Three Quotes
By Dave Hitt on Oct 11, 2007 in Big Brother, Politics
“I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that down payment on their first home” – Hillary Clinton
“New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, continuing to hit on economic themes in her White House campaign, said the government should do more to help people save for retirement, and is proposing an annual tax credit of up to $1,000 to help do that.” – The Wall Street Journal, October 10, 2007
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship.” – Alexander Fraser Tyler, 18th century Scottish historian, The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic
What is it really going to cost us? They can print more money if need be ;)
Tim | Oct 12, 2007 | Reply
Well, I am glad that the politicians are finally talking about the need for saving, but…
The best way to get people to start saving is stop taxing it, not just for the middle class, but for everyone. When the wealthy invest it helps the economy be it the world economy (which means they can buy more U.S. goods) or the U.S. economy.
When you talk about not taxing dividends and capital gains everyone screams tax cut for the “rich”, but the taxes on investment hurt the middle class and the poor a lot more than the wealthy. It follows from the “rule of 72” which is a rough hand way of calculating how long it takes for your money to double. You divide your return into 72 and that tells you how long it takes to double your money. Take 15% or 25% off of your return and it take a lot longer. If you already have a million, you don’t need it to double that fast, but when you are working on your first 1K, 10K, or 100K, it really makes a difference.
If Americans would remember how to save, losing your job at fifty wouldn’t be a big deal, at that point working would be pretty much optional (or at least a much lower income would be acceptable) if you had saved and invested consistently over a lifetime. How many people buy a new car every five years? Well if just doubled that to every ten years that would be an extra 20K invested every ten years. Yet no matter how much the average American makes he or she seems to spend 110%.
Don Venardos | Oct 12, 2007 | Reply