Published in Today’s Wall St. Journal in response to Governor Vilsack’s (D-Iowa) charge that President Bush and the GOP are fiscally irresponsible and that we need to raise taxes on the “rich.” Does it ever get old for these hacks?
While I agree spending restraint is vital, the cuts Gov. Vilsack suggests merely nibble the edges. The largest unfunded liabilities are Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security. President Bush and the GOP have proposed fundamentally reforming both massive entitlements, which threaten to devastate our economy if left untouched. Gov. Vilsack and his fellow Democrats have done nothing but demagogue and marginalize these initiatives (Health Savings Accounts and Individual Retirement Accounts).
The governor then proposes raising taxes on the “rich.” Wow, what a novel concept. Is it any wonder Democrats consistently lose elections? They ignore the empirical evidence that across-the-board marginal tax cuts increase tax revenues to the federal treasury, reduce the deficit, and increase investment, employment and economic growth.
In contrast, every time taxes are raised, especially on society’s productive members (the “rich”), tax revenues, investment, employment and economic growth have always decreased. Remember Jimmy Carter’s “stagflation” and economic “misery index”?
Gregg Jackson
Co-Host of “Pundit Review Radio’
680 WRKO Boston’s Talk Station
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