Why do many think the Bush tax cuts were such a failure?
When Bush took office the effects of the bursting of the Dot.Com bubble were just rearing their ugly heads. Then on 9/11/01 the economy took another major hit. Both of these things caused the tax revenues to decrease. That's where the 'surplus' actually went.
Then Bush managed to get his (temporary) tax cuts inacted. If you look at what actually happened you see tax revenues start to climb more rapidly. And the jobless rate dropped to the lowest point it had been in decades until the housing bubble burst.
Now when that happened the tax revenues dropped like a stone. But that wasn't because of the tax cuts. It was because a lot less money was moving in the economy. So why do so many people think Bush's tax cuts were the cause of the deficits?
Deficits occur when government spending doesn't reflect changes in the economy.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Reality.
(p.s. - it's 'enacted')
You make a good point, but there is one thing you have to remember, and that "job/jobless rates" are done up by some bean counter with a spreadsheet. It is nothing but statistical manipulation. What those rates do NOT factor in are the number of people no longer on unemployment because it has run out. Those people are no longer part of the jobless statistic. Nor does that account for the increase in people who chose to take early retirement in order to have an income. Those people are not reflected in the rates. During the "lowest po int" in the jobless rate, there were millions of people not even included in the jobless statistics. Independent contractors and small mom and pop business owners are not eligible for unemployment benefits. It was during this low unemployment --mostly service jobs in places like Starbucks or as someone's maid -- that thousands of thousands of computer whizes, who worked out of a spare bedroom at home, were suddenly unemployed, and without any benefits, ergo, not part of the statistics.
The tax cuts really didn't get down to the right people. And remember this, if you're not paying taxes because you have no income, tax cuts mean nothing to you. Those kind of tax cuts aren't the help you need.
to Quote Warren Buffet, " the yachts have risen and the row boats where left behind". He also says and I agree that trickle down has just not happened.
Watching the economy go into the toilet.
Republicans suck. Democrats suck.
So, when I rip on your hero, Bush, you know I'm not doing it because I worship the idiot, Obama.
Isn't that just a tad unsettling to you?
It wasn't. Only buttheads think it was.
ignorance.