It is clear to all, it is hoped, that the US and global economy is on the verge of collapse. While we might dodge the bullet this week, it is only a matter of a short time before all possible Big Government and fiat money expedients are exhausted, if they aren’t, already. We need bold, firm action – to do what needs to be done, endure the pain we’ll have to endure, and get on with the job of building American prosperity.
While there are no silver bullets, we can take some concrete steps which will ensure that the United States, at least, weathers the storm without too much pain. In light of the extreme danger, I suggest the following:
1. An immediate, across the board spending cut of $50 billion for the FY 2011 budget…that means what we’ll spend between now and October 1st. Every department, sparing only social security and military pay, gets cut in proportion as necessary to produce $50 billion in spending reduction.
2. For the FY 2012 budget, a reduction in spending – once again across the board and only sparing social security and military pay – of $500 billion.
3. An elimination of the corporate income tax on corporations employing 500 or less employees; a 50% reduction in the corporate income tax on corporations employing 501 to 1,000; a 25% reduction on all other corporations.
The cuts in spending are necessary to demonstrate to the world that even with the downgrade, the United States is deadly serious about reducing spending and thus restoring our bond rating in short order…in other words, to make certain that as the global economy goes “plop” that the United States is seen as a safe haven for money. And this feeds in to the tax reductions – the reductions in corporate taxes will not only spur domestic investment, it will also massively encourage the inflow of foreign capital as well as capital held by US corporations overseas. This could amount to trillions more dollars being injected in to our economy over the next 12 months, thus spurring the growth necessary to repair the damage already done, and that which is about to happen.
Because make no mistake about it: there is no easy way out. We are going to go through hard time. How hard depends on us – hope for more money printing and government spending and the reward may be a couple more quarters of “growth” but then a collapse which will make the Great Depression look like a picnic. Or we can take the adult course and realize that the free ride is over…that we will have to have a bit less nanny State and a bit more hard work on our part.
The choice is ours. We can do this, now; or we can flub it, and pay the price.
UPDATE: Asian stocks continue to slide. I’m less and less certain that anyone will be able to figure out how to dodge the bullet, even for a little while…but, we shall see.
UPDATE II: From Mish:
…being the ever-optimist, I prefer to look at the bright side of things. Get your party hats ready. Another DOW 10,000 party may be on the way…
If the only thing you can do is weep, then you might as well laugh…God is still there, and all will be well.
UDPATE III: From Instapundit:
PRESIDENT DOWNGRADE: Dow Finishes Down 634 Points. Obama’s speech certainly did nothing to slow the drop, though I suppose the White House will argue that it would have been 734 without the speech, meaning that Obama saved or created 100 Dow points . . . .
A friend of mine did note it rather amusing to watch the Dow drop 100 points while the Bamster was speaking…
Blogs For Victory 
On the Economy: What to do Now
Pray………
Psalm 109:8
Cloward–Piven strategy
brought to you by this POS
the up side is there will not be enough OPM to pay for cell phones and bus fare for the flash mobs.
there is an easy way out of this mess…just do the right thing…we have enough information to put obama out on his arse…then we try him for fraud and treason…he is not qualified to be POTUS…never was…and when he took that oath…he knew it…
no law he signed is valid…obummercare is not a legal law…put 500bn back into SS…where it belongs…govt never had a right to take it out from the git go…
back off govt regulation and taxes…let the free market innovate…reward production…and dont reward the unemployed by giving them 3 years unemployment and food stamps and…and…and…dump the union contracts and set Govt salaried back to where they belong for public servants…no teacher should make 100k per year…40k for 1 person isway more than enough for a public servant salary…city/county/state of federal govt…reduce the salaries of the whole shootin match…50% or 40k whichever hits first…
then you will see innovation…people wo will do what it takes to get through this mess that the socilist and marxist have made…build factories…drill for oil and mine for shale…and grow food for the market….things will get better…but only after the federal government gets OUT OF THE WAY…
there is an easy way out of this mess…just do the right thing…we have enough information to put obama out on his arse…then we try him for fraud and treason…he is not qualified to be POTUS…never was…and when he took that oath…he knew it…
and why isn’t he eligible to be President of the United States? is everyone missing something except for you?
