Only in the government can you have the lunacy of “paying” for tax cuts by increasing taxes somewhere else – and of course, not cutting spending. And it’s always phrased as “we” need to “pay” for the tax cuts. In their completely government-centric world, “we” means “they”, as in it’s their money. Yet we, the private sector, gets stuck paying for it. But as we, private individuals and small businesses (it’s debatable how “private” major corporations are anymore) know, when we pay for something, it comes out of our pockets. In the world of government, they own everything, and they decide how much of our own income and wealth we are allowed to keep. They (government) pay for absolutely nothing – we pay for everything, so we’re paying for our own tax cuts. Huh? So since they are completely incompetent, face zero competition and produce nothing, then they must take our money, not their money, to exist. And their Orwellian theories about “paying” for tax cuts are both absurd and pernicious, while assuring the continued long term destruction of the economy, along with a continued erosion of our freedoms. Therefore when we hear them talking about “paying” for tax cuts (how much it will “cost” the government), what they’re actually saying is they will need to steal it from somewhere else. Because in the government, they can never cut spending. That is their money and their source of power. Why in the world would they give that up? They won’t. But that is exactly how to truly pay for tax cuts – by cutting spending. Then that will force them to pay for the tax cuts themselves. The government never sacrifices – they mess things up and then force us to pay for their incompetence. In what sane world should we be paying for our own tax cuts? And it is the spending cuts which would truly begin to get us out of this mess, by unshackling us – less taxes, less regulation, and smaller government. BTW, smaller government does not imply more “efficient” government, as “efficient government” is a total oxymoron. So the smaller government is a huge part of a plan to getting us out of this mess, if it’s even possible to do at this point. This recent post about President Reagan discusses why the Reagan “miracle” wasn’t so miraculous after all. The so-called miracle was mainly about long term cyclical changes in interest rates and inflation and increasing government spending. His tax cuts were fine, but for the Arthur Lafferites’ supply siders, all they focus on is Reagan’s tax cuts. Of course they conveniently leave out his massive tax increases. Even the “economist” Paul Krugman figured it out. And the supply-side crowd would prefer to keep it hush-hush about the ballooning of the spending, thus the deficit, as being a huge driver of the “Reagan Miracle”.
So once again we’re hearing the comparisons of Donald Trump to President Reagan, just like the weird comparisons 15 years ago of Bush, Jr. to Reagan. But certainly one thing they all have in common – they have/had no problem with keeping the debt party going. And since we can count on Donald (I Love Debt) Trump to make the debt situation worse, that means they (WE) will have to “pay” for our own “tax cuts”. Once again – what the heck is that? Across-the-board tax cuts, and tax simplification are fabulous, but if the size-of-government bubble isn’t massively deflated, then we (us) will still be paying for our own tax cuts via the increasing deficits/debt. And while most of the focus is on the supposed stock market bubble, or the actual debt bubble, my biggest concern is the size-of-government (globally) bubble, and the total-faith-in-the-omniscience-of-central-bankers bubble.
Now in 2017 we’re going thru the same old nonsense with dynamic scoring, deficit-neutral, and paying for the tax cuts. Washington spends all of their time on an inane academic exercise in “scoring” all tax policies, which the brilliant Larry Summers probably concocted. (Why is it they NEVER have to “score” spending increases.) Just please cut the darn spending already. But it is not going to happen with Trump and his tax plans are falling apart. Bloomberg has an article about the absolute insanity in Washington about getting thru any kind of tax cuts. The corporate tax cuts (it’s still unclear how they will affect the true entrepreneurs – small businesses) will, naturally, need to be paid for. Now all of the clueless economists and lawyers, who don’t have any idea how markets truly operate, nor have ever run a business, are going to decipher for all of us the best way to cut taxes (deficit-neutrally, of course). The main focus now is a border “adjustment” (tariff actually, but keep it quiet, so the WTO doesn’t find out). The border “adjustment” is nothing more than a tax on businesses which import, hence consumers. So once again, even with potential exchange rate changes, the private individuals and small businesses are getting screwed. This is simply cutting taxes while at the same time increasing taxes. The big corporations will be fine, no matter what happens. But there are plenty of small businesses which won’t get off so easily. Trump’s tax cutting policy is resting on his tax increase policy, which is putting all of it in limbo.
Here is a radical policy for Washington to consider. Begin to completely eliminate whole Departments of the Government. First up, fire Betsy Devos, and eliminate the Department of Education, along with their disastrous Student Loan program, which has weakened a whole generation of youngsters. What more needs to be said after you read their mission statement: “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” Seriously? The Department’s $69 billion budget can then be used to give across-the-board rate cuts to all tax payers. No special perks, benefits, loopholes for anyone – no favorites. It can’t be any simpler….and it’s all “paid” for.
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