[1]

This week, the talk is of recession and what the Presidential candidates propose to do about it:

Howard Schneider [2] reports that the consumer price index rose 4.1 percent [3] in 2007.  Then, Harold Meyerson in "A Different Recession" [4] (Washington Post, 1/16/08) suggest that the old remedies like lowering interest rates and taxes or increasing spending just won't make much of a difference anymore because of ongoing stagnation in Americans' salaries and unregulated banking activity. PrestoPundit [5]reports that the Fed has bungled the economy, first with interest rate hikes, now cuts, which all seems to add up to inflation. 

The Heritage Foundation, in talking about the merits of tax cuts versus tax rebates [6], seems to concede that something needs to be done to stimulate the economy, even if that means education, training, and highway construction.   

Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute suggests in "Stimulus Stupidity" [7] (NY Post, 1/22/08) that Bush's tax stimulus plan is ill-conceived because the $150 billion tax rebate will only temporarily increase consumer and business spending while increasing our national debt.  Instead, he recommends making corporate tax cuts permanent.   

Naturally, Hope Street Group favors reducing the corporate tax rate  ("Ending Corporate Favoritism" [8]), because it could even the playing field for American businesses.  As we stare into the face of recession, perhaps the time is ripe for re-evalutating our corporate tax policies.  If we could cut the effective rate to all businesses, we just might make small and mid-sized businesses more globally competitive and able to stimulate new jobs and consumer spending.

Victor Davis Hanson in "The Moral Economy" [9] (Townhall.com, 1/24/08) suggests perhaps the "easiest" solutions of them all:

1) Republicans shouldn't vote for any candidate who promises another tax cut without first offering a matching slash in expenditures. And Democrats should reject any candidate who promises another multi-billion dollar entitlement without detailing how the additional revenue is to be raised.

2) Instead of demanding new billion-dollar programs for health care and education, we should take more responsibility for our own welfare.

3) We need to ignore the alarmist hysteria, calm down and appreciate that life is better than at any time in the last 5,000 years of civilization.

Could it really be that easy?