I sent two e-mails to Squawk Box regarding  economic outcomes in the year 2000.  The slides that accompanied both communications (and trail this blog entry) were derived from OMB data and were included in a seminar I gave in March, 2010 entitled “National Debt, Tax Policy and the Economy from an Investment Perspective”.

June 28, 2010

We had the following outcomes in the year 2000 (see slides below); this included three years of surpluses (1998-2000), the first time that occurred since the late 1940’s.  So if debt was a concern, why did we return to unfunded tax cuts, an unfunded entitlement program…especially after supply-side policies quadrupled our gross national debt between 1981-1992?  Additionally, although supply-side policy was supposed to get the government to cut spending (Starve the Beast), neither party has shown the political will to cut defense spending, Medicare/Medicaid/CHIP, Social Security, and Safety Net Programs – those in addition to the interest account for 80% of our federal spending (NASA at a fraction of one percent of our spending becomes the sacrificial lamb).  The successful business I built in the 1990’s put me in the upper 1% of income earners in this country and I understood that the upper 5 percent of America holds 70% of this country’s financial wealth; and that with dividends and capital gains being taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income, that we paid a lower overall tax rate than did middle America – I had no problem in paying a larger tax load in the 1990’s.  It seems to me we gave away a lot for greed.

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August 25, 2010

Just listened to Gov. Pataki.  I have looked at the economic/tax policies of both parties in regard to outcomes and vision, and the Republican Party policies have more than fallen short.  It is a shame to have given away the outcomes we had in the year 2000 – listed below from a lecture I gave earlier this year.  At first opportunity under a Republican president, House, and Senate, this country went back to the same supply-side economic/tax policies that quadrupled national gross national debt between 1981-1992.  I can understand trying something, but after a comparison of outcomes it was unforgivable to give what we had away that year.  The 1990’s are cited as the longest period of growth in US history.