Democratic politics from the center
International News
Cameron-like concervatism in the U.S.?
Jul 24th
According to Michael Gerson UK conservatism is the biggest threat to democrats and President Obama. His column argues that republicans may regain power by proposing austerity measures in the mold Cameron’s June 22, budget.
It’d be interesting to see if his prediction materialize. This would require — as he acknowledges — the republicans to raise taxes (on the wealthy); a crucial step that they seem unwilling to take. Congress is going to have to vote for tax hikes as well as spending cuts to successfully decrease the deficit. Cuts would not only impact welfare programs but also the defense department, including its off budget items (Iraq and Afghanistan). Are the republicans ready for that?
Dan Mitchell needs to develop his criticism of the Greek debt crisis
May 3rd
Dan Mitchell is a fellow at the CATO institute where he focuses on tax policy. He is a fervent proponent of tax havens and low tax initiatives. I found one of his recent posts on the front page of Digg.com (here) where he criticized a Times article regarding the Greek debt crisis:
A quick look at the budget numbers reveals that tax revenues have remained relatively constant in recent years, consuming nearly 40 percent of GDP.
Mitchell doesn’t provide any data to back-up his analysis, but nevertheless he is wrong. A quick look at the Greek GDP shows that it has grown at a rate of over 35% since 2005. This means that tax revenue has lagged behind GDP growth by a significant margin. Where has all the money gone? I’m not taking a stand on the issue at this point. I’m just trying to “clear out” the clutter. I’d love to hear Mitchell’s response