• Daniel Mitchell, PhD, Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute and former Senior Fellow for the Heritage Foundation
• Stephen Moore, member of the Editorial Board for the Wall Street Journal and senior economics writer
• Richard Rahn, PhD, Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, Chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth. He is also a weekly economic columnist for The Washington Times.

During this engaging, high energy discussion on the role that government has played in the financial crisis of today, we are enlightened by the experts in causes, solutions, and cautions regarding budget deficits, United States debt and taxes.

Richard Rahn addresses supply side economics. Supply side economics is:

“a school of macroeconomic thought that argues that economic growth can be most effectively created using incentives for people to produce (supply) goods and services, such as adjusting income tax and capital gains tax rates, and by allowing greater flexibility by reducing regulation.”

Taxes

Addressing the flat tax, Richard Rahn says that it is presently used in 26-28 countries. However, Iceland is getting rid of their flat tax, which was too high at 37%. Flat tax is supposed to be a low rate system as it is in Central and Eastern Europe. He says flat tax is not a silver bullet. More growth and more entrepreneurship is still needed.

Stephen Moore and Daniel Mitchell also address the tax situation and address the fair tax. The fair tax is a national consumption tax that is essentially a sales tax. This would eliminate the need for corporate and personal income tax. They assert that this would be a dream come true and of great benefit, saying that the world is passing us by.  They warn, the United States may have to raise taxes to pay for the new health care system.

Spending some time to discuss big government and 2010, they touch on tax cuts, government spending and predict that the death tax, capital gains and personal taxes will go up in 2010.  The offer warnings on the vat tax as well.

Wrapping up the conversation, they discuss the Laffer Curve, tax rates, taxable income and tax revenue and how tax is collected. Citing  history, they discuss the President Regan Administration and the current concern about a massive tax increase on the middle class.

This episode offers compelling inside into today’s economic times. We welcome your comments on the episode below.

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1802 – 10.04.09

The international economy is more competitive than it has been in the last 20 years.  Moore spends time discussing the importance of the tax plans in relation to the US economy and in keeping the US economy competitive with the international economy.  He goes into detail mentioning corporate tax, fair tax, death tax, estate tax, income tax, state tax, etc.

In discussing fair trade versus free trade, Moore contends for free trade as it holds down prices on things that are globally traded, thus keeping the prices down.

The implications of foreign countries funding the American debt is discussed in detail. Foreigners have had confidence in the US economy for years, thus trillions of dollars in foreign investments are a part of our national debt. If foreigners were to choose to switch to another currency, we could be in a serious crisis.

Guest, David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States, offered his viewpoint on where the nation stands economically in regards to the weak dollar.  Moore follows his comments discussing the need for the U.S. to lesson off-shore oil drilling and take advantage of national resources.

They end the discussion stating that no country as ever gotten rich by devaluing their currency. Poor government policies have an affect on consumers, multi-national corporations and the world.

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1712 – 11.23.08