income-tax rate, hiked the capital-gains tax rate from 18 percent to 28 percent, and increased the VAT rate from 17.5 percent to 20 percent. The result: During the first quarter of 2011, the British economy grew at just 0.5 percent, barely enough to offset the 0.5 percent decline during the last quarter of 2010.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743530438680774250.post-71190286785637098972011-08-10T08:26:29.725-04:002011-08-10T08:26:29.725-04:00The job creation policies remind me of a quote by ...The job creation policies remind me of a quote by Milton Friedman:<br /><br />If all we want are jobs, we can create any number--for example, have people dig holes and then fill them up again, or perform other useless tasks. Work is sometimes its own reward. Mostly, however, it is the price we pay to get the things we want. Our real objective is not just jobs but productive jobs--jobs that will mean more goods and services to consume."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com