The Good Bailout.
Finally, a bailout plan that I can live with ... and not just for the obvious reasons.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R., Texas) has proposed a two month tax holiday to replace the rest of the Paulson-Pelosi bailout. Gohmert's plan would relieve taxpayers of the burden of federal income tax and FICA for January and February of 2009 and, in the process, pump an estimated 334.4 billion dollars into the national economy. Since the remainder of the P&P bailout would cost 350 billion dollars, Gohmert's plan would actually save 15.6 billion dollars.
I like this primarily because it allows people to keep more of their own money and spend it any damn way they want. Nothing says, "economic recovery" like citizens with money in their pocket. However, I need to add, I also like this plan because it recognizes a fact that has been lost on politicians lately: economies don't work from the top down, but rather from the bottom up. No government bailout to businesses, or for that matter to financial institutions, can help if there aren't people out there with sufficient cash to make purchases. No amount of government (ie: taxpayer's) bailout money to GM will help unless there are people out there with enough purchasing power (ie: money) to buy a car or truck.
I actually have a degree of sympathy for business people. They have been regulated nearly to death. But the answer is not a federal bailout, but rather an easing of regulations. Unless businesses are physically harming people or someone else's property, they should, with a few exceptions, be left alone. However, they shouldn't then be allowed to come before Congress asking for a handout.
Face it, the average citizen is a much better judge of where and when to spend his money than is some elected official in Washington, D.C. If we are determined to further unbalance an already unbalanced federal budget, let's at least do it in a way that will actually help our economy. If enough citizens have enough money in their pocket, then failing banks will be replaced by new, more efficient banks and failing car companies will be replaced by companies than can produce a vehicle, at a reasonable price, that people actually want to buy.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R., Texas) has proposed a two month tax holiday to replace the rest of the Paulson-Pelosi bailout. Gohmert's plan would relieve taxpayers of the burden of federal income tax and FICA for January and February of 2009 and, in the process, pump an estimated 334.4 billion dollars into the national economy. Since the remainder of the P&P bailout would cost 350 billion dollars, Gohmert's plan would actually save 15.6 billion dollars.
I like this primarily because it allows people to keep more of their own money and spend it any damn way they want. Nothing says, "economic recovery" like citizens with money in their pocket. However, I need to add, I also like this plan because it recognizes a fact that has been lost on politicians lately: economies don't work from the top down, but rather from the bottom up. No government bailout to businesses, or for that matter to financial institutions, can help if there aren't people out there with sufficient cash to make purchases. No amount of government (ie: taxpayer's) bailout money to GM will help unless there are people out there with enough purchasing power (ie: money) to buy a car or truck.
I actually have a degree of sympathy for business people. They have been regulated nearly to death. But the answer is not a federal bailout, but rather an easing of regulations. Unless businesses are physically harming people or someone else's property, they should, with a few exceptions, be left alone. However, they shouldn't then be allowed to come before Congress asking for a handout.
Face it, the average citizen is a much better judge of where and when to spend his money than is some elected official in Washington, D.C. If we are determined to further unbalance an already unbalanced federal budget, let's at least do it in a way that will actually help our economy. If enough citizens have enough money in their pocket, then failing banks will be replaced by new, more efficient banks and failing car companies will be replaced by companies than can produce a vehicle, at a reasonable price, that people actually want to buy.
posted by dlh | 6:02 AM
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