Remember this Newt Gingrich fellow? I know he's been pretty much irrelevant for the past ten years, but he used to be speaker of the house until he ran his public image into the ground by getting caught up in a few games of ethical limbo and becoming a polarizing figure in the public eye. Now he has signaled he's somewhat interested in running for president in 2012 and just so happened to stop by a Republican stronghold in a swing state last night to diss a stimulus plan supported by our popular Democratic president and our popular Republican governor.
Gingrich spoke in Naples as part of the Naples 2009 Town Hall Distinguished Speakers Series. Gingrich's answer to the economic mess: more tax cuts and giving money away! How refreshing for a Republican to have such a novel idea! If only George W. Bush would have cut taxes and given the lot of us $600 stimulus checks, surely we would have never been in this financial hole. But to be fair, we're pretty sure Gingrich is much smarter and more politically savvy than Bush.
From the Naples Daily News:
"(Our) tradition is simple," he said. "You can have as big of a dream if you want to work hard."Working hard doesn't mean looking for bailouts, he said..
..Instead, he told audience members, the government should begin to
look at ways to make the United States more competitive with China and
India. Those steps, he said, can be made by reducing the corporate tax
rate and eliminating the capital gain[s] tax."
Also, I understand we could be more competitive with China and India if we only got rid of these silly notions of human rights, minimum wage, benefits, and the myth of a middle class. Did you also know China and India have capital gains taxes? Riptide is not an economist, though, so really, we should just trust Gingrich; band together; work hard; dream, baby, dream; and cut the hell out of those taxes. The banks will magically fix themselves -- don't worry about it. Because this crisis we're going through right now, this monumental crisis that looks like it might only get worse, is not the result of a convoluted and greed-based banking and credit system. Nope, it's just that we were paying too many taxes.
Gingrich is right that we have to be worried about the rise of China
and India, but I'd like to think the solution is not as easy as
lowering some tax rates.
