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August 9, 2007
Bush's Imposes Largest Tax Increase in Decades
On the tax front, the president has recently threatened to use his veto pen to prevent any tax increases on anyone, and to harp about more tax cuts for corporations. He wants Americans to believe they are better off with lower taxes across the board for everyone.
Not so fast.
One thing you'll never hear this president, or anyone in his administration, discuss is the collapse -- yes, COLLAPSE! -- of the Dollar against the world's other currencies during the past five years.
For example, since August 2002, the Dollar has fallen 30% against the Euro. Look at this graph for a visual..
That fall in the Dollar is, I believe, the equivalent of a tax increase. Why? Well, it is true American-made goods have become cheaper abroad, so those lucky corporations keep their workers working. And American services -- like Disney World -- have become cheaper for Europeans to purchase, so those service workers wearing Mickey Mouse outfits keep wearing.
But in relative terms . . . in relative terms . . . the cost for Americans to enjoy Disney World has gone up 30% in five years. The cost for Americans to buy European goods and services has gone up 30% in five years. Now if you make a $1 million per year, that 30% increase hurts, but it doesn't stop you from buying. If you make, say, $50,000 per year year, well, now that's a different story altogether.
This administration made the short-sighted, and I would submit (surprise!) political decision to devalue the Dollar by borrowing from our nation's competitors to do what?
To finance its tax cuts, corporate welfare for drug companies and health insurers, and -- worst of all -- to pay for our national security.
That's all very pain-free for Americans on the surface because who really feels the slow, progressive fall of the Dollar anyway?
But Americans, across the board and relative to the global economy on which we depend so much now for our basic goods and services, have been subjected to the largest tax increase under the Bush Administration since, well, World War II maybe.
Of course, something so complicated as a 30% drop in the dollar against the rest of the world, and the relative increase by 30% of key foreign goods and services purchased by every-day, average Americans, is just so un-newsworthy and hard to say in 30 seconds that no one talks about it.
I have to believe that there came a critical tipping point for the economy of the Great Roman Empire when its currency flowed out to purchase foreign goods and services at progressively growing, irreversible rates that it ultimately destroyed the Empire's ability to sustain itself . . . militarily, socially, and culturally.
Posted by shertaugh at August 9, 2007 8:59 AM