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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: TimF who wrote (45699)9/8/2010 12:07:28 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 71588
 
Since we are in AGREEMENT now that the entire thrust of the article was about the possibility of DIVERTING income tax cuts from one end of the income spectrum to all the others (middle and lower), then let's move on to whatever your point is.

Is THIS your point: But when your hoping to get a stimulus effect by cutting taxes on the less than rich (getting the money from the rich instead), then the total percentage of income that goes to consumer spending isn't a very important issue. Assuming that extra consumer spending will "stimulate" and generally help the economy (without that assumption we have a whole different conversation), the issue in terms of who you "divert the tax cuts to" to get the most spending from each dollar of tax cut is determined by the marginal propensity to spend an extra dollar....?

I think perhaps you are hung up too much on the one word "stimulus". So, try IGNORING that word (or pretending it was never used. It seems to be a shibboleth to you here).

The thrust of the economic argument (as even you seem to acknowledge) is that a DOLLAR of tax cuts left in the hands of middle class or lower class individuals (instead of taken up in revenue by the government) has *more* of it diverted to spending than the exact same Dollar left in the hands of the top-most marginal tax bracket.

Now, I doubt that anyone challenges that aspect of economic theory....

You refer to this characteristic as the "marginal propensity to spend an extra dollar", which of course it is!

So, now that we are agreed and focused on the same economic tendency, what's your specific POINT about it, Tim?