From Thursday night’s Fox News All-Stars:
On Thursday’s major stock market selloff:
All of us like to think this is all about Washington. This is not about Washington.
I think there are two factors here.
The less important of the two is the U.S. economy, which is slowing. We had very bad consumer spending. Added on to that, these terrible numbers of the revision of gross domestic product which showed that rather than growing at 2 percent, perhaps 3 percent, the first half of the year the economy expanded at 0.9 percent — which means it’s flat, which means the economy has completely stalled. The estimate is a one in three chance of a second recession. …
A worldwide slowdown is always reflected in the oil. If it anticipates a slowdown, it goes down. It’s down by 6 percent today. That is the first factor.
But the second one — and I think the more important one — is the panic in Europe over the status of Spain and Italy. This is not a Greece or Ireland, which is, you know, kindergarten. Italy is too big to bail. The eighth largest economy in the world.
The worst is what the prime minister [Berlusconi] did not tell us Wednesday. They thought he’d announce austerity measures. But he announced nothing and declared that the fundamentals are strong. And that, I think, set off a panic. This is Europe living 60 years over its head in the entitlement state, and it’s running out of money in a disastrous way. That was the number one factor.
On whether Obama has any weapons left to boost the economy:
I would disagree. I think if you’ve got $1 trillion sitting overseas that it’s staying overseas because if you bring it home it’s subject to double taxation. What you do is you give a holiday, a moratorium. … I think the reason that Obama doesn’t want to do it is that when he sees $1 trillion over there is untaxed, he gets physical pain as a result.
Second suggestion — how about a one-year moratorium on regulations? Obama imagines that acting on the economy is always creating a program, spending money, infrastructure, and all of this stuff. How about undoing the foot he’s had on the neck of this economy? The NLRB, the EPA, shutting down our drilling, shale, and all these other resources — try to cull, cleanse. A year of moratorium, roll back some of that, and you’ll see, at least in energy, a real spurt in economic growth.
"What you do is you give a holiday, a moratorium..."
Horrible idea unless small businesses without the resources to hide their profits overseas get a moratorium as well.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy is this a horrible idea?
I have a small business. And I sell to large corporations with overseas components. If my customers had more $ to spend and invest, I'd prosper from that.
P.S. I have no reason to want to "hide profits" overseas. I've got lots to spend those meager profits on here, thank you very much.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. S is just recycling some anti-business nonsense ...
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusethey are not "hidden" overseas, they are earned and TAXED overseas ...
this idea that big business hides profits is pure socialist nonsense ...
they don't hide from US taxes, they do business somewhere else ... If I live in Conn. because I dislike the NY State and City taxes am I hiding from NY taxes ? hardly ...
thats not hiding thats taking their business and fleeing ...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI like Dr. K, he's an intellectual with common sense instincts. If Barry O wants to help economic growth and job creation (BTW that is a debatable proposition, obama's top priority is re-election, the question is whether his leftist ideology is a higher priority than jobs for americans-- I really don't the know the answer to that one) he' d repeal obamcare, epa grasping, open all energy exploration and pumping, and repatriot foreign corparate profits, end special tax brakes and reduce marginal rates etc etc -- basically end his anti-jobs agenda. will he do that? I guess that will answer the question of whether ideology or jobs is more important to obama.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuseno way oBAMA would do this ... he truely thinks that he is due 35% of that trillion ...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePresumably that last bit about weapons to boost the economy is tongue-in-cheek.
Obama's worldview is based on the certainty that there is class of corporations and individuals who possess literally infinite resources and that all problems have the same trivial solution: "folks that have a little more can pay a little more." It's beyond absurd to think that Obama is capable of even imagining that regulations might have any impact on those folks.
But even in the Bizarro World where, Bizarro Obama is ready to follow Krauthammer's advice, it would not work. All the moratoria and holidays are pointless precisely because they are temporary. Corporations don't keep money overseas to avoid the repatriation tax; they keep it there so that it is out of the clutches of Leviathan. they are not going to repatriate funds just because the monster is taking a brief nap.
Moreover, businesses know that they are being suckered. Basically the offer is: you go out and take all the risks and do all the work. Then, in the unlikely event that in a couple of years your efforts pay off, we'll be waiting to take it all.
Are oil companies so foolish as to invest billions in oil rigs when knowing that by the time they are operational the moratorium on the moratorium will be lifted?
The only way to improve the business climate is to improve the business climate. The rest is just gimmicks.
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