And don't forget that they were in the 70% range for roughly another two decades between Kennedy and Reagan. I don't see anyone talking about a return to those rates, your side is up in arms about Obama's proposal to roll back the Bush tax cuts, which is nowhere near those numbers. And by the way, the Republicrooks are always screaming about how capital gains cuts help the market. Except for traders like me, how you 'index fund' investors doin out there on average since the Bush cap gain cuts??? How's that DOW. Look at the NASDAQ fly!! Look at how your 401k became a 201k, and how about those corporations that said 'defined benefit pensions' were a horrible idea now say 'sorry, we can't match your 401k contribution anymore'....
"You guys ought to at least give the country a fighting chance for survival."
You mean like George did?? What the hell happened to that Laugher (excuse me, Laffer) curve!!!!
"What’s alarming about the situation in the U.S. is just how quickly and easily the country found itself buried under a mountain of debt. Back in 2001, the Congressional Budget Office was estimating that by now, the U.S. should be running a healthy annual surplus—in fact it figured that when added together, the surpluses between 2001 and 2011 would total $5.6 trillion. At the time, it seemed like a reasonable projection. After all, in 2001 the government recorded a surplus amounting to $128 billion. But two important things happened since then that launched the U.S. into a very different future: the dot-com bust and George W. Bush. The recession that followed in 2001 caused tax revenues to fall and spending on social services to rise, taking a good bite out of those estimated budget surpluses. At the same time, newly elected president George W. Bush—emboldened by the surplus he’d inherited when he came to office—proceeded to dole out steep and widespread tax cuts, which cut revenue by about five per cent. That was followed by a new $530-billion drug benefit program in 2003. To top it all off, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan caused defence spending to explode. (The bill for those wars so far: $830 billion.) In just four years, America’s massive budget surplus was decimated and turned into a $400-billion annual deficit. Since then, it briefly showed signs of recovery, but when the recession hit in 2008, the deficit quickly plummeted back down to around $400 billion." |
