Re: Clintonomics: The Bottom Line

["Robyn Miller" <lady-r@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, John I'm intrigued but....

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> From: John Gelles <jjgelles@xxxxxxxx>
>
>
> 	If we would have Keynesian Thought benefit workers
> 	and not just capital in a crisis we must focus on
> 	removing taxes (visibly separate from prices and
> 	personal earnings) from every voter who is not rich.

Who is rich?  I am extremely serious in posing this question.  What is the
cut-off, and how will you motivate capable people to move their income
beyond that cut-off point into the area hwere they will be shouldering the
tax burden.  If the cut-off is high enough (say, $65,000 a year) there will
be many people, otherwise capable of further production who may chose to
live comfortably on their 65k.  Are capital gains included in income
because companies that wish to promote people into income brackets that
would be taxable may offer them stock packages instead to protect them from
taxation (thus keeping the number of people with the neccessary earnings to
be taxed at a lower than expected level).  Similarly, if we define "the
rich" at too low a point (say, $35,000) then we are not really protecting
those who are struggling from taxation.  So, what is your idea of "the
rich" ?
>
> 	Until we do that we won't have the votes to take
> 	the giant steps that would raise real minimum wages
> 	and enlarge economic output to prevent inflation --
> 	in a government subsidized full employment economy.

How would an increased minimum wage lead to full-employment, and how would
full-employment at a higher than normal wage rate not produce inflation?
We are talking about combining an increase in demand (full-employment &
higher wages) with an increase in the cost of production (higher wages).
Unless these new workers are hyperproductive I'm not sure how profound
inflation could be avoided.  If interest rates are kept low it might offset
hikes in the minimum wage, but these rates impact our ability to draw
foreign capital and also are impacted *by* international demand for $$ -
and we cannot control the financial doings of the entire world.  Once
again, if we just print more money every time domestic and foreign demand
for the $ gets excessive, we are deflating the value of our currency and
pushing towards inflation.  So how does this work?
> 	
> 	If we cannot raise the real minimum wage under
> 	conditions of full employment by tax reductions
> 	and consequent increased voter support, then
> 	we will have to add national strategic economic
> 	policy to our financial thinking.

No argument here.  Though I am not sure that long-term voter support will
result from reduced tax burden on the poor.  When the novelty of not being
taxed wears off, other issues will occupy voters' minds.  There will, of
course, be the endless squabbles about who gets what; who pays what share;
whose representatives are how corrupt; who is entering the country from
where; and, of course, the omnipresent- who has a monopoly on the morality
that represents the "Real American."
>
> 	We need a bottom line to contrast with
> 	Clintonomics and Reganomics that promises and
> 	delivers the quality housing, neighborhoods,
> 	and environment people can touch and feel.

Entirely true.  And we need details to feed pesky Devil's Advocates like
myself.

                                                          Robyn M.
>
> 	John Gelles
>
>       John Gelles  5706 Loma Vista Rd  Ventura, CA 93003
>       Voice (805) 642-6675      Email  jjgelles@xxxxxxxx
>                    http://myturn.org
>                    http://rain.org/~jjgelles/
>
>                      Common Economic Sense
>
>         1. Saving, not unemployment, to fight inflation.
>         2. Saving, instead of taxes, to fight inflation.
>         3. Inflation protection  for savers and lenders.
>         4. Keynesian  financing  of  public  priorities.
>         4. High wages/Low taxes and interest/for growth.
>         5. Microloans: A legal right to self-employment.
>         6. Automation for a high minimum std. of living.
>         7. Trade protection  for our defense industries.
>