Two days remain for President Obama “to save the world”, as Germany’s largest newspaper recently put it. Meanwhile the Huffington Post suggests to stockpile frozen pizza because from January 1st, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service might see some budget costs.
Put aside such utter nonsense and let us focus on some key facts.
First, we should not forget the difference between tax rates and tax revenue, as I wrote some months ago.
Next, Thomas Sowell writes in his “Fiscal Cliff Notes” for the Jewish World Review:
All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting “the rich” to pay “their fair share” is part of a big charade. This is not about economics, it is about politics. Taxing “the rich” will produce a drop in the bucket when compared to the staggering and unprecedented deficits of the Obama administration.
The very catchwords and phrases used by the Obama administration betray how phony this all is. For example, “We are just asking the rich to pay a little more.” This is an insult to our intelligence. The government doesn’t “ask” anybody to pay anything. It orders you to pay the taxes they impose and you can go to prison if you don’t.
It is also true that the fiscal deficit declined after the so-called Bush tax cuts. You get this information from the “Economic Report of the President 2012” (page 411).
Investor’s Business Daily has put these numbers into some figures:
White House Data Debunk Myth Bush Cuts Built Deficit
While President Obama insists the Bush tax cuts caused the recession and record deficits, his own economists say otherwise. He might want to consult their data for the truth.
Swiss Economist 