Economists' statement opposing the Obama... oops I mean Bush tax cuts

[pam4water]

Remember this ad in the New York Times in 2003?

Economic growth, though positive, has not been sufficient to generate jobs and prevent unemployment from rising. In fact, there are now more than two million fewer private sector jobs than at the start of the current recession. Overcapacity, corporate scandals, and uncertainty have and will continue to weigh down the economy.

The tax cut plan proposed by President Bush is not the answer to these problems. Regardless of how one views the specifics of the Bush plan, there is wide agreement that its purpose is a permanent change in the tax structure and not the creation of jobs and growth in the near-term. The permanent dividend tax cut, in particular, is not credible as a short-term stimulus. As tax reform, the dividend tax cut is misdirected in that it targets individuals rather than corporations, is overly complex, and could be, but is not, part of a revenue-neutral tax reform effort.

Passing these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook, adding to the nation’s projected chronic deficits. This fiscal deterioration will reduce the capacity of the government to finance Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as investments in schools, health, infrastructure, and basic research. Moreover, the proposed tax cuts will generate further inequalities in after-tax income.

To be effective, a stimulus plan should rely on immediate but temporary spending and tax measures to expand demand, and it should also rely on immediate but temporary incentives for investment. Such a stimulus plan would spur growth and jobs in the short term without exacerbating the long-term budget outlook.

Signatories

Over 450 economists signed the statement, including the following ten Nobel Prize Laureates

* George Akerlof, University of California – Berkeley
* Kenneth J. Arrow, Stanford University
* Lawrence R. Klein University of Pennsylvania
* Daniel L. McFadden University of California – Berkeley
* Franco Modigliani Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Douglass C. North Washington University
* Paul A. Samuelson Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* William F. Sharpe Stanford University
* Robert M. Solow Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Joseph Stiglitz Columbia University

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economists%27_statement_opposing_the_Bush_tax_cuts
http://www.epi.org/page/-/old/stmt/2003/statement_signed.pdf

Anyone got a spare $1,400 dollars to run it again in the New Times, with the work Bush struck out and followed by Obama? I can throw $50 and a five dollar target gift card XD Or maybe know one of the signer who would be willing to run it again. Seven years have past but nothing has changed.

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[rucky]

2. That was meant to be a warning, not an instruction manual.

[pam4water]

3. Well there are some instructions in there, but since Obama is looking to cut taxes even more than

Bush did, and since David Axelrod and other people from the Obama administration are turning the talk shows saying all economist agree the tax cut will stimulate the economy it's time to dust off the warning.