by avicenna » Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:46 am
Ammianus,
Thanks for the article. I like how Paul Krugman rolls his eyes at the claim that there has been a huge expansion in the federal government under Obama, calling it a "zombie claim," shortly before acknowledging that there has been a huge expansion in the federal government under Obama. It's always interesting to see how Krugman thinks.
Putting that aside, if federal spending as a percentage of GDP has increased vastly (to 23.6%) over the past few years due to various factors, but federal tax revenue as a percentage of GDP has declined sharply (to 16.28%) over the same period of time and, in any case, probably can't be pushed higher than 21% under any circumstances, then how can tax hikes, no matter how huge, possibly resolve this budget crisis?
AzariLoveIran,
Interesting perspective.