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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elroy who wrote (155356)	1/29/2011 11:44:53 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541967

>>No, I'm sure you can find specific examples of government programs that have driven growth somehow. But given the choice of increasing taxes or decreasing taxes, I think the latter will drive more economic growth than the former.<< I could give you at least a half a dozen examples of very large, expensive government programs that have stimulated the economy, right off the top of my head, if you woke me from a sound sleep. In historical order, the building of the railroads, Hoover Dam, WWII, the interstate highway system, the space program, etc. (OK, I'm cheating. That's only five. But I have had pneumonia this week, and I'm not very clearheaded right now. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.) Can you give me an example of a time when big tax cuts have stimulated the economy?

To: Elroy who wrote (155356)	1/30/2011 12:09:38 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541967

Al Gore invented the internet. It's driven a lot of growth. So much that they had to build Hoover Dam to power it. Oh, wait, that was FDR. Well, Hoover created more jobs after it was built than during the construction. Then, Ike built the Interstate, and driving began to grow growth. Our world is what it is because of past government spending and research grants. Lots of side bennies to space that nobody thinks about. What we call "tele" in the trade... Originating Technology/NASA Contribution By mid-1963, American astronauts had visited space on six different occasions, all as part of NASA’s first human space flight program, the Mercury Program . During the final Mercury mission, launched on May 15, 1963, astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper logged 34 hours in orbit, the longest an American had spent in space to that point. Still, very little was known about the impact that space would have on humans and spacecraft that were subjected to long-duration missions. With this in mind, NASA decided to follow the Mercury Program with a new initiative called the Gemini Program. On June 3, 1965, Gemini IV astronaut Edward H. White II became the first American to step outside a spacecraft and let go for a space walk, effectively setting himself adrift in the zero gravity of space. For 23 minutes, White floated and maneuvered himself around the Gemini spacecraft; he logged 6,500 miles during this historic orbital stroll. The primary objective of the Gemini Program was to develop techniques that would allow for advanced, long-duration space travel—a prerequisite of the ensuing Apollo Program that would put man safely on the Moon before the end of the decade. In order to carry out this objective, NASA worked with a variety of innovative companies to develop propulsion systems, onboard computers, and docking capabilities that were critical to the health of Gemini spacecraft, as well as life-support systems and physiological-monitoring devices that were critical to the health of Gemini astronauts. One of these companies was Spacelabs Medical , Inc., the pioneer of what is commonly known today as medical telemetry. Spacelabs Medical helped NASA better understand man’s reaction to space through a series of bioinstrumentation devices that, for the first time ever, were capable of monitoring orbiting astronauts’ physical conditions in real time, from Earth. sti.nasa.gov (Not to mention the communication satellite I use to watch a weatherperson show me a picture from another satellite.) Decreasing taxes on the middle class and raising them on the rich in order to give food stamps to the poor and unemployment to the unemployed will drive growth the most, and prolly keep the peasants from revolting for a while..... Research desk: What's a dollar of stimulus worth? The pattern is striking: Direct government spending -- through unemployment benefits, food stamps, work sharing or infrastructure spending -- top the list, giving you more than a dollar's worth of stimulus for a dollar's worth of spending, while cuts to taxes affecting businesses and upper-income individuals -- such as the corporate, dividend, capital gains and alternative minimum taxes -- give you less. voices.washingtonpost.com