The Five Taxes - Tax Two

"What is prudence in the heart of every private family, can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom." -- Adam Smith, kick-ass economist.

From my book:

When the government places restrictions on the goods and services that the Pure Investor can buy thus raising prices it has again leveled a tax confiscating his profits for it's own use.

That's Tax Two.

How do Bush and Kerry match up on Tax Two? The win goes to........Kerry.

Here's my reasons:

Bush has given sops to steel producers, sugar farmers and refiners and the textile industry. Don't misinterpret this as protecting American jobs. "Protecting" specific industries isn't anything but a payoff to a special interest group. Whether it's the steel, sugar or textile guys, they get a proportionally big payoff while the U.S. consumer pays a little bit more. But these start to add up in my checkbook and they also become a drag on the economy, thus your investments. The same goes for the farm subsidies and farm bill that was passed - thanks for making my grocery bill higher so you can sop a big payoff to some farmers.

Bush is supposedly a conservative. Bully for him. But from his actions, he is more liberal that Clinton was on trade policy. NAFTA Rules! I've giving the win on this Tax Two to Kerry because he says he's going to be more protectionist - "Outsourcing", "Benedict Arnold CEOs" - but let's see if he actually is.

I'm going to hold Bush more responsibly for his bad actions than I will hold Kerry responsibly for his bad rhetoric.

Stay You.

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