Are we really stimulating the economy?

[CCTAU 3,346]

I will take whatever money comes to me, but I have not liked this stimulus thing from the beginning. If congress (and the pres.) wants to stimulate our economy and give us some money, then cut spending to allow for this money. Otherwise, we are just kiting a check.

Stossel. Good stuff.

[TitanTiger 20,511]

I will take whatever money comes to me, but I have not liked this stimulus thing from the beginning. If congress (and the pres.) wants to stimulate our economy and give us some money, then cut spending to allow for this money. Otherwise, we are just kiting a check.

Stossel. Good stuff.

I agree with cutting spending, but couldn't this same argument be made against cutting taxes? The underpinning for tax cuts is that they stimulate the economy and after the initial hit to the treasury, actually result in higher tax revenues collected overall. In essence, you're kiting a check but banking on the benefits longer term outweighing the short term red ink.

[CCTAU 3,346]

I will take whatever money comes to me, but I have not liked this stimulus thing from the beginning. If congress (and the pres.) wants to stimulate our economy and give us some money, then cut spending to allow for this money. Otherwise, we are just kiting a check.

Stossel. Good stuff.

I agree with cutting spending, but couldn't this same argument be made against cutting taxes? The underpinning for tax cuts is that they stimulate the economy and after the initial hit to the treasury, actually result in higher tax revenues collected overall. In essence, you're kiting a check but banking on the benefits longer term outweighing the short term red ink.

Oh hell yeah. That is what McCain complained about with the tax cuts originally. I've said all along that cuts without spending restraints would catch up to us all. If congress does not stop spending, no amount of stimulus will help.

[Auburn85 432]

Apparently the word cut is quickly becoming a dying commodity.

Seems were not allowed to cut government anymore. It can only be expanded. And cutting taxes...well

[RunInRed 16,487]

Exactly. Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% = robbing peter to pay paul. I love how Repubs are now bitching about unpaid spending (including this stimulus package) and earmarks after their fiscal policies over the past 7 years have created the largest budget deficit in history. You gotta love the hypocrisy exposed by an election year.

And of course my favorite hypocrisy when it comes to this issue comes from none other than John McCain:

In 2000, when he first ran for the White House, McCain backed tax relief for working families (sounds like the Democrats eh?), contrasting his plan with Bush's, which provided more help for upper-bracket taxpayers.

After Bush's election, McCain opposed the new president's 2001 tax plan. "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans," he said. He was one of two Republican senators to vote against the cuts.

Two years later, he voted against a second round of tax cuts, arguing that a nation at war couldn't afford them. "We've gone from a $127 billion surplus to a $300 billion deficit," he said. "Republicans used to be against deficits."

Now, that he's running again, he vows to extend the president's tax reductions, which expire by 2011, and push for others. "We need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. We need to abolish the alternative minimum tax," he said last week in Wichita, Kan. "We need to have a corporate tax cut from 35 to at least 25 percent." The cost of those proposals would exceed $5 trillion over 10 years, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington.

Flip Flop Flip Flop

[CCTAU 3,346]

Only dims want to tax the wealthiest. It's like cutting your nose off, spite your face. The wealthiest are the ones that put up venture capital to keep jobs going. The tax cuts should ACROSS the board and should be coupled with spending cuts. Only you mentioned stealing from the rich to pay for dims.

The robbing Peter to pay Paul was in reference to getting a bucket of water from the deep end to put in the shallow end. You know, the shallow end. The part of the gene pool dims come from....