Higher top marginal tax rates correspond to higher GDP and they always have.
Showing posts with label GDP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GDP. Show all posts
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Wake Up. There's A Connection.
Nov 1st, 2012
Higher top marginal tax rates correspond to higher GDP and they always have.
Higher top marginal tax rates correspond to higher GDP and they always have.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
What Would Deporting 11 Million People Cost? cont...
June 16th, 2012
Beyond the costs of a mass detention and expulsion of undocumented immigrants, what would the long term impact be? Numbers high enough to guarantee another recession or even a depression. Via the Center For American Progress:
Beyond the costs of a mass detention and expulsion of undocumented immigrants, what would the long term impact be? Numbers high enough to guarantee another recession or even a depression. Via the Center For American Progress:
"...legalization of undocumented immigrants and more flexible immigration channels would significantly expand the economy—by a cumulative $1.5 trillion in gross domestic product over 10 years—through increased consumer spending, higher tax receipts, and other related factors. A deportation approach, by contrast, would have the cumulative effect of draining $2.5 trillion over 10 years from the U.S. economy. That is a $4 trillion swing in GDP depending on which policy approach we adopt." EMPHASIS OURS
The right wing's dream solution to the issue would collapse us.
Friday, July 29, 2011
The Problem Is STILL Demand
July 29th, 2011
The abysmal GDP numbers for the the first half of this year are out. One more time, here's why. From the AP:
"High gas prices and scant income gains have forced Americans to pull back sharply on spending. Consumer spending only increased 0.1 percent in the April-June quarter, the smallest gain in two years. Government spending fell for the third straight quarter."
The abysmal GDP numbers for the the first half of this year are out. One more time, here's why. From the AP:
We need solutions that address demand. Of course, the reductions in government spending are placing a terrible drag on this. In the current cup of tea, however, there is no room for more. But make no mistake, pulling hundreds of millions of dollars out of a fragile recovery is something which only makes sense to the senseless.
What might we do? We could extend the payroll tax holiday to everyone on the first $20 thousand in earnings, for a start. Or, as every economist with a clear view of our continued motion towards a full depression is arguing, we could bring back something like the WPA.
But we won't. There will be no solution to any of our economy's difficulties while the modern GOP holds the House and more than 40 seats in the Senate.
Period.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The "Primary" Budget...
March 31st, 2011
Again, the last voices of reason in economics seem to be at the the CBPP. Robert Greenstein wrote last week:
"The nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, and policymakers need to make major changes in policy. As a number of bipartisan panels have recommended over the past year, policymakers should aim to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy (the Gross Domestic Product) so the debt does not rise relentlessly as a share of the economy. That would put the nation on what economists define as a sustainable budget path.
To achieve this goal, policymakers should aim to balance the primarybudget — the budget other than interest payments on the debt. As these panels have explained, stabilizing the debt — and avoiding the specter of a debt explosion in future decades — is the key, not balancing the totalbudget (i.e., the budget including interest payments). As a rough rule of thumb, if the budget excluding interest payments is in balance, then the debt will not grow faster than the economy. That means running total budget deficits of no more than about 3 percent of GDP. [1] In short, balancing the total budget isn't necessary to put us on a sustainable course and reassure financial markets. Stabilizing the debt is." 
Again, the last voices of reason in economics seem to be at the the CBPP. Robert Greenstein wrote last week:
"The nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, and policymakers need to make major changes in policy. As a number of bipartisan panels have recommended over the past year, policymakers should aim to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy (the Gross Domestic Product) so the debt does not rise relentlessly as a share of the economy. That would put the nation on what economists define as a sustainable budget path.
To achieve this goal, policymakers should aim to balance the primarybudget — the budget other than interest payments on the debt. As these panels have explained, stabilizing the debt — and avoiding the specter of a debt explosion in future decades — is the key, not balancing the totalbudget (i.e., the budget including interest payments). As a rough rule of thumb, if the budget excluding interest payments is in balance, then the debt will not grow faster than the economy. That means running total budget deficits of no more than about 3 percent of GDP. [1] In short, balancing the total budget isn't necessary to put us on a sustainable course and reassure financial markets. Stabilizing the debt is."
Please read the entire piece. Our future actually does depend upon it.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Defending Ourselves To Death
March 22nd, 2011
In a typically thoughtful piece by Jim Manzi discussing the current Libyan misadventure, I found this observation:
"Yes, we ”spend more on our military than all other major powers combined.” But, depending on how you measure it, the U.S. has about 20 – 25% of world GDP. In the long-run, we cannot win an arms race with the whole rest of the planet."
We are also not the world's policeman. Please consult the following graphics. The first makes clear that it is not merely the corporatist revenue schemes of the last ten years, but the previously unheard of increases in military industrial spending that poise our nation for admittance to the dustbin of history.
In a typically thoughtful piece by Jim Manzi discussing the current Libyan misadventure, I found this observation:
"Yes, we ”spend more on our military than all other major powers combined.” But, depending on how you measure it, the U.S. has about 20 – 25% of world GDP. In the long-run, we cannot win an arms race with the whole rest of the planet."
We are also not the world's policeman. Please consult the following graphics. The first makes clear that it is not merely the corporatist revenue schemes of the last ten years, but the previously unheard of increases in military industrial spending that poise our nation for admittance to the dustbin of history.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Long Term Tax Picture
March 1st, 2011
Chuck Marr and Brian Highsmith break down the root causes for U.S. revenue crisis over at CBPP and offer an number of common sense solutions... none of which we should expect the government in general or Republicans in particular to acknowledge. The money quote:
"Although the top statutory corporate tax rate is high, the average tax rate — that is, the share of profits that companies actually pay in taxes — is substantially lower because of the tax code’s many preferences (deductions, credits and other write-offs that corporations can take to reduce their taxes). Moreover, when measured as a share of the economy, U.S. corporate tax receipts are actually low compared to other developed countries."
Chuck Marr and Brian Highsmith break down the root causes for U.S. revenue crisis over at CBPP and offer an number of common sense solutions... none of which we should expect the government in general or Republicans in particular to acknowledge. The money quote:
"Although the top statutory corporate tax rate is high, the average tax rate — that is, the share of profits that companies actually pay in taxes — is substantially lower because of the tax code’s many preferences (deductions, credits and other write-offs that corporations can take to reduce their taxes). Moreover, when measured as a share of the economy, U.S. corporate tax receipts are actually low compared to other developed countries."
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The War On Unions, Cont...
Jan 25th, 2011
The labor movement is under attack from the American Right with a force that hasn't been seen in decades. Public sector pensions in particular have been targeted as the primary villain in budget shortfalls at the state level. Completely ignoring depressed revenue due to the recession, the wildly irresponsible tax code modifications of the last 30 years and even the most basic principles of contract law, a near hysterical meme is gaining traction. It is the argument that we must find a way to dissolve or otherwise dishonor these legal obligations.
There is one problem with the rising level of alarmism. The facts simply don't support it. The average state cost of public sector pensions is an average of 3.8% of GDP. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College completed an exhaustive study this past October on the actual impact of these commitments.
It should be required reading by every so-called "fiscal-hawk."
The labor movement is under attack from the American Right with a force that hasn't been seen in decades. Public sector pensions in particular have been targeted as the primary villain in budget shortfalls at the state level. Completely ignoring depressed revenue due to the recession, the wildly irresponsible tax code modifications of the last 30 years and even the most basic principles of contract law, a near hysterical meme is gaining traction. It is the argument that we must find a way to dissolve or otherwise dishonor these legal obligations.
It should be required reading by every so-called "fiscal-hawk."
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