Feed: The Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything - AggScore: 12.7

The Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything

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divimg classalignright srchttpwww.wired.comgeekdadwpcontentuploads200905dontpanic1024.jpg alt width300 Fans of The Hitchhikers Guide will recognize the phrase, and will state that the answer is Forty Two. But when considering todays economic and political atmosphere, I have another answer.1 The economy is NOT a Zero Sum Game. You dont deprive someone else by becoming successful yourself. You dont make the poor richer by making the rich poorer. You improve the lot of ALL by growing the economy and increasing the size of the pie! A rising tide raises all boats!2 Tax Rates and Revenue are NOT directly proportional! Cutting Tax RATES doesnt COST the government in revenues! Tax Cuts INCREASE revenues. Proven by Bush, Reagan, and Kennedy! Reagans tax cuts DOUBLED revenues.3 Deficits are a function of SPENDING not Revenues. When Reagans tax cuts doubled revenue, the Tip ONeal Dem Congresses spent 1.84 for every 1 in increased revenue! Reagan got blamed for huge deficits which were MINISCULE compared to todays deficits! but he submitted BALANCED budgets. They were famously declared dead on arrival by Tip ONeal, and Congress spent themselves silly!4 You cant tax and spend your way into prosperity especially when youre 9 Trillion OOPS, thats a 2 year old figure Current number is over 14 Trillion in debt! Winston Churchill one observed, We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.Rev William J. H. Boetcker published a pamphlet in 1916 known at The 10 Cannots. Often misattributed to Lincoln, these 10 statements embody a tremendous wealth of wisdom and truthulliYou cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.liliYou cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.liliYou cannot help little men by tearing down big men.liliYou cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.liliYou cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.liliYou cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.liliYou cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.liliYou cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.liliYou cannot build character and courage by destroying mens initiative and independence.liliAnd you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.liulWHY are Progressives so obsessively adamant about raisingtaxes on the wealthiest AmericansdivAnswer The left emREALLY DOES BELIEVEem the Zero Sum Game myth.divIn their view, theres only so much sand in the sandbox. You cant pile up a lot of sand in one corner without depriving the rest of the sandboxBy this logic, if you succeed beyond a certain point, youre DEPRIVING someone somewhere of the opportunity to makea decent living! FAIRNESS DEMANDS that they smooth out the sandbox! And since its a zero sum game, by making the rich poorer, automatically and magicallythey improve the lot of the poor!divThe fact is that the economy is neither zero sum, nor is it static. It expands or contracts based on the BEHAVIORS of the participants! Innovation, invention, provision of needed services, advancement of knowledge, investment in new ideas etc all generate NEW wealth. It is not simply a matter of shuffling around a limited money supply.divdivWhen you ENCOURAGE these activities by reduced taxes and reduced regulation and government intrusion you UNLEASH the engine of the economy to churn and burn and heat up and to grow and expand. Conversely, when you hamstring the economy with overregulation, overtaxation, and excessive intrusion you put ankle weights on the runners that drive the economy and you experience contraction and slowdown. This discourages risk taking. This discourages business expansion and job creation.divEqual Opportunity does not guarantee equality of outcomes. Still, whether your share is a large slice or a small slice of pie if the economy grows, the pie gets bigger and everyone gets a bigger piece of pie!div