Tax Games Hide The Impact Of Poor Government Decisions
Both the United States and the state of Georgia are moving rapidly to suspend fuel taxes to negate the impact of high fuel costs in the US. The reason for these high prices are poor decisions by President Joe Biden and the Federal Government as they have tried to eliminate Internal Combustion Engines in the US.
Biden’s failure to keep America energy independent needs to be addressed. Reducing the impact of his failures, even temporarily, is just a feel-good effort. As always, government officials feel they have to do something, even if it does not really do anything. Often it makes matters worse. The high prices should be a constant reminder that elections have consequences.
But the costs of driving on roads that will need repairs as well as the construction of new roads will still need to happen. Revenue for those projects will have to be funded. And if they are not funded, then it will just continue to add to the debt.
Paying For What You Use
We should be paying for what we use. We need to understand there is a direct cost for what we use. Masking the costs by eliminating the fuel taxes, and then paying for highways from other resources reduces the transparency of the costs of government in the US.
Leave the taxes in place as a frequent reminder to all Americans that there is a cost to what government does. Americans need to be screaming about the pain at the pump. Temporary tax reductions does not do anything to improve the supply of fuel in the future.
At some point, one has to believe the data over the hyperbole, and the facts over the fiction. But the people in the United States have become so short-sighted, it’s likely they could not even tell you where they were last New Year’s Eve without looking at their phone for visual proof, such as photos.
Ask those same people what happened to the “greatest US economy ever” and the responses will center around Covid-19-a flu that has garnered a response like none we have ever seen in the US.
But I believe that they are wrong, and that Covid-19 is being used by both parties for what they will believe can be political gain.
Third Quarter of 2019 the Slowdown Began In Earnest
The data is out there and you can prove it to yourself if you are willing to look. I have.
The third quarter of 2019 saw profit growth per share for the companies in the Value Line financial subscription fall from 15.35% growth to 1.81%. That sort of slowdown is very detrimental to the political party holding the White House.
In fact, it is slow enough that I would state that it would be likely that Trump lose in 2020 unless there was some incredible reversal, which would have needed some sort of catalyst to occur.
Fourth Quarter of 2019 Prior to Covid-19
Comparing the fourth quarter of 2019’s performance to 2018 is even more horrific. Profit growth per share was down 11.98%. Companies, on a per share basis, earned 11.98% less than the previous year.
Yet Trump and Company still kept touting this economy as the greatest ever. On the other hand, i knew we were heading towards a recession. Companies do not just stop generating profits.
Along Comes Covid-19
For years I have demonstrated how easy it is to forecast the Presidential Race by looking at just one number. Corporate profits after taxes has accurately predicted the outcome for every election since 1972 except for one-1976. And that was the only time we had a non-elected incumbent running for re-election.
I have to believe that both parties are aware of how important the economy is during an election year to the outcome. The question one must ask oneself is that if knowing the economic slowdown that was happening, would either party try to exploit Covid-19?
For instance, would the Republican Party use Covid-19 as cover for an economy that was clearly heading towards a recession, so that the flu would be blamed for the economy’s dismal performance?
And would the Democratic Party use Covid-19 to guarantee that the US Economy was in the tank as voters decide who to elect in November?
The Answer is Clearly Yes
Trump had nothing to lose by blaming Covid-19 for the sudden demise of the US economy. Without it, I feel he was certainly heading towards a loss even if Biden would ultimately be the nominee.
And the Democrats would have no problem sacrificing the economy in order to keep it in the tank as long as possible in order to help their agenda.
But rather than just stick to the economic impact, the Democrats have embraced the greatest move towards socialism we have ever witnessed. And this action just might move the mind of the voters off of the economic issues and onto the socialism issue, which will likely be their undoing.
Make No Mistake The Economy Was Grinding to A Halt
The economic damage that has happened and continues to happen all around us cannot be underestimated. It s worsening day by day.
Covid-19 will be the scapegoat for all of it. Yet I will know that Covid-19 was a political flu.
And the United States will NEVER be the same again.
