SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It?
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (59271)2/13/2009 11:38:33 AM
From: TimF3 Recommendations  Read Replies (1) of 224755
 
I am reminded that Republicans predicted dire economic consequences for Bill Clinton's deficit-reduction bill in 1993.

Both Republicans and Democrats tend to overestimate the effect of relatively ordinary changes in government policy on the economy.

US GDP in 1993 was something like $7tril, and there where some strong positive trends going on at that time (some stretching back to the recovery from the early eighties recession, others where recent, or even just beginning to develop). Clinton's tax increase was in the range of tens of billions per year.

Any tax increase is going to lay some cost on the economy, but when the underlying economy is strong, and the tax increase isn't truly massive, or very perversely targeted, it can shrug it off.

Republicans took the correct idea that tax increases are normally harmful to the economy, and exaggerated it to the idea that any tax increase, of any significance, will always cause severe harm to the economy. That exaggeration was (and still is) incorrect. Which doesn't mean that the tax increases didn't cause harm, but one negative effect in the midst of more powerful positive factors, doesn't typically spell disaster.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News