Posted by
J.E. Rendini on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 12:35:36 PM
Rep.
Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) has said it best. His criticism of the President and the bailout proposal stands out strongly. But I would like to add my own two cents. Any bailout proposal should include:
- The Elimination of the corporate income tax: In the last debate, Obama ravaged McCain by claiming McCain favored tax cuts for "rich" corporations. This is nonsense. There is no such thing as a "rich" corporation. In fact, there is no such thing as a corporation. A corporation is a legal fiction. It is just a useful notion existing entirely in our heads. Corporate officers, directors, shareholders or employees may or may not be rich, but corporations certainly are not. Since corporations are not real things, they really do not pay taxes. Instead, they pass on the impact of taxes aimed at them to real people. Corporate taxes are paid either by shareholders in the form of diminshed profits or by people who purchase the corporation's goods or services in the form of higher prices. Both shareholder and purchaser groups contain many, many people who are low or middle income. Corporate income taxes simply make life generally more expensive and, when life is generally more expensive, there is less money around to pay the salaries of low and middle income people. Eliminating the corporate income tax may favor certain rich individuals, but we can compensate for any unfair advantage to rich individuals by adjusting their individual income tax burdens. But by eliminating the corporate income tax we will give American corporations tremendous competitive advantages in the world marketplace, free them from onerous accounting requirements, and free up a tremendous amount of corporate funds that can go to creating profits that go into our 401Ks and adding jobs that pay us salaries.
- The Resignation and permanent exclusion from any type of public office or employment of certain named politicians who are obviously responsible for letting Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae get out of hand, including specifically Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. Many people on Wall Street will see their careers destroyed because of this debacle. Many people on Main Street will suffer real deprivation in the form of lost investments and lost homes. It is unconscionable that the politicians responsible escape the consequences of THEIR OWN bad decisions. Public humiliation, disgrace and banishment are appropriate. Actually, tar and feathers and being run out of town on a rail are appropriate, but humiliation, disgrace and banishment are acceptable.