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Use tax cuts to ignite incentives
Commentator Todd Buchholz
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CORRECTION: This commentary incorrectly identifies a scene in "The Godfather" movie. "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli," is spoken by Peter Clemenza to Rocco after the killing of Paulie.
TEXT OF COMMENTARY
TESS VIGELAND: Today, President Obama called the differences over a proposed stimulus package "very modest." The Senate took up a $900 billion version today. The House passed its own $819 billion bill last week.
According to commentator Todd Buchholz, both the president and Congress need a reality check.
Todd Buchholz: There's a scene in "The Godfather" when hot-headed Sonny Corleone gets whacked by two thugs. The senior thug turns to the younger and says, "Leave the gun, take the cannoli."
Our hot-headed housing and banking sectors have been whacked, and now we wonder: What firms do we rescue? Which do we leave for the undertaker? The free market is not a pain-free market. Some live and some die.
Preventing failure is like trying to put the economy in a lockbox -- safe from damage, but unable to move ahead.
The end of the Cold War left thousands of aerospace engineers jobless. Now many work at Cisco and Apple.
Thank goodness Theodore Roosevelt didn't put the economy in a lockbox -- or we'd never have driven a car, flown on an airplane, or expected to live past age 50.
Neither Republican nor Democrat leaders have even a rule-of-thumb for rescuing firms. Lehman dies, AIG limps on. Heck, Larry Flynt is lobbying for a bailout of the porn industry. Great, even our national libido needs a stimulus package.
Now Congress wants to contort President Obama's $825 billion fiscal plan. Congressmen can't wait to put their names on bridges, tunnels, roller skating rinks for senior citizens. Lobbying in Washington is so crowded, corporate jets can't get landing slots.
This is a mess.
Rather than bailing out those who've failed, rather than tax rebates where we all just send checks to each other, rather than paving every road with gold-plated blacktop, let's ignite new incentives. Cut taxes for companies that hire new employees. Cut taxes for jobless workers who take a new job. Cut taxes for companies that buy new equipment. Cut taxes for tech firms that add to their R&D budgets. This is not tax-cutting gone foolishly wild.
Foolish is when you waste money giving it away to make up for past blunders. Foolish is when you give in because some CEO puts a gun to your head and says, "The whole world will end unless you give me money."
Enough foolishness. Leave the gun. Take the cannoli. Bet on the future.
VIGELAND: Todd Buchholz is a writer and former White House economic adviser to the first President Bush. His latest book is "New Ideas From Dead CEOs."
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Todd, you're not a brother, you're not a friend, I don't want to know you or what you do...(Part II, Michael to Fredo)
I commend anyone doing their best(I hope this means you) to educate us lay folk on the economy, but that egregious Godfather error is just too much to take. As a result of this error, the credibility of your views(regardless of their merit)has to be questioned with the utmost skepticism.
In fact, had you not made this ridiculous Godfather blunder, you may have been able to persuade me to agree with your economic knowledge(that is your objective, yes?). But the fact that you confused Sonny with Paulie will likely mean that anything you say may be in for a long sleep...along with Luca Brasi and the fishes
Todd G. Buchholz has a habit for getting his facts wrong as noted with his errors in the movie. He also in 2008 painted a rosy upbeat picture for the economy. His prescription for tax cuts as a way of saving the economy is dismissed by most economists as ineffective. Why should we listen to him?
It's too bad economists, particularly apologists for financial predators run amok like Mr. Buchholz don't live in a world as unforgiving as the Five Families. And Uncle Mikey: I agree with your ideas and sentiments, but let's keep the language fittin' for a polite forum like this.
Foolish? You think somebody's foolish? That's a bad word to use.
It's like "exterminate", as in:
"Exterminate? That's a bad word to use: exterminate! Get this guy. Watch out we don't exterminate you!" as spoken by Clemenza to PAULIE before he got taken care of.
Funny how something as inane as screwing up an iconic pop culture reference completely blows your entire credibility right out of the gate. You get the simple things wrong, waddaya gonna do with the important things, big shot? And you want us to just fuggedaboutit by issuing a lousy correction? No way, wiseguy! After all,
"I'm a supersticious man. And if some unlucky accident should befall him, if he should be shot in the head by a police officer, or if should hang himself in his jail cell, or if he's struck by a bolt of lightening, then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room and that, I do not forgive."
So who's foolish now, you stronz?
"Oh, Paulie? Won't see him no more..."
I identified Mr. Buchholz as a Republican as soon as he used the noun 'Democrat' as an adjective. This is a construct that was created by Gingrich as a back-bencher, when he was minority leader in Congress before the Contract On America of 1994. As I recall, his enforcers fined any Republican in the House caught using the word 'Democratic', and he notified, through Norquist's weekly breakfast, that this would be expected in all conservative quarters, from Dobson to Limbaugh. The idea is to steal the name, and prove that consistent marketing, without any content, can change anything, even your opponent's brand name. After all, this is all the Republicans have: marketing. Not a single new idea in over 80 years, just rebranding (Steele and Palin) and marketing. How many times did Buchholz recommend 'tax cuts' in his screed? And how many times did he propose anything else?
The shame is that even our new President used this 'Democrat ideas' construct last week. I called the White House to complain. I recommend it.
Godfather. Sonny. I really couldn't pay attention to anything past that. I won't forget your name Todd Buchholz. Everything you comment on from now on is suspect. Need to spend a little less time trying to be clever and a little more time watching "The Godfather". And take notes, dude.
Any man age 40 to 70 who has only seen The Godfather once should never ever quote it.
Any man who has seen this movie twice has also seen it a thousand times and quote it word for word.
I agreed with a lot Todd's commentary but just couldn't get passed the screw up.
So let me ask you Todd...
DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?
As a longtime listener of MP I will try to be “civil, brief, and relevant.â€
Most of the previous comments miss the message Mr. Buchholz is sending.
As it stands now, the $800 billion and growing stimulus plan is two-thirds spending and one third tax cuts. Quoting the WSJ , barely 12 percent of the package includes job creation. The spending examples are an embarrassing laundry list of social engineering projects that would make FDR blush. This plan needs to be immediate in its impact on job and wealth creation for the heartland of America.
I find it disapointing that so many of the listeners of this show are so closed-minded as to even consider another viewpoint. Clearly, they missed President Obama's message when he said that he wanted to work with BOTH PARTIES. Almost all responders here are so entrenched in their deep-seated political views, that they are unwilling to entertain, even for a moment, that some of what Mr. Buchholz suggests may have some merit. As someone who voted for President Obama, I find it sad that many of you cannot take the very message that he is trying to convey (i.e., working together, getting multiple ideas and viewpoints) and apply it to your own lives without spewing some sort of venom.
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