08-11-2008, 05:45 PM
Mad Dog Wrote:scooterfanatic Wrote:Republican economic policy I believe is this: give tax breaks to the richest businesses and individuals because theoretically they are the ones who create wealth. Give them a tax break and their good fortune will "trickle down" to the middle class.
The only problem is now because of free trade agreements, those corporations are taking that extra money and using it to create wealth in other countries. Nike doesn't manufacture a single shoe in the United States, because the CEO feels that "Americans don't want to make shoes." I guarantee you there are thousands of unemployed people who would be happy to make shoes. In fact, New Balance does manufacture some product here.
I think the main flaw in the conservative laissez-faire economic argument is that businesses and corporations always have the principle of the free market in mind. In the extreme, it's economic anarchism. A completely free economy is unsustainable, as corporations would eventually merge into bigger and bigger entities until monopolies ruled the market. We have historical examples even, just look at the US during the turn of the 20th century where the market was flooded with robber barons. I realize not all republicans and conservatives are libertarians and recognize that some regulation in the market is needed, though.
Reganomics doesn't work today because of NAFTA, plain and simple. I think there should be a law that states a corporation should get not one red cent in tax breaks unless a certain percentage of their manufacturing is done right here. Companies like Nike suck wealth from the American market and put nothing back. After all, if every business moved overseas, who would be left to buy those sneakers and t-shirts and cars?
Wow scooter that makes alot of sense and I agree with you about tax breaks too American companys that manufacture nothing in America. But mabey I think it 's a little more accurate to say that Reganomics works less. Most American companies are not like Nike but enough are to make a huge dent. However if the standard of living across the globe were to rise because of free trade agreements, then Reganomics would reign as king again as long as the playing feild is kept as fair as possible.
The best thing to do, I believe, is to tax companies who ship their jobs out of the country. Give tax breaks to companies who keep their jobs in this country. I think if you handle things that way, we will have more companies staying here and maybe bringing jobs back here. Give the companies incentives to stay and employ here.