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America is broke. If you want to tax the rich you need to let them into the country. And people buying a house aren't that rich anyway. Besides, this is very si

by temphn 15y ago

America is broke. If you want to tax the rich you need to let them into the country. And people buying a house aren't that rich anyway. Besides, this is very similar to the immigration policy of Canada or Singapore, which also give points if you buy property and start a business in the country. Their economies are vastly outperforming ours and it might be worth emulating them.

OstiaAntica 15y ago
Even with the current slowdown, U.S. per capita GDP is much higher than Canada's. Singapore, as an island city-state, isn't really comparable to the U.S. It is more like Manhattan, and the government in Singapore can implement fairly heavy-handed policies that are not feasible on a continental US-scale.
yummyfajitas 15y ago
Although Singapore is outperforming our economy (on a per-capita basis), Canada is not. Why do you believe emulating them will get us Singapore-like benefits rather than Canada-like harms? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_...
- temphn 15y ago
  yummy: good question, and let me preface by saying I'm generally sympathetic to your worldview. I think the answer is that this policy is pretty much directly guaranteed to increase the human capital and GDP-per-capita of the receiving country. Canada does plenty of other stuff badly, but if you've seen the latest Heritage ranking they actually exceed the US in economic freedom for the first time ever. With the exception of an enlightened, merit-based immigration policy Canada isn't doing many things right...but it is doing far less that is grievously wrong than the US. I'd take even odds that once the pending true economic collapse happens (including devaluation of the dollar, tuition bubble pop, Euro breakup, et alia), that Canada will have a higher GDP-per-capita than the US within 5 years and certainly within 10. But this takes us far afield.
- pyre 15y ago
  1. The Canadian economy is largely based on exporting goods to the US or exporting natural resources world-wide. 2. When the Canadian dollar reaches par with the US dollar, the benefits of US companies doing things across the bordering Canada rapidly evaporates. This means that economies like Ontario start doing poorly, while economies like Alberta and British Columbia that have natural resources to export start doing better (well, at least when coupled with an increase in oil prices.. because the tar sands become viable). 3. A lot of money comes into the Canadian economy through the entertainment industry. There are huge tax breaks in Ontario (specifically Toronto) and BC (specifically Vancouver) for doing things there, in addition to the exchange rate (when the US dollar is riding higher).
Cushman 15y ago
The Fed is broke. America is as rich as ever. We were taxing the rich progressively for decades and doing great as a country. The past decade has been great for the rich, but horrible for the country. The number one factor preventing investment today is not taxes, but lack of confidence brought about by a crippled economy brought about by haphazardly lowered taxes. How Congress managed to convince us this is a moral issue instead of one of straightforward math I'll never understand.
- wanorris 15y ago
  I think your analysis is half right: it explains why the rich are doing better, but not why the poor are doing worse. The latter is occurring because the shift of manufacturing to lower-cost countries has increasingly eliminated the possibility of middle class jobs for those without a college degree. Manufacturing jobs have been replaced with low-value-add service jobs, which naturally result in lower pay. Even if we were to ratchet taxes on the wealthy back up, this wouldn't do anything to bring high-value-add manufacturing jobs back.

by temphn 15y ago

OstiaAntica 15y ago

Even with the current slowdown, U.S. per capita GDP is much higher than Canada's. Singapore, as an island city-state, isn't really comparable to the U.S. It is more like Manhattan, and the government in Singapore can implement fairly heavy-handed policies that are not feasible on a continental US-scale.

yummyfajitas 15y ago

Although Singapore is outperforming our economy (on a per-capita basis), Canada is not. Why do you believe emulating them will get us Singapore-like benefits rather than Canada-like harms? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_...

temphn 15y ago
yummy: good question, and let me preface by saying I'm generally sympathetic to your worldview. I think the answer is that this policy is pretty much directly guaranteed to increase the human capital and GDP-per-capita of the receiving country. Canada does plenty of other stuff badly, but if you've seen the latest Heritage ranking they actually exceed the US in economic freedom for the first time ever. With the exception of an enlightened, merit-based immigration policy Canada isn't doing many things right...but it is doing far less that is grievously wrong than the US. I'd take even odds that once the pending true economic collapse happens (including devaluation of the dollar, tuition bubble pop, Euro breakup, et alia), that Canada will have a higher GDP-per-capita than the US within 5 years and certainly within 10. But this takes us far afield.
pyre 15y ago
1. The Canadian economy is largely based on exporting goods to the US or exporting natural resources world-wide. 2. When the Canadian dollar reaches par with the US dollar, the benefits of US companies doing things across the bordering Canada rapidly evaporates. This means that economies like Ontario start doing poorly, while economies like Alberta and British Columbia that have natural resources to export start doing better (well, at least when coupled with an increase in oil prices.. because the tar sands become viable). 3. A lot of money comes into the Canadian economy through the entertainment industry. There are huge tax breaks in Ontario (specifically Toronto) and BC (specifically Vancouver) for doing things there, in addition to the exchange rate (when the US dollar is riding higher).

Cushman 15y ago

The Fed is broke. America is as rich as ever. We were taxing the rich progressively for decades and doing great as a country. The past decade has been great for the rich, but horrible for the country. The number one factor preventing investment today is not taxes, but lack of confidence brought about by a crippled economy brought about by haphazardly lowered taxes. How Congress managed to convince us this is a moral issue instead of one of straightforward math I'll never understand.

wanorris 15y ago
I think your analysis is half right: it explains why the rich are doing better, but not why the poor are doing worse. The latter is occurring because the shift of manufacturing to lower-cost countries has increasingly eliminated the possibility of middle class jobs for those without a college degree. Manufacturing jobs have been replaced with low-value-add service jobs, which naturally result in lower pay. Even if we were to ratchet taxes on the wealthy back up, this wouldn't do anything to bring high-value-add manufacturing jobs back.