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Highlands Today

Economic Stimulus Runs Counter To Common Sense

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 7, 2009

Extraordinary times require extraordinary actions, the experts say. That's why President-elect Barack Obama is pushing for tax cuts and government spending. This runs counter to how most of us think, considering that the last thing any of us would do is dig deeper in debt when debt is what's sinking us in the first place. But many people much smarter than most of us say this is necessary.

Obama wants to cut $300 billion in taxes as quickly as possible. That means a tax cut of $500 per single person or $1,000 for couples. These cuts would show up on our paychecks, not in a rebate. Businesses hiring new workers or holding off on layoffs also would receive tax benefits.

It's clear that Obama has bold changes coming to turn the economy around. By bold we mean amazingly expensive. We've already pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into banks trying to keep them lending money, even though many of those banks are not doing that. It seems like only local banks who didn't risk everything by going for bad home loans are in a position to loan money. Those bankers must be feeling good these days, as well they should.

Americans are at the mercy of their leaders. We want to believe they know best because none of us have a clue how to pull our nation out of a recession. The hard part is accepting ideas that are so opposite of what common sense tells us.

Everyone agrees that cutting taxes is wonderful, but most thinking people also understand that there are only two ways to fix a massive deficit and those are slashing the budget or maintaining - or even raising - taxes. Obviously a combination of these things makes the most sense. Instead our top economists believe it's time to spend to stimulate the economy and that money will come back to us when everything is running smoothly.

We hope they're right about this. The thought of our children and grandchildren paying off our debts is sickening. After all, we're responsible. We elected the people who caused this and didn't hold them accountable. We're paying for it now, though, and will continue to do so.

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