[A Quiet Boom]

Originally posted by campbellcj
I'm not a huge Bush fan, but Kerry's "Robin Hood Economics" just fly in the face of common sense and grade school mathematics.

The economic plan document on his web site includes such fascinating elements as "Increasing Efficiency of the Government", which he values at $50B. Now how is he going to do that when his other plans seemingly are to TRIPLE spending on homeland security, healthcare, and education, among other lavish expansions that will GROW the government dramatically?

Increasing the tax burden on small businesspeople and high-income individuals is absolutely the wrong thing to do. Depending how far it goes, I might need to lay off one or two people to stay profitable and competitive. The laid-off persons would of course fall within the "working middle class" that Kerry claims to love so much. While unemployed, they would also get to enjoy paying higher prices for goods and services, since manufacturers will have to pass on their higher costs to customers.

But, at least they'll have federalized healthcare, right? Well, that assumes that any quality medical practicioners actually join the govt plan, which will undoubtedly offer crappy reimbursement rates and massive bureaucratic hassles. Does Kerry really think he can undercut the big HMO's using civil servant labor? Does he really think the big pharmas are going to cut their drug prices (and profits) by 75% just because he asks them nicely?

I wish somebody could explain to me how taking money from our investors and employers to redistribute to the "middle class" and social/welfare causes will benefit our overall economy. Kerry or Edwards sure have not made that clear in my mind thus far.

Exactly! The problem is most Americans are too ignorant of the workings of economics to understand the point. 401k's are changing this somewhat as more and more people want to learn about how their retirement funds are performing.