Reducing income tax? THEN WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT GOING TO GET THE MONEY TO BAIL YOU OUT OF DEBT, YOU MORON?
Edit: *puts head in hands* No, we can't "let the banks pay for their mistakes by going under". You know why? Because they're banks. They're not your local deli. They own people's money. When they go under, they TAKE THAT MONEY WITH THEM. So letting banks "go under" means lots and lots of people's money disappears. Like, you know, in 1929? Remember that? That is why the government is bailing out banks. Not because of some vast, nebulous government conspiracy that is devoted to helping the super-rich get richer.
Also: One thing that has never, ever made sense to me is why food prices are not counted in a measure of inflation. Isn't food the one thing that everyone is absolutely guaranteed to buy? So isn't that a better gauge of spending power than, say, extraneous electronics?
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Food is counted in measures of inflation.
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpifaq.htm#Question_7
Also, the FDIC is supposed to bail out banks. What's happening now is that the Fed is bailing out investment houses. There's a big difference.
Yes, Ian. But that's becuase the banks are so exposed to the investment houses (in a number of complex and non-complex ways) that if said investment house were allowed to go under, some banks would fail, other banks would take huge write downs, we would face a financial disaster larger then the one we are already facing. The fed, not known for it's generosity isn't just reaching out a helping hand.
Trust me, if we light up our sparklers to dance on the grave of big business on this one, we should enjoy the sparklers while they burn, since we're dancing on our own graves too.
That said, of course lowering taxes isn't a option.
And not only is food counted in inflation, it's counted in core inflation. Eggs, for example, have gone up 40% year over year.
The way I understand it, banks nowadays, unlike the banks of more hallowed banking days (you know, back when they were run by the Medicis), have, instead of either sitting on the money you put in them or loaning it back to you at interest, invested said deposits widely. The banks were (are), essentially, playing the stock market with your money. So when some of their major investments -- like, say, the money they may have put into Bear Sterns -- collapse, they run the serious risk of collapsing as well. Hence the frantic flailing of the federal government, who since the Crash of '29 has promised us that Banks Will Not Fail.
(Although, thinking about it, it could be argued that the Medicis' investments in the Florentine fleet and army were, in a sense, playing the stock market of the twelfth century.)
I was obviously misinformed about food and inflation. Thanks for the correction. *goes out to buy some eggs*
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