Bush Tax Cuts

Well, it looks like Obama has finally caved to the demands of the American people. It’s about dang time. For a little while, it looked like he was going to go against the will of Americans once again, like he did with Health Care, Stimulus, and Wall Street bailouts. And now that the compromise has been reached, the progressives are up in arms. Facts just don’t seem to get through to these people, or at least they don’t care about the facts. Economic prosperity has almost always followed big tax breaks. We had growing economies after the Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush tax cuts. And hard times follows tax increases. If you look at the trend of the Great Depression you should note the country was coming out of the troubles and then FDR passed what was then the largest tax increase and our economic trend plummeted. Taking money away from the people who spend it is not the path to economic growth. The government cannot spend money as efficiently as individuals. When you and I spend money, we have the ability to stretch the dollar further and across a wider scope. The government is utterly inefficient at spending money so it doesn’t go as far and doesn’t have the same impact as an individual spending the money.

On the downside (sort of) is the extension of the unemployment benefits.  As someone who is currently unemployed, but not receving benefits, I sort of understand why these are being extended. But I can't overcome this feeling that we are forcing people to look for work. I have too many anecdotal stories about people getting benefits and either not looking for work or working under the table. This bothers me a great deal.  BTW: I don't receive any benefits because my military retirement check is too big. My expenses have barely changed, but my income has been reduced by almost two-thirds.  I am about ready to go work at McDonalds just to have some additional income.