wheredwhogo?
Full Access Member
the economy is not looking to hot....your thoughts...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080116/fed_economy.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080116/fed_economy.html
ChrisAZ said:We're in for a rough ride this year. Buying from China would help but only if we make sure to buy American made instead. Here's the rub. American made is more expensive due to high labor cost and if we are in a recession, people can not afford to pay more. The American middle class is becoming extinct and that is not good for this country. A recession is coming, it's only a matter of exactly when.
Stinker said:as of now, we are a hair away from becommin a third world country........
ChrisAZ said:We're in for a rough ride this year. Buying from China would help but only if we make sure to buy American made instead. Here's the rub. American made is more expensive due to high labor cost and if we are in a recession, people can not afford to pay more. The American middle class is becoming extinct and that is not good for this country. A recession is coming, it's only a matter of exactly when.
BriteCrawler said:Prof, what are your thoughts on fair / flat taxes?
Prof said:At the urging of Marc, I have done a lot of reading about it in the past week. I am impressed with the concept...I am worried about the percentage calculation, but that is a very complicated issue...
Bottom line for me...good concept...but I do not think that implementors will be able to avoid the special interest groups that will try to carve out their own little shelters. I have trouble with how it would be possible to compensate the lower income people with the stipend...and I most of all think that a change of the magnitude proposed would be incredibly hard to accomplish...I anticipate that if it is tried...it will take five years to plan and another two or three to implement.
Since the term of office is four years...if the above planning horizon is correct, there is no way to undertake the initiative without a huge amount of political consensus and all three branches of the government will have to commit to the philosophy...
I would love to see the process undertaken, but I doubt we can get it together enough to get out of the starting blocks.
But something has to be done...
ChrisAZ said:We're in for a rough ride this year. Buying from China would help but only if we make sure to buy American made instead. Here's the rub. American made is more expensive due to high labor cost and if we are in a recession, people can not afford to pay more. The American middle class is becoming extinct and that is not good for this country. A recession is coming, it's only a matter of exactly when.
jelms said:One thing that i read is right on this point. I recently read an interview with Rupert Murdoch (Owner of FOX) about the tax rate he pays against what his secretary pays. Was kind of interesting. He pays a lower marginal rate than his much lower paid employee. Of course he pays more in gross taxes but why would his marginal rate be so much lower? For those that are going to try and support trckle down economics please don't. That theory has been proven so wrong on many fronts.
-jeff
Annu Kumar said:Nothing is wrong guys. The united states is a Captilistic economy. Inflation is under control and Unemployment is at 5 percent. Its the housing market that is having a ripple effect on everything else. We are in a cyclical downturn. And we will recover and become a growing economy Again
HDVIPER said:Hey Jeff, are you sure it was Rupert Murdoch, and not Warren Buffet? Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with what you are saying here! I just think Rupert Murdoch doesn't really give a SH*T what his secretary pays in taxes.
Prof said:Economic cycles are to be expected but the magnitude of the variations must be managed by fiscal policy, strategic planning, governmental and personal discipline.
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