Re: Buffet et al. I don't know...
They probably put it into durable goods; bought that dishwasher they had been putting off.
I put my refund in my sons mutual fund for college. Thus helping American industry grow by giving them a little extra capital to work with. It's called capitalism.
Well good for you, and did you notice that their have been layoffs and plant closings with all that help you [and others] gave to facilitate American industry.
I think either the conservatives were sleeping the last half of 2000 or they can't remember that far back. During the last half of 2000, consumer credit went to new levels and the savings rate went negative. That's like big red flags that the consumer buying power [leveraged] was exhausted. For you...they were broke.
Plenty of financial stories the last half of 2000 that the near term future was virtually guaranteed to be a reduction in consumer spending. [Though I think conservatives were still listening to the pundits say they should buy more stock and the new economy was just fine.] Perhaps in your Econ 101 class they covered that idea..Consumers buy, companies manufacture....Consumers don't buy, companies reduce inventory and don't manufacture.
Personnally, I put mine in the bank while I watched the recession on the sideline. Thus stimulating the financial sector, which can leverage it's assets into corporate loans to facilitate growth...when consumer spending returns.
But the reality is that your money and mine lay idle and did nothing to stimulate anything. Now had we actually spent it on consumer items, then there would have been demand [remember supply and demand from Econ 101]. But that wasn't the target group of the tax cut. The people that would have actually spent it, didn't get a check. The ones that did get the checks didn't spend it, they let it stay idle. You can pretend that you were investing in America or stimulating investment or whatever platitude you care to choose, but it was/is idle money. There is no corporate investment occurring.
Since you appear not to care about interest rates
You still don't get it, amazing. What I said was that a reduction in interest rates didn't stimulate investment [as it's theoretically supposed to]. There was no consumer demand.
what marvelous things would the government have done with Warren Buffett or Michael Cummings' money instead?
How many times to I have to say this, the tax rebates were idle money and the deficits that we're stuck with are deferred tax liabilities...they are future tax raises. You'll pay them now, or you pay them later, but you'll pay them. We don't get off the hook for the national debt. That is unless you want to follow Argentina.
jttmab
jttmab |
