Are some Republicans coming to their senses?
Middle-Class Capitalists
By DAVID BROOKS
New York Times
In 1974, a group of economists and journalists got together in a bar and launched supply-side economics. It was a superb political and economic package. It addressed a big problem: stagflation. It had a clear policy focus: marginal tax rates. It celebrated a certain sort of personality: the risk-taking entrepreneur. It made it clear that the new, growth-oriented Republican Party would be different from the old, green-eyeshade one.
Supply-side economics had a good run, but continual tax cuts can no longer be the centerpiece of Republican economic policy. The demographics have changed. The U.S. is an aging society. We have made expensive promises to our seniors. We can’t keep those promises at the current tax levels, let alone at reduced ones. As David Frum writes in “Comeback,” his indispensable new book: “In the face of such a huge fiscal gap, the days of broad, across-the-board, middle-class tax cutting are over.”
The political situation has changed, too. Republicans used to appeal to the investor class with economic policies and the working class with values, crime and welfare policies. But that formula has broken down. The workers are walking away from the G.O.P., and the only way to win them back is by listening to their economic concerns.
As a result, smart Republicans are groping for a new economic model, and as they do, Republican economic policies are shifting. The entrepreneur is no longer king. The wage-earner is king. As the presidential campaign rolls into Michigan, it’s clear that Republicans are adjusting their priorities to win back the anxious middle class.
(Continued here.)
By DAVID BROOKS
New York Times
In 1974, a group of economists and journalists got together in a bar and launched supply-side economics. It was a superb political and economic package. It addressed a big problem: stagflation. It had a clear policy focus: marginal tax rates. It celebrated a certain sort of personality: the risk-taking entrepreneur. It made it clear that the new, growth-oriented Republican Party would be different from the old, green-eyeshade one.
Supply-side economics had a good run, but continual tax cuts can no longer be the centerpiece of Republican economic policy. The demographics have changed. The U.S. is an aging society. We have made expensive promises to our seniors. We can’t keep those promises at the current tax levels, let alone at reduced ones. As David Frum writes in “Comeback,” his indispensable new book: “In the face of such a huge fiscal gap, the days of broad, across-the-board, middle-class tax cutting are over.”
The political situation has changed, too. Republicans used to appeal to the investor class with economic policies and the working class with values, crime and welfare policies. But that formula has broken down. The workers are walking away from the G.O.P., and the only way to win them back is by listening to their economic concerns.
As a result, smart Republicans are groping for a new economic model, and as they do, Republican economic policies are shifting. The entrepreneur is no longer king. The wage-earner is king. As the presidential campaign rolls into Michigan, it’s clear that Republicans are adjusting their priorities to win back the anxious middle class.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
1 Comments:
Brooks may be a bright guy, but he’s either been hoodwinked or he’s become the carnival barker.
The GOP Presidential candidates are all talking tax cuts … not responsible fiscal management.
John McCain released his plan which consists of repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) without paying for it, extending the Bush tax cuts without paying for them, and requiring a 3/5 majority of both chambers of Congress to enact any tax increase. Senator McCain who has voted against the Bush tax cuts and pork barrel spending would not support Candidate McCain. The latest extension of the AMT (without it being paid for) happened because the Senate got only 59 votes (needing 60) … if the House had the same rule, it would never have been close.
Mike Huckabee is pushing Gil Gutknecht’s old Fair Tax plan … but since Congress just passed The Mortgage Debt Relief Forgiveness Act of 2007 which raised mortgage debt forgiveness income on a principal residence up to $2 million, there is no way that Congress is going to eliminate mortgage deductions.
Mitt Romney made his money through off-shore tax and leveraged buy-outs … he ain’t going to help the middle class.
And on health care, all I hear is more Health Savings Account talk and supporting insurance companies … not supporting people or the companies that provide health insurance.
Post a Comment
<< Home