Motown Mo Problems
This is simply a horrible year for Detroit. Of course everyone knows about Eminem delaying his new album until next year because he’s such a perfectionist. Then Motor City became the embarrassment of the nation with their CEO’s blundering in front of Congress. To add insult to injury, the Detroit Lions had a perfect losing season at 0-16 to officially become the worst NFL team in history.
In the latest chapter of the Detroit blues, the Kuwaiti government is backing out of a $17.4 billion joint venture with Dow Chemical which was to be based in Detroit. The Supreme Petroleum Council of Kuwait deemed the contract as “very risky” given the global financial crisis and recent oil prices. Foreign investments are important to the US economy and previous moves by Congress to deny Dubai contracts in the US probably didn’t do much to help the confidence of Kuwait in these uncertain times.
So what are we going to do to build confidence in America’s business environment and compete on the global market? I hope we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past and build up more trade barriers and scare investments away. How about reducing the US corporate tax rate which is the 2nd highest in the industrialized world?
Category: Government
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Good idea. Lower the Corprate tax rate – as long as Government SPENDING is lowered to offset the loss of revenues.
I’m in favor of lowering corporate tax rates as long as the reductions are matched with increases in personal income taxes. I think I risk being accused of being a fascist for even proposing this.
I have nothing against motivating someone to provide employment for the average citizen. My problem is with the likes of Paris Hilton that provide nothing but consume everything.
Paris Hilton is a snot nosed rich kid that did not earn the opportunities she inherited.
Amit, as the article you cite mentions, though we have the 2nd highest rate, we have the 4th or 5th lowest effective rate, due to all the exemptions, credits, loopholes, and other complexities. The October 2007 oped in the WaPo by Jason Furman also mentioned in your link gives more info on the discrepancy and its economic impacts.
LD, I am opposed to raising the personal income tax to counter the lowered corporate tax for two reasons. First, with more higher paying jobs there will automatically be an increase in tax revenue. Second, I do not want to take away disposable income from Americans which in turn will hurt the economy.
Jeremy, the exemptions, etc are mainly for big companies that have the lobbying power to get them passed. The medium to small businesses do not get those privileges.
It’s hard to imagine anything in this nation being more embarassing than our “President”…
Mark – just wait for the next one.
Amit – I came from Detroit…so did Mark. So, what are you trying to imply by this post.
that Detroit needs your help!!! even I feel some connection to Detroit since it is the point of entry for my father when he first came to America. he has a lot of interesting stories including one where he saved a burglar’s life who was hanging from his windowsill.
Amit,
There goes that claim that reducing taxes always results in increased tax revenue. OK, I’ll counter that with this: If that was true all we would have to do is lower taxes to zero and balance the budget, but that does not work, right?
The funny thing is that the most successful part of Detroit is the Lions.
Uh, I would beg to differ, BK.
The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup last year.
The Detroit Tigers were in the World Series in 2006.
Domino’s and Little Caesar’s Pizza are obviously giants in the industry.
Yea, I know, sports and pizza. But there is more to Detroit than that too.
It’s easy to kick Detroit…especially for folks who want you to not look at what’s going on in their cities.
LD, balancing the budget has two variables to the equation.
SPENDING – REVENUE = DEFICIT
want to balance the budget then remember you can also reduce spending.
JR, the Red Wings aren’t from Detroit. They’re from Russia.
Amit,
Let me have some fun with a quibble. Your math formula is wrong, it should be:
REVENUE – SPENDING = DEFICIT.
I’m open to spending cuts, but which do you propose? Everybody seems to want everything and nobody wants to pay for it.
Personally I am in favor of a little bit of both revenue increases and spending cuts like back during the Clinton years.
REVENUE INCREASES + SPENDING CUTS = BALANCED BUDGET.
LD, no my equation is correct. in your equation you need to replace “DEFICIT” with “SURPLUS”. Anyway, where to cut? Let’s start with over 60,000 US troops in Asia and over 100,000 in Europe. Why can we redeploy them to Afghanistan and Border Patrol (in a non-military capacity). Let’s return more power to the states when it comes to education and get rid of No Child Left Behind. The FCC and FDA also have portions that can be removed. This probably warrants a separate thread.
Kirwin – you’re about a decade late. They’re Swedish now.
Was there an invasion I missed?