First a caveat - I have no training whatsoever in economics. I'm a tobacco and cattle farmer and make wood carvings as a side line. I just had what seemed like a good idea while drinking my coffee this morning and decided to toss it out into the ether to be shot down or improved on or whatever. I don't think my idea is new at all. It's just my own distillation of more complicated things others have said over and over.
My idea is that the low rate of capital gains taxation is what has ruined the economy and is still doing so.
If capital gains taxes were higher, there would be a some dis-incentive to sell stocks whenever they're up and move on to whatever is perceived to be on the upswing. This constant movement of capital to whatever part of the economic pie the speculators think is still headed upward fuels one bubble after another without adding any real value to the overall economy.
Republicans constantly say that higher capital gain tax rates will discourage investment, but it seems to me the only thing higher capital gains tax rates would discourage is jumping from one investment to another.
What I just said seems so simple that it surely must have been said thousands of times over by people smarter than me. If it is indeed as simple as I have put it, why doesn't someone from our side make a counter argument whenever someone like Mitch McConnell says raising capital gains rates will stifle job creation? Have I vastly oversimplified? Am I off the mark entirely?