> > *CLAIM: Corporate tax rate cuts and capital gains tax rate cuts would > provide substantial stimulus* > > In a January 29 speech at the Heritage Foundation, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) > attacked the economic recovery plan and offered his own "Jobs Plan That > Works," saying, in part: "Just as we cut taxes for families and small > businesses, we need to cut them for corporations as well, from 35 percent to > 25 percent. And we shouldn't be afraid to say so. Our corporate tax rate is > one of the highest in the world, driving investment and jobs overseas. > Lowering this key rate will unlock trillions of dollars to be invested in > America instead of abroad." On the January 21 edition of Hannity's Fox News > show, Michael Steele, now chairman of the Republican National Committee, > said: "You want -- if you want to stimulate this economy, eliminate the > capital gains tax for two years and see what happens. See what happens on > Monday morning if you eliminate it today." Like DeMint and Steele, Limbaugh, > in his January 29 Wall Street Journal op-ed on how best to stimulate the > economy, wrote: "I say, cut the U.S. corporate tax rate -- at 35%, among the > highest of all industrialized nations -- in half. Suspend the capital gains > tax for a year to incentivize new investment, after which it would be > reimposed at 10%." On the January 27 broadcast of his radio program, Hannity > attacked the tax cuts in the recovery package as "anemic" because "They > don't cut corporate tax rates. They don't cut capital gains tax rates." > > However, as Media Matters has noted, many economists do not view corporate > tax rate cuts and capital gains tax rate cuts as particularly effective > methods for stimulating the economy. Mark Zandi -- the chief economist and > co-founder of Moody's Economy.com, who was reportedly a McCain campaign > economic adviser -- included in 2008 written congressional testimony a table > stating that every dollar spent through a "Cut in [the] Corporate Tax Rate" > produces a GDP increase of only $0.30 -- the third least-efficient provision > of the 13 he studied. A 2003 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report > stated that a "capital gains tax cut appears the least likely of any > permanent tax cut to stimulate the economy in the short run; a temporary > capital gains tax cut is unlikely to provide any stimulus."
*CLAIM: Recovery package is "spending," not "stimulus"* > *CLAIM: Spending after beginning of recovery is ineffective stimulus* > *CLAIM: Illegal immigrants receive tax credits under stimulus plan* > ** *CLAIM: The New Deal failed, prolonged Great Depression* > ** On the January 23 edition of *Hannity*, former New York City mayor and 2008 > Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said: "[T]he actions of the > New Deal, which may have had other reasons for them, did not work from the > point of view of solving the Depression. In fact, by 1936, '37, '38, the > Depression was arguably just as bad as it was in 1929." Hannity and Limbaugh > have also worked attacks on the New Deal into their criticisms of the > economic recovery package, with Limbaugh stating as fact that the New Deal > "didn't work," and "prolonged" the Great Depression. Such claims have been > flatly > rejected <http://mediamatters.org/items/200901080005> by prominent > economists, including Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, who has said that > President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not go far enough to end the crisis > and that it was actually Roosevelt's *reversal *of New Deal policies -- in > an attempt to balance the budget -- that hindered recovery. *CLAIM: Fiscal stimulus in Japan failed during the "lost decade" of the > 1990s* > On October 22, 2008, the Republican caucus of the House Budget Committee > released a report citing "Japan's policy responses during its so-called > 'lost decade' of the 1990s" as evidence that economic stimulus plans > supported by Democrats in Congress would be ineffective. Both Limbaugh and > Hannity have similarly cited Japanese fiscal policy in the 1990s in arguing > against a large-scale economic recovery plan to combat the current recession > in the United States. However, prominent economists have stated that > economic conditions did improve when Japan undertook fiscal stimulus > policies but that reversals of those policies hindered Japan's recovery. On > February 6, for example, Krugman said: "[I]t's clear. The Japanese -- when > they were really pushing hard, when they had strong programs, when they > spent a lot on trying to buck-up their economy -- it actually did grow. What > happened was they chickened out very early in the process, said, 'OK, let's > cut back, let's raise interest rates, let's raise taxes, let's cut back on > those public works.' And they lost momentum, and they never got it back." > Similarly, Adam Posen, deputy director of the Peterson Institute for > International Economics, wrote in his September 1998 book, Restoring Japan's > Economic Growth, that Japan's "1995 stimulus package ... did result in solid > growth in 1996, demonstrating that fiscal policy does work when it is tried. > As on earlier occasions in the 1990s, however, the positive response to > fiscal stimulus was undercut by fiscal contraction in 1996 and 1997." He > concluded: > > Similar contractions undertaken both openly and by hidden means in 1994, >> 1996, and 1997, with reference to announced but unimplemented spending, had >> destructive effects. Future government packages must recognize that when the >> Japanese government paid for fiscal stimulus in 1995, it got economic >> growth, and that when it mistakenly pursued fiscal austerity in most of the >> remainder of the 1992-97 period, it got economic contraction. >> > *CLAIM: Economic recovery bill amounts to spending more than $200K per job > created* > ***CLAIM: $4 billion for ACORN* > --http://mediamatters.org/items/200902070003 -Lance --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Politically Opinionated Outspoken People Expounding Religion" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/pooper?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