Please expand on that thought…if you can.
trust me…if you missed the boat…its way too late to hope you could figure it out…just back to playing ignorant…your ilk seems to like it that way…but face it…you are not a very good liar…no even close
come on drone, you think he isn’t eligible to be president because his father was a kenyan…blah blah blah..
have you ever thought that maybe instead of 310 million people being duped, that you are the one being duped and led into a conspiracy theory.
come on, be reasonable. Look up something called occam’s razor and then come back to us and tell us which is more likely….that he is a usurper….or that he is the President legally.
dork.
ok dipsxxt…ive posted dozens of times what natural born citizenship is…what the requirements for POTUS are…and even the SC Precedents that detail what NBC is…
you?: LIP SERVICE…lies…misdirection…and when it boils down to brass tacks…you just go away…stop posting…and come back another day with the same lies, not better off than before…
so show us…exactly…everything you can…that states that a person who holds British Citizenship AT BIRTH (yes, even obama himself admitted this fact)…is eligible to become POTUS…
im waiting stooge…give it your best shot…and beware…im not going to sit here and concede if you lie…so get it right moron
shoot…even citizen wells is watching…whats that say for you thomastooge…that your mental midgetry is about as valid…as obieOne being ineligible for POTUS…
Taitz returned to federal court in Honolulu today after Hawaii DOH officials presented her with a letter refusing to comply with her subpoena on grounds that Hawaii privacy laws prevented officials from releasing Obama birth records to the public.
“It’s ridiculous,” Taitz told WND.
She had argued previously – without getting a response from the state – that Obama had waived all privacy rights by releasing his long-form birth certificate to the American public at a White House press conference April 27.
Get the New York Times best-seller “Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to be President,” by Jerome Corsi.
The ExParte Emergency Motion for Order to Show Cause and to Compel Attendance for Production of Documents that Taitz filed with the federal magistrate asked the court to demand Hawaii DOH head Loretta Fuddy appear in court to explain why she would not comply with the subpoena.
“Getting a federal judge to demand Fuddy’s attendance at a show-cause hearing is a victory,” Taitz said. “I will return to Hawaii on Sept. 14 and I expect then to be able to force the Hawaii DOH to turn over the relevant records as demanded by the subpoena.”
she is the alien who is trying to make a federal case out of Obama’s birth. What a clown. Did the dentist/lawyer ever pay her court ordered fines? Probably not.
last i checked, she was a lawyer trying to get the truth, the whole truth….and nothing but the truth…for america…
hmmm…no NBC requirement to do that…
but hey…a lie gets around the world twice before the truth gets out…and lordy knows how much travel that liar has done…bowing to the chinese commie head of state…the king of islam…err…saudi arabia…and even the queen of england…gotta show respect to those he admires aye?
Mark:
Not surprise you want corporate tax cuts. That is insane, you need to increase tax revenues and certainly don’t need to give tax cuts to fat cat corporations. Secondly, gradually get rid of the tax deduction for interest on mortages, gradually now, start with allowing 90% of the interest to be tax deductible and every year reduce it some more, stopping at 50%. We don’t have such a tax perk up here in Canuckland and we are doing ok.
And of course, tax the fat cat wealthy more, it is sinful how little they pay as individuals. There, the problems will be solved.
You’re welcome.
Canuck,
US corporate tax rates are among the highest in the world, putting us a competitive disadvantage. Also, there is some trillions of dollars parked offshore by US corporations, unwilling to repatriate these profits for fear of the tax man. Rather than score a debating points about “fat cat” corporations, I’d rather encourage that money to come home…and then tax the profits it will generate.
Don’t worry…in the Distributist future, we’ll have our reckoning with the largest corporations…but, for now, I just want their money…and not just US corporations, but all of them…the world is spinning down the economic toilet and I want the world to send its money here for safekeeping.
