I thought this article hit the nail on the head perfectly. It is not a partisian issue, more the result of politics and budgeting that makes most all laws temporary lately to make the numbers look good. The uncertainty screws up long term planning. All this talk about creating jobs needs to be more long term focused to get people to buy in and invest. JMHO
In recent years, however, the federal government has begun introducing a new source of economic uncertainty in the form of temporary tax laws and contested regulations.
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Let's begin with taxes. As noted in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, the number of provisions in the tax code that require congressional renewal has soared from fewer than a dozen in the late 1990s to 141 as of last month.
If you want to be, press one. If you want not to be, press 2
Republicans are red, democrats are blue, neither of them, gives a flip about you.
Perfect example - the recent debacle over the "Bush Tax Cuts". Either make them permanent, or don't, but this silly extension is stupid. Kind like patching the AMT every year, just fix the damn thing!
....And temporary small business tax credits, unknown future healthcare costs for businesses, medicare doc fix, renewable energy tax credits that expire and may or may not be renewed, unknown future energy taxes.
Another thing the uncertainty does is create even more demand for lobbyists in DC to get the policies extended.
If you want to be, press one. If you want not to be, press 2
Republicans are red, democrats are blue, neither of them, gives a flip about you.
Thanks for that very informative post. Due to economic downturn, consumer confidence drops to its lowest level. Apparently, a pair of recent economic reports appears to present conflicting assessments of
consumer perceptions
about the economic climate. However, taken together, maybe they just underscore the economic doubt and confusion that is so understandable at the moment of political brinksmanship.
