Tuly Greedy

If you watch the news and listen to politicians you will occasionally and actually with much repetition hear them talk about the "greed" of capitalists such as the banks and wall street investors. It is true that banks and wall street want to make as much money as they possible can. It is also true that we as individuals do as well. We can call this "greed" or we can call it human instinct. But greed is not what led to the housing crisis and thus economic recession. Regulations, government pressured loans, and terrible incentives generated by the promise of bail outs is what led to the bubble and since crash of the housing market leading us into a long and tough recession and now tough times. Recently the unemployment rate dropped to I believe 9.5%. That is good news until you read that it dropped because many people stopped looking for full time jobs and became "discouraged" workers. These individuals are then taken out of the labor market which makes the unemployment statistic improve. Without this statistical jargon, the unemployment would be just over 10%. What can be done?

In reality the quickest and best way to fix the current problems would be to stop the entitlement spending that our federal government does and overhaul the tax code. America has the toughest tax code to understand and the current tax code disincentives investment and expansion. People would be more willing to invest and create businesses if they knew that they could keep most of the money they worked hard to make. But in our system if a person wants to expand their business they must first know they are not just going to benefit a little from doing so but they must benefit enough to pay for the extra taxes, regulations, and oversight, before being willing to invest into that.

Why not overhaul the tax code? I like the Fair Tax which is a national sales tax that would then eliminate all other taxes that businesses and individuals pay. In other words you only pay federal taxes when you buy something and you don't even pay taxes on food at that. You also bring home your entire check from work and the acronym FICA becomes non-existent. This would generate many new businesses and jobs for the American People. There is one large problem with this. This eliminates the need for lobbyists to try and sugar up the politicians to get tax benefits for themselves. Businesses would strive under this fair tax but some businesses would not like this because of the added competition that it would bring. (competition benefits us as consumers though). Politicians benefit with donations to their reelection bids and perks by helping businesses get around certain tax laws. Politicians in other words have much more power under the current complicated tax code. Who is greedy? I say the politicians that refuse to let go of their power despite knowing full well America would benefit.

Happy Independence Day!!