That might be nerdy, but today the WSJ got it right. Two op-eds.......thats right, two.....attacked the perception (I say media) of current events on Capitol Hill. The first mis-conception was what about the message Petraeus and Ryan Crocker delivered yesterday. The media seems to think their message was that troops could be withdrawn. No......troops could be withdrawn because of the good news in their updates!
Pataeus's message- Surge is working. We are gaining control.
Ryan Crocker's message- Economic growth is expected to be 6% in Iraq this year. (that is huge)
That is the message that each of these gentleman testified about yesterday. However, all we got out of the main stream media were withdrawal numbers. Argh. The article goes on to mention that the way to gain ground is not by troop withdrawals and that we should have learned this lesson after Vietnam. Politically, it might be a hard call, because everyone with a heart wants our troops home, but we all know that if we do what we need to do to shore up the issues in Iraq before leaving we will all be better off.
I am not saying that there were no mistakes made, and we didn't need to change tactics, but a blind chant for troop withdrawal isn't exactly a policy change.
The second article that was amazing in the WSJ today was one regarding more tax increases. "Paid to Listen" was the title and it detailed some of the argument/debate around raising taxes on private equity firms. A little background: Private equity firm (ghetto definition): Booky - closer definition: investor.
I wanted to give the "booky" definition because that is why these firms are legally getting away with only paying a 15% capital gains rate instead of their gains being taxed as wage income at the top rate of 35% (all of these people would be at the top rate), they are gambling. Additionally, their gambles are long term.
Private Equity firms are great for the economy. They provide the venture capital for entrepreneurs. However, like usual Congress wants to tax them. Everybody wants at them. More money is mantra, but the blinders they have are blinding them from the effects. Argh. Let the economy grow. We need to teach them that mantra........then maybe we can teach them the advanced version "help" the economy grow. baby steps.
Therefore, thank you WSJ
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2 comments:
Maybe I could stop reading the WSJ and just read your interpretation everyday.
When are we going be to get to see some more U-Tube productions I like those.
Well said in re taxing private equity. Congress would tax anything that breathes, walks or crawls if they could. I wish more people understood that you can't tax a country into prosperity.
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