The United States became an economic superpower and leading economy
in the world with limited government intervention in its economy.
It has maintained the lead during the past century despite
significant increased government regulations and intervention,
especially through high profits taxes. Profits taxes were raised to
very high levels in the 1940's and 1950's. Although reduced since
then, manufactiuring corporations still pay over 50 percent of
their retained earnings to the government. In States like
California and New York, profits taxes are the highest in the world
and reduce American competitiveness.
The U. S. faces significant problems with funding retirement,
health care, and education. With a shrinking workforce, adequate
funding of these needs is achievable only through strong economic
growth. The Obama Administration believes that it can engage is
massive deficit spending, fund universal health care, fund many
government projects, borrow vast amounts of investment money
available to the private sector, and produce good economic growth.
But there are no free lunches in economics. Government is only
parasitic on the private economy through tax revenue. Adequate
funding for expanded government projects can only come from
expanded private sector investment and growth. Massive government
spending may encourage some increased consumption and temporary
nominal growth, but it will not yield the good real economic growth
that matters.
Economics like nearly everything is a complicated matter and the
simplified solutions of Obama and the left to soak the rich and
raise taxes to help the poor always have secondary and tertiary
effects which usually do more harm than good. They slow down
economic growth and make nearly everyone poorer in the long run.
They may equalize incomes at the cost of productivity and
innovation without changing inequality patterns in wealth. Wealth
in Sweden is more unequally distributed than in the U.S. The
simplest and easiest move to help everyone is to eliminate profits
taxes.
Many politicians think that profits taxes are relatively benign
because they can be passed on to consumers. But profits taxes have
had many adverse consequence for the U.S. economy during the past
75 years. They have reduced investment, slowed economic growth, and
caused considerable misallocation of resources and losses of
efficiency. They raise industry barriers to entry and competition.
They increase industry concentration and produce corporations that
dominate industries. Eliminating these problems and stimulating
investment and growth by abolishing profits taxes would be very
beneficial.
The evidence in economics is very complex and it is difficult to
demonstrate that an economic claim or principle holds. Theoretical
arguments often must be brought to bear. As Keynes asserted,
investment must depend on expectations that returns will exceed
interest rates. Better profits provide more money to invest and
encourage higher expectations of future returns. The evidence
supports a strong correspondence between profits, private
investment, and economic growth.
Environmentalists argue that the goal of economic growth should
be abandoned because burning fossil fuels presumably causes climate
change and we are presumably running out of resources. But two
chapters are devoted to refuting these claims.
Evidence is marshalled to show that profits taxes cause
resources to be shifted to inferior uses and cause greater industry
concentration and reduced competition. When the effects of the
policies supported are considered and not the rhetoric, the
Democratic Party is the real party of Big Business. It ensures
concentration of power in large corporations just as it promotes
increased concentration of power in the Federal Government.
General
Imprint: |
Iuniverse, Inc.
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
August 2009 |
First published: |
August 2009 |
Authors: |
Loren Meierding
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 10mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
192 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4401-4884-2 |
Categories: |
Books >
Business & Economics >
Economics >
General
Promotions
|
LSN: |
1-4401-4884-8 |
Barcode: |
9781440148842 |
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