GOP TAX PLAN

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by spence

Shhhhhhh, Jim. ...come here. Quietly please. Here, crouch down. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Do not tell anyone. Here's the deal. The Clinton tax cuts and growth that followed...was during the dot.com bubble. I know. Really.

Maybe they helped fuel the dot-com bubble,by making it cheaper and more attractive, to take risk on new technologies and products? Maybe they made that surge better than it would have been, without it? Way too many moving pieces.

The growth during the Clinton and Bush years, was unlike anything my generation has seen. I'm not sure you've shot down my proposition that it might be a good idea to replicate that. Today, there are lots of technology and green energy ideas on the verge of taking off. Maybe tax cuts could help spur that along. Maybe it's worth a try. Anyone who claims to know that it can't work, is blinded buy ideology. If the Democrats were proposing this, everyone here knows you'd be cheerleading for it.

[spence]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

Maybe they helped fuel the dot-com bubble,by making it cheaper and more attractive, to take risk on new technologies and products? Maybe they made that surge better than it would have been, without it? Way too many moving pieces.

Maybe it made the bubble worse because many saw the opportunity for greater profit? Who the hell knows, but what's certain is that the tax cuts didn't cause the growth, new technologies born from government funded programs did.

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by spence

Maybe it made the bubble worse because many saw the opportunity for greater profit? Who the hell knows, but what's certain is that the tax cuts didn't cause the growth, new technologies born from government funded programs did.

Tax cuts can give business more capital to invest in or use new technologies regardless of where those technologies were born. And government funding is not government creating. God help us if we are going to depend on government tax collection and control to develop technology, business, culture, and the well-being of society. You seem to be all in for socialism. That's OK, but don't pose as some supporter of a free market system.

Here are two articles that analyze things a bit differently than you:

http://www.heritage.org/taxes/report...conomic-growth

https://www.thoughtco.com/effect-of-...growth-1146370

[spence]

Originally Posted by detbuch

Tax cuts can give business more capital to invest in or use new technologies regardless of where those technologies were born.

But that's the rub. Big corporations in general have excess cash they're unwilling to invest because they don't see a return. For many sectors capital investment goes to automation which further reduces the need for employment.

Of the articles you linked, the heritage piece is just standard conservative philosophy but doesn't take in the complexities of our current situation. We have massive debt, a crumbling infrastructure, an evolving global economy etc... What is the impact of increased leverage in terms of debt service and inflation? Hello???

The other one is more just reform minded but doesn't even support your argument for the most part. I'm not against reform, that's not what is really being proposed right now though.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by spence

Maybe it made the bubble worse because many saw the opportunity for greater profit? Who the hell knows, but what's certain is that the tax cuts didn't cause the growth, new technologies born from government funded programs did.

But lower taxes, changed the math behind the cost benefit analysis, that is undertaken whenever a new technology is being considered. Me thinks your front row seat has an obstructed view.
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