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GOP and Tea BAggers to force government shutdown

Marcus said:
And right now what we really need are start-ups that employ people.
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You're probably referring to this:

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.), March 7, 2011 – During the Great Recession, more Americans have become entrepreneurs than at any time in the past 15 years. However, while the economy and its high unemployment rates may have pressed more individuals into business ownership, most of them are going it alone, rather than starting companies that employ others.

According to the "Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity," a leading indicator of new business creation in the United States, 0.34 percent of American adults created a business per month in 2010, or 565,000 new businesses, a rate that remained consistent with 2009 and represents the highest level of entrepreneurship over the past decade and a half.
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I haven't looked into this much but intuition says the internet has a lot to do with the single employer nature of start-ups. You can have economies of scale and compete with the likes of Walmart-Target, or your favorite duopoly, with a no employee enterprise. Employing others or not, I don't see how the highest entrepreneurial activity in 15 years is a long term drag (and that number is in real terms). To me, the high rate of sole proprietors is a sign of low capital start-ups (read: low risk), and many of the survivors will eventually grow. Despite problems that pale in comparison to the Great Depression, WWI and II, Korea, stagflation, and Warren Buffett-esque fear mongering over 1832 China, the future of America is great.
 
I'm not sure just how they define "entrepreneurial activity" - - tried looking it up but didn't find much...

so my guess is that the increase might also be in part due to some of the corporate downsizing and the rehiring of riffed employees as "independent contractors" - - I know several people that have been in that situation, and have started their own businesses to be rehired by their former employer
 
moevillini said:
I'm not sure just how they define "entrepreneurial activity" - - tried looking it up but didn't find much...

so my guess is that the increase might also be in part due to some of the corporate downsizing and the rehiring of riffed employees as "independent contractors" - - I know several people that have been in that situation, and have started their own businesses to be rehired by their former employer
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yep. All you need to be a "business" is one customer, say a contractor with an occasional odd job for you, the door-hanger, to do. You get maybe five "gigs" a month at $30 each. But you get to expense your commute to the site and back, and maybe the lunch at the nearby McD, and pro-rate the expense of your phone,computer, and den for the time you spend on the 'net "looking for work". Oh, and you "get" to buy your own health and life insurance. . . . oh, and you get to expense the driving at whatever the per-mile allowance is nowadays. . . . . and you flip burgers at McD too.

I'm not sure this is all positive. . . . .

But maybe a lot of folks are thorought fed up with Corporate Ameerica and government "help".

That could be a very good long-overdue development.
 
I don't think it's such a good thing that so many people are becoming entrepreneurs. I've been in business for myself for the last twelve years, and it's not as fluffy and fun as many people make it out to be. I think a lot of people go into business for themselves because it seems like the easier way to go (me, for example), only to find that it's a bitch of epic measure, and quit months/years later, often depleting any money or resources that they had. This rash of 'entrepreneurs' will very likely become next years welfare cases.
 
Marcus said:
Regarding the corporate tax thing. You specifically used GE.
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Actually GE was an exemplar of a specific instance. I posted a much larger report showing that, when compared to all OECD countries, the US had effectively the third lowest corporate tax rate.

GE's profits were all made using off shore divisions and fancy accounting. It's a shame that the US government doesn't realize that keeping a company in the US and only taxing them at 10% is a better return than taxing them at 35% and getting nothing because they set up shop in a different country. 10% of 9 billion is better than 0% which is what GE has paid to the US the last two years. Rather than several other countries getting a cut of taxes paid by GE the US should just lower their rates and get everything from GE.
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You clearly missed the point. 35% is NOT the actual American corporate tax rate. Rattling off a nominal tax rate like it means anything in terms of actual tax burdens is silly.

Furthermore the idea of the US getting the entire GE tax base is not a realistic possibility. There are more factors that go into this than pure tax rates including incentives (GE claimed large credits that are arguably socially productive), globalization, and differing banking rules. The solution is not always lower taxes and less regulation. Ask Iceland how that worked out for them.

The US needs to lower their corporate tax rate and then close all of the damn loopholes. GE is only doing what they are allowed to do under US tax law. It seems absolutely silly to me that the US would even have a 35% tax if nobody actually pays 35%.
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If the goal was only simplicity rather than a mix of priorities I would agree with you. But it's not, so I don't.

There's a reason a lot of countries are lowering their corporate taxes. It brings in large corporations. Japan, Ireland and Canada have all lowered, or are getting ready to lower, their corporate tax rates.
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All of which are still higher than US tax rates once you take into account deductions. Corporate taxation as a percentage of GDP in the United States is extremely low (which given the number of corporations in the US is actually astonishing because the number should be comparatively weighted upwards.) At some point you have to wrap your brain around the idea that it doesn't matter what the percentage on paper is if the amount paid is less. I can put on paper that my tax is 100%, but if everyone knows that you'll really pay 1% then all but the least sophisticated understand the rate is meaningless.

All you're doing is repeating talking points that are just as meaningless today as they were 15 years ago when they were formulated.

Look at it this way, if there are two stores selling the same product but one has it listed at 9.99 and the other at 19.99 but will give you the product for 9.99 if you fill out the paperwork, send it in and wait for a rebate why would you bother going to the second store at all?
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A lamer analogy than the "US budget as household budget" one. Here's the rub: these are taxes. You have to do the paperwork no matter what.

Why bother when I can open shop in Canada at 16.5% and cut out all the crap?
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Because you'll actually pay more in Canada? Oh wait, I forgot, your comprehension of the subject is surface level only.

Then again, I guess lawyers and accountants need jobs too.
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We'll do just fine regardless.
 
Agoxlea said:
What a generality. Here is ONE example that disproves your post.

Ezra Klein argues that cutting spending makes sense in a strong economy, but is harmful in a weak economy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/2011-is-not-1995/2011/04/06/AFxPaT5C_blog.html
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LOL! He agreed that when the Republicans cut spending in 1995 it was the right thing to do only to make the point that it isn't right to cut spending right now during Obamanomics because it would hurt Obama's election chances. He also goes on to credit the "Obama administration economists" for those cuts. WTF?

You'll need to give me a time when liberals have proposed their own spending cuts.
 
franklin said:
I see you don't consider Bill Clinton a liberal.
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Fine.

There is no time in which liberals think budget cutting is appropriate....unless the Republicans take over congress after 40 years of Dem control and shut down the government unless you go with their budget cuts.
 
Millsapa said:
LOL! He agreed that when the Republicans cut spending in 1995 it was the right thing to do only to make the point that it isn't right to cut spending right now during Obamanomics because it would hurt Obama's election chances. He also goes on to credit the "Obama administration economists" for those cuts. WTF?

You'll need to give me a time when liberals have proposed their own spending cuts.
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It doesn't matter who made the cuts, that is a liberal that approved of a budget cut at one time. I hope "There is no time in which liberals think budget cutting is appropriate." was not intended to be a factual statement.
 
I find it funny to watch the news and see the clips of everybody in the government tripping over themselves talking about cutting the budget. Good hell, wasn't it just last year that they were spending money like it was going out of style? (Disclaimer: I'm talking about both sides of the aisle here.) Why the sudden change of heart?
 
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