Tax Hikes and V Number 2

Not to kick off a beautiful Tuesday with gloom, but it seems inescapable. Environmental catastrophes, lingering war, emboldened terrorist states, and shifting demographics in the West that give those terrorist states reason for optimism about the future would each be bad enough, but the economy is what brings the world’s problems to the front doors of every American. And on that topic, there appears to be an expanding feeling that recovery is not pending.
Indeed, Arthur Laffer foresees a likely scenario in which 2011 brings a second dip to the Great Recession:

Now, if people know tax rates will be higher next year than they are this year, what will those people do this year? They will shift production and income out of next year into this year to the extent possible. As a result, income this year has already been inflated above where it otherwise should be and next year, 2011, income will be lower than it otherwise should be.
Also, the prospect of rising prices, higher interest rates and more regulations next year will further entice demand and supply to be shifted from 2011 into 2010. In my view, this shift of income and demand is a major reason that the economy in 2010 has appeared as strong as it has. When we pass the tax boundary of Jan. 1, 2011, my best guess is that the train goes off the tracks and we get our worst nightmare of a severe “double dip” recession.

I hope he’s wrong. Given everything else going on in the world, an economically depressed, socially dispirited United States will be an ineffective beacon during the dark days ahead.

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Ragin' Rhode Islander
Ragin' Rhode Islander
13 years ago

It has been hypothesized that Comrade Obama is intent on executing the “Cloward Piven strategy” on a multi-faceted and macroeconomic scale in order to “collapse the system” and set the stage to (in his words) “fundamentally transform the United States of America” — into some sort of collectivist model (communist, socialist, fascist, whatever, they’re all basically the same in the end).
While at first this rings like a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory, but …
… when one considers that Obama’s entire life history is association and collaboration with neo-Marxists, and that …
… this theory does logically and best explain his actions since in office (mere inexperience and incompetence might be considered, but this would tend to lead to a hodgepodge of decisions, whereas his agenda is so extreme and carries all indicia of being planned well in advance and being, well, “comprehensive”).
Pray for America — we have a trojan horse revolutionay in the Oval Office!

Stuart
Stuart
13 years ago

BTW, the first comment is spam and linked to a URL….the mods should remove it.
The second comment is almost as bad….
🙂
> revolutionay
Well, in that case, it is a “revolution nay” or not a revolution. That’s sad because this country does need a lot of reform in order to forge into the future. At the same time, since it is only RR’s opinion, it may have little to do with reality.
Justin, I am becoming convinced that you are not a ideologue nor a rightie. You are simply clinically depressed and therefore have a negative outlook on every single thing. The best cure is to stop reading the news (especially all those rightie sites) and get out there and enjoy life.
It’s a heck of a nice day, and I’d have you to sit around filled with worry about whether the government is going to fix your world.

michael
13 years ago

I had planned on writing something similar to Stuart’s comment. Eventually all of this information gathering reaches saturation point and the brain revolts, either madness or release. Surrounding yourself with doom and gloom is not healthy.
Find your niche, focus on the positive things, make your little place in the world the best it can be. And every now and then, if you feel the need, throw in your two cents on topics that hit home.

Patrick
Patrick
13 years ago

“Find your niche, focus on the positive things…”
Hey, Stephen Strasburg is pitching for the Nationals tonight. That’s a fun thing.

Ragin' Rhode Islander
Ragin' Rhode Islander
13 years ago

It’s all well and good to focus on positive things.
But not at the expense of ignoring tangible threats.
Barack Hussein Obama – son of a Kenyan communist, “mentee” of an official of the Communist Party USA, protege of domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, acolyte of Marxist / Black Liberation Theology preacher Wright, with many gaping informational holes in his background — is a tangible threat to the United States.
In a related matter, while I’m not a “birther,” it is an interesting question why BHO has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to keep the entire document (instead of a summary) from being released. It’s not rational, unless one has something to hide.

Tommy Cranston
Tommy Cranston
13 years ago

what exactly is gained by allowing this obvious Alinskyite troll Stuart to endlessly post his mischeivous drivel?

Phil
Phil
13 years ago

Environmental catastrophes, lingering war, emboldened terrorist states, and shifting demographics in the West that give those terrorist states reason for optimism about the future would each be bad enough, but the economy is what brings the world’s problems to the front doors of every American. And on that topic, there appears to be an expanding feeling that recovery is not pending.
That’s Katz. He couldn’t convince a little group of taxpayers in his town to vote his way and he thinks he can speak for what Americans find at their front doors, whatever that means.

Stuart
Stuart
13 years ago

Q:>what exactly is gained by allowing this obvious Alinskyite troll Stuart to endlessly post his mischeivous drivel?
A lot.
As to how horrible the world is, I have been around since the 1950’s and the good old days never existed. What do you want, Justin, a day and age then Kennedy got shot, when thousands of nukes were on hair trigger and when the cities burned and our youth rebelled? Was that good times? Or, do you prefer the Disco era with flowing cocaine and then crack and crime?
Maybe you long for the Reagan days when oil was less than a buck a gallon and we failed to take a single action to fix that problem?
Or, do you long for the impeachment of Clinton, Gulf War I, Vietnam, etc.?
These are the best of times, my friends….after all, we have the internet.

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