But Mark, how many of the corporations actually pay taxes? Especially the large corporations making huge profits? The “woe is me, our corporate taxes are so high” group – when they actually start paying taxes then you can bring up how high they are taxed. When we stop giving them subsities to ship jobs out of this country, then go to bat for them. When they stop getting tax refunds when they haven’t paid a dime in taxes, then tell up how mistreated corporations are. And when they are no longer considered “persons” who can contribute untold millions to campaign and no longer pay lobbists millions to lobby for more tax breaks, then give us the sob story of how badly they are treated. Until then, please stop the sad, sad stories of how high they are taxed.
Sunny,
The larger the corporation the lower the effective tax rate because they can bribe Democrats to get special privileges…which is why the reductions for the larger corporations are lower, while for the smaller corporations they are eliminated…the reason for the reduction on the larger corporation is to induce them to repatriate what may be $2 trillion in money cached overseas…and, of course, to convince foreign corporations to park their money here as well.
In the Distributist future I often allude to, there will come the reckoning with the large corporations, which must ultimately be broken up. Big Government and Big Corporation are both opposed to liberty; two sides of the same coin, really. But Big Government is much worse and so must be destroyed first.
Another Canadian complaining about America who protects (for the most part) it’s ass so they can “afford” to be Socialists. And the smarter than the rest of us combined Thomas worried about those of us that pay our mortgages (my third) getting a break. At least with Thomas, I would agree on a flat tax including the purchase of stocks–or sale. One or the other not double taxation.
Canuck, I would like to see a wealth tax if we need a tax at all to hit all the wealthy and not the income producers–you know the “fat cat wealthy.” And how can taking money from those who earn it be “sinful?” My soon to be ex-boss makes a great deal more than I do but he also gave me a job for five years–I do not begrudge him for making more than I did and I still have a chance to make more next year. Why would that be a problem?
Mark, what fantasy world do you live in making such a truly riduculous statment?
“The larger the corporation the lower the effective tax rate because they can bribe Democrats to get special privileges…”
Please tell me which large corporation supports the Democrats? Almost every large corporation in this country contributes huge amounts of money to the Republican candidates. Who are the Democrats who have been bribed by these corporations? Please do name names!
“For the FY 2012 budget, a reduction in spending – once again across the board and only sparing social security and military pay – of $500 billion.” – Mark
Okay by me. But the tax cuts aren’t convincing because everyone knows that Obama will just raise them ASAP and hence no job creators will want to take the risks of employing people long term and hence the tax cuts would just be handouts to the rich.
Also, slowly getting rid of the home interest deduction which discourages responsible people from paying off their homes and cheats renters entirely.
“Cheats renters”.
Cheats.
This is how a Lefty views a law which allows productive people to keep a little more of what they, personally, actually EARN. It is “cheating” people who have made different decisions.
When I wanted to own a house, I found a way to buy one. Not a fun way, but a tried-and-proven way. My husband and I cut back on expenses, saved every penny, and bought a tiny house we could afford.
But before we did this, we hardly thought of not having a mortgage interest deduction as being “cheated”.
It is a uniquely Leftist mentality that feels, somehow, that what one person has is taken from another person.
In 1986 President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Tax
Reform Act of 1986. The new code gradually phased out all deductions for interest paid on car loans, charge-account purchases, vacations and anything else that fell under what the law termed ‘consumer loans.’
SO AMY, where is the underlying principle that stopped those productive people from keeping more of what they EARNED?
Rank hypocrisy. It’s not really about consumer loans of course, plenty of people used home mortgages to pay off credit cars, car loans etc. It’s because the poorer people who can’t afford a home don’t fit into the ‘productive’ category of those who should be allowed to keep more of what they earned.
The usual phony who divides government deductions (subsidies) into good and bad depending on which mailbox they arrive in. Free markets for the poor trending toward corporate socialism for the rich.
barstool,.
Are you equating a mortgage with a consumer loan? Seriously? Think that one through for a little bit ok?
Clueless
Care to come up with a general principle for why a home loan has interest which is deductible but a car loan doesn’t?
Home equity loans to buy a new car or pay down credit cards … All with TAX deductible interest. You must live on a planet where home equity loans are used wisely.
Mark,
Interestingly enough, another person from the other side came out with a similar post.
http://crooksandliars.com/mike-lux/our-economic-train-wreck
“At least in the 1930s, the political system worked well: voters kicked out the political party who had screwed things up, and the new government got things done that helped lift us out of the depression.”
Total BS but then again I certainly hope you are not a history teacher and I am somewhat glad I sold my property outside of Casper–need to find something else though if can still afford it after President Obama (among many others of both stripes) is done with the destruction of this nation
dbschmidt,
I didn’t write the article, just linked to it for a comparison.
Accepted and my bad
Casper,
A similar post? He’s calling for more spending. It simply can’t be done – I know it will hurt to cut spending as it will, with mathematical certainty, plunge us in to a deep recession (or deeper in to the recession, if you’re of my view and figure we never got out of the one starting in 2007)…but it is what must be, because only by taking money away from government and handing it to the people will any improvement occur (the author does rightly discredit bailing out banks…but I think even here he’s coming at it from a class war rather than rationality angle…bailing out failure is plain and simple wrong, no matter what the failure is…that which fails, fails and should be allowed to do so). By not piling up as much debt we will free up literal hundreds of billions – eventually running in to trillions – which is now stashed in utterly unproductive government bonds…it will have to flow in to the economy, providing the sinews for renewed growth…especially (if we reform our tax and regulatory structure) in those areas where we make, mine and grow thing.
If we don’t cut spending – or, worse, add to it in a stimulus double-down – then instead of a really bad recession (lasting two years or so) we’ll get a massive Depression, lasting 20 years. The spending must stop – protecting those who are absolutely dependent upon government (and I mean really dependent…not just “oh, my back hurts, give me $1,500 a month SS disability” nonsense), it must be quite firmly slashed. Ideally by $500 billion NEXT YEAR (ie, if we spend $3.5 trillion this year, we have to spend $3.0 trillion next year). It will, as I’ve said, hurt…but the pain while intense, will be short-lived and the return to reasonable prosperity will only take about two years…and boom times within 5-7 years.
Mark,
It’s similar in that you both see the economy tanking and you both have your opinions as to how to fix it.
dbschmidt,
If I was (am) a history teacher, I would present my students with both articles, have the students research the credentials of both writers, then draw their own conclusions as to who would be the best source. It could also lead to an interesting comparison as to where the authors agree and disagree.
“Research the credentials of BOTH WRITERS ??????
What a bizarre approach! But quite typically Leftist-minded. You know, basing an opinion not on objective fact but on who said what.
How about researching the FACTS?
There is an excellent book out, The Forgotten Man, which is rife with footnotes and references. This would be a great place to start, as the citations can be sought out and studied to confirm or deny the statements and conclusions of the author.
As a matter of fact, it is hard to believe than anyone who teaches American History has failed to read this book.
“Research the credentials of BOTH WRITERS ?”
And the problem with that is? Are you assuming that everyone has the same knowledge base and therefore should be considered equal in their opinions?
“How about researching the FACTS?”
What makes you think we wouldn’t? In fact we would.
“There is an excellent book out, The Forgotten Man, which is rife with footnotes and references. This would be a great place to start, as the citations can be sought out and studied to confirm or deny the statements and conclusions of the author.”
Thanks for the source. I will look into it.
“As a matter of fact, it is hard to believe than anyone who teaches American History has failed to read this book.”
Our curriculum covers American History up to 1865. There are thousands of history books out there. While I try to keep up I can’t read them all.
More leftists attacking of the messenger. Typical and pathetic.
Amazona,
I just ordered “The Forgotten Man” via Amazon. I look forward to reading it. I could recommend several other books covering the period, but I doubt you would read them.
catspuke
mayo’s lil red book, mein kaumph, rules for radicals are not what we would read.
History “teacher” ????
WTF ??
Bwaaaaa ha ha ha