"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in." -Teddy Roosevelt- Chicago, IL, June 17, 1912
President Barack Obama has chosen to fight fire with gasoline. Go figure! If the first 2 years didn't teach him that the Republican'ts don't negotiate, when will he actually learn? I have never seen a President give up so much before he has even negotiated a damn thing. A perfect example is the public option. That he gave up to big healthcare. Anyone that believes Barack Obama is progressive is on drugs, and/or mentally challenged, period.
And raise the ceiling on the portion of income subject to payroll taxes to $500,000.
The lion's share of America's income and wealth is at the top. Taxing the very rich won't hurt the economy. They spend a much smaller portion of their incomes than everyone else.
Sure -- take some steps to cut federal spending over the longer term. Cut the bloated defense budget by 10 percent a year. Tame the growth in healthcare costs by allowing the federal government to use its bargaining clout -- as the nation's biggest purchaser of drugs and hospital services under Medicare and Medicaid and the Veterans Administration -- to get low prices. While we're at it, cut agricultural subsidies.
But don't believe for a moment that federal spending cuts anytime soon will get the economy growing soon. They'll have the opposite effect because they'll reduce total demand.
The progressive tax system I've outlined will get the economy growing again. This, in turn, will bring down the ratio of the debt as a proportion of the total economy -- the only yardstick of fiscal prudence that counts.
But we can't get to this point -- or even to have a debate about it -- if Obama allows Republicans to frame the debate as how much federal spending can be cut and how to shrink the deficit. He has to reframe the debate and remind America this is not 1995. This is 2011, and we're still in a jobs crisis brought on by the bursting of a giant debt bubble and the implosion of total demand.
The lion's share of America's income and wealth is at the top. Taxing the very rich won't hurt the economy. They spend a much smaller portion of their incomes than everyone else.
Sure -- take some steps to cut federal spending over the longer term. Cut the bloated defense budget by 10 percent a year. Tame the growth in healthcare costs by allowing the federal government to use its bargaining clout -- as the nation's biggest purchaser of drugs and hospital services under Medicare and Medicaid and the Veterans Administration -- to get low prices. While we're at it, cut agricultural subsidies.
But don't believe for a moment that federal spending cuts anytime soon will get the economy growing soon. They'll have the opposite effect because they'll reduce total demand.
The progressive tax system I've outlined will get the economy growing again. This, in turn, will bring down the ratio of the debt as a proportion of the total economy -- the only yardstick of fiscal prudence that counts.
But we can't get to this point -- or even to have a debate about it -- if Obama allows Republicans to frame the debate as how much federal spending can be cut and how to shrink the deficit. He has to reframe the debate and remind America this is not 1995. This is 2011, and we're still in a jobs crisis brought on by the bursting of a giant debt bubble and the implosion of total demand.
By Robert Reich with help from me.
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." -Paolo Friere-
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