CARPE DIEM
Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
Monday, November 03, 2008
About Me
- Name: Mark J. Perry
- Location: Washington, D.C., United States
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
Previous Posts
- If You Tax Something, You Get Less of It
- Chart of the Day: GRE Scores By Academic Field
- Why The Mortgage Crisis Happened: The Timeline
- The Father of Modern Portfolio Theory on the Crisis
- The Candidates Make Their Case in the WSJ
- Demon Ethanol Is In a Coma
- Housing Affordability Close to 4-Year High in Sept.
- Veteran Energy Economist: Oil Headed for $20-25
- U.S. Oil Companies Paid, Collected More in Taxes (...
- Daylight Saving Time Costs Nation $1.7 Billion
5 Comments:
What are the odds for an ensuing socialist nightmare?
The only encouraging factor is that international events very often trump politicians and their misguided visions. GWB envisaged a presidency focused on domestic issues but 9-11 completely changed the agenda.
Agree that hiking taxes, eliminating foreign tax credits, trade protectionism, putting the thumbscrews to major trading partners and threatening unilateral withdrawal from NAFTA, bombing countries without informing their governments, presidential recognition of the world's dictators without any pre-conditions, extending welfare in the guise of fully refundable tax credits to those who don't pay taxes(tax cuts in Obama speak)...yes, lot's to worry about.
You are dealing with a neophyte but he's a quick study who adjusts his message to the audience. What you are really getting is anyone's guess. He can't be for NAFTA and against it at the same time.
What we are really getting is a blank check for Barney Frank and his ilk.
Let's hope they terrify the Republicans enough to effect another 1994.
Today is election day and unlike most of my fellow citizens, I am not excited or hopeful about the outcome. You see, I don’t think it really matters who wins this election. No matter who is elected, our country is nearing a tipping point from which I fear we will never return. We are no longer a country of competing ideas and ideals. We are a country of competing factions of dependence, all scrambling for scraps at the table of the state. We are now facing what thinkers from Plato to de Tocqueville to Mill to Nietzsche called the Tyranny of the Majority.
Almost 45% of our citizens pay no federal tax and that figure is likely to rise no matter who is elected. Yes, if Obama is elected it will likely exceed the magic 50% level sooner than if McCain is elected, but the rise is inexorable. When it is no longer in the majority’s interest to restrain the state in matters of taxation, it will not be restrained in any matter. Politicians now bribe the majority with favors offered from the purse of the minority.
I voted today, but I did not vote for either Obama or McCain. I did not vote for an incumbent. I did not vote for any amendment which would expand the power of the state over the individual. I do not expect my vote to matter, but I have registered my disgust with the current state of affairs. I urge you to do the same.
joe,
Have to agree with you. The present scramble for a share of the perks seems a far cry from JFK's words:
"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
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