When we experience physical pain, it blocks out all else in our lives. Once the pain is gone, we forget how excruciating it may have been. What we do try to remember is to avoid the actions that caused the pain in the first place. Why is that not the case with our political rhetoric on the economy? Republican candidates, from those who seek the presidency to those who seek to represent us in Congress, keep telling us that massive tax cuts will boost the economy and create thousands if not millions of jobs.
If we are going to rely on an experienced businessman on this subject, let’s look at Warren Buffet. He is not only a wise investor but a businessman who oversees the companies that are the subject of those investments. He does not simply buy them, saddle them with debt and then unload them, keeping huge sums of cash for himself. He authored an article in August, 2011 in which he stated, in part:
“I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone-not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-1977 – shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain.
“People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher tax rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.”
A large majority of Republican congressman have signed a pledge to not raise taxes under some form of pressure from an individual named Grover Norquist. Do you really want your representative in Washington to be your representative or do you accept that on one particular issue he/she has relinquished their independence to a single individual? What if a particular tax increase is needed for the good of the country, has our representative’s independence/loyalty been compromised?
