WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 4 (DPI) — Bearish forecasts abound: Wall Streeters anticipate 15-20 years of economic muddling along, as consumers, businesses and governments work off a generation’s worth of excess debt.
Aren’t there any quick fixes? Or perhaps a bold policy move to trigger growth? Don’t bet on it, most experts are saying, largely because of the lack political will and leadership from the two political parties. The national political duopoly has a vested interest in gridlock, many observers are beginning to conclude.
Away from Washington, bold ideas occasionally appear: One military vet and Kennedy School wonk, in a November op-ed piece in The New York Times, suggested that the US “trade” its ties to Taiwan in exchange for roughly $1 trillion in debt forgiveness from mainland China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/opinion/to-save-our-economy-ditch-taiwan.html
The idea was almost universally dismissed as hare-brained. Readers asserted that the mere suggestion was immoral:
Ideas for new sources of government revenue have also fallen flat. A transaction tax on Wall Street securities trades has been dismissed out of hand. A proposal to impose a European-style Value Added Tax has been met largely with derision, particularly among the US business community. A Wall Street Journal op-ed piece by a prominent Libertarian writer expