Let me recommend for the contrast of ideas a blogger who disagrees with me on many, if not most, ideas on political economy. Steve Attewell is a fellow WordPress blogger at the Realignment Project. He has written much more than I have and is a very accomplished
Steve Attewell's Bio Pic
blogger. He is a very bright and articulate Ph.D. student in the history of public policy at UC Santa Barbara. Steve is a progressive by his own definition, a definition which can be found in the archives of his blog. Lest one believe that there is a lack of good faith on the other side of economic and political debates of our time, Steve’s blog shows this to be a demonstrably false notion. People of intellectual integrity, thoughtfulness and good will do exist on all sides of the debate (assuming that he would consider me and others of like mind as having the equivalent qualities) and I am happy to say, Steve is obviously a man possessing them. This is a pre-requisite for fruitful and informative discussion of any issue.
He recently wrote a blog post, ‘Living in the Age of Magical Austerity Thinking.’ He argues that those who believe that austerity is the answer to our current economic problems are incorrect. He can be forgiven if he goes a bit over the top when characterizing his intellectual opponents as those who feel, “. . . solicitude of the have-muches, distaste for redistribution, fear of state capacity, and fear for the rights of the managing classes . . .” since his economic thinking is largely informed by Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman. Krugman’s own ideas go beyond Steve’s tepid castigation, calling austerity adherents and their political representatives the equivalent of sadists. Some of my own ideas concerning austerity can be found here.
I recommend Steve to anyone who reads this blog as a balance to my own ideas. Incidentally, I admit to being McCurious, Steve’s interlocutor in the comments section of his Magical Thinking post. I also appear in the comments section of his post on GM’s ‘recovery’ as being indicative of the success of “Industrial Policy.”
I’ll be on vacay for a couple weeks. This is unfortunate because there is so much to talk about with the President’s jobs bill, the new “minimum tax on millionaires” and the Republican search for a presidential candidate in the air. I particularly look forward to seeing how the millionaire tax does in the Senate where there are so many wealthy paragons among the Democratic majority. Forgive my cynicism for doubting that they will pass this measure even while many of them will give strong lip service to it. They’ll prefer to attack the House, trying to put the “blame” on the Republicans for being shills for the ultra-wealthy. I hope that this is going to be the fight. I would like full hearings in Congress which investigate the underlying question: the real benefits of taxing capital gains at a lower rate than ordinary incomes.
Rep. Paul Ryan Courtesy SpeakerBoehner
I normally like Representative Paul Ryan’s take on things but this morning on the Fox News Sunday public affairs program is an exception. When defending the tax rate differential for capital gains Ryan could only fall back on the saying that, “when you tax something more you get less of it.” Exactly what does that mean in this context? Why doesn’t the same adage apply to all incomes????? Wouldn’t increasing all incomes be good? Why the advantage for capital gains? Let’s have the question of benefitting capital gains in relation to ordinary income put to the test out in the open meeting rooms of capital (pun intended) hill with C-Span covering the full proceedings. Ryan, who I believe has previously described himself as a Ronald Reagan Republican, will need to explain to the viewers why Ronald Reagan’s tax reform pegged the top marginal rate on all incomes, whether capital or ordinary, at 28%. Did that make economic sense then? Why not now? That’s the sort of political fight that I’d like to see.
At least the President is finally being true to his campaign position that taxing capital gains like ordinary incomes is a “matter of fairness.” You may remember my previous posts on the President and Warren Buffett’s view of the appopriate tax rates which should be applied to capital gains and dividend-type income, here, here, here and here. See you in a couple of weeks.
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