Wow! From St. Ronnie's White House, David Stockman, architect of trickle down economics, says raise taxes:
Q: Give me your prescription to fix the economy.
A: We have to eat our broccoli for a good period of time. And that means our taxes are going to go up on everybody, not just the rich...Let the Bush tax cuts expire. Let the capital gains go back to the same rate as ordinary income. (Capital gains are taxed at 15 percent, while ordinary income is taxed at marginal rates up to 35 percent.)
I think hell may have just frozen over...
Stockman's presecription comes in a wide ranging interview with the AP. He still has some slimy things to say, but to read a person of his political bent (GOP) call for higher taxes is almost unbeliveable as reading this:
Here's the heart of the matter: The Fed is a patsy. It is a pathetic dependent of the big Wall Street banks, traders and hedge funds. Everything (it does) is designed to keep this rickety structure from unwinding. If you had a (former Fed Chairman) Paul Volcker running the Fed today — fearless and independent and willing to scare the hell out of the market any day of the week — you wouldn't have half, you wouldn't have 95 percent, of the speculative positions today.
Q: You sound as if we're facing a financial crisis like the one that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
A: Oh, far worse than Lehman. When the real margin call in the great beyond arrives, the carnage will be unimaginable.
This borders on the surreal for me. Has David Stockman had a religious experience that he could attack his own like this? It certainly feels as if he's telling the truth. I won't include any more of the interview here, but Stockman's words are chilling, the house of cards has yet to fully unwind and the economic growth we've been experiencing is rickety and yet may be the best we'll have for a decade.
OK, just one more delicious quote. When asked why increase capital gains taxes, Stockman replied:
With capital gains, they give you this mythology: You're going to encourage a bunch of more jobs to appear. No, most of capital gains goes to speculators in real estate and other assets who basically lever up companies, lever up buildings, use the current income to pay the interest and after a holding period then sell the residual, the equity, and get it taxed at 15 percent.[ed. He's looking at you Mitt!]
Trickle down? Job creators? Myths!