Saturday, October 28, 2006
Be afraid ...
A great many conservatives have posited that it might not be such a bad thing if the GOP loses control of the U.S. House. Today's Wall Street Journal explains that if the Democrats win control of the House, those of us who believe in free-markets should be afraid ... very afraid. A sample:
"[Wannabe Speaker Nancy] Pelosi says reversing [the 2003] tax cuts "at the high end" would be 'an early resort.' This would raise the top income and dividend tax rate back to 39.6% from 35%, and the capital-gains rate back to 20% from 15%, substantially raising the cost of new investment in the United States. Economist John Rutledge estimates that raising the dividend rate alone would reduce the value of the S&P 500 stocks by between 5% and 8.5%, roughly a $500 to $700 billion decline in the wealth of the 52% of American households that own stock."
"[Wannabe Speaker Nancy] Pelosi says reversing [the 2003] tax cuts "at the high end" would be 'an early resort.' This would raise the top income and dividend tax rate back to 39.6% from 35%, and the capital-gains rate back to 20% from 15%, substantially raising the cost of new investment in the United States. Economist John Rutledge estimates that raising the dividend rate alone would reduce the value of the S&P 500 stocks by between 5% and 8.5%, roughly a $500 to $700 billion decline in the wealth of the 52% of American households that own stock."
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Saturday, October 28, 2006 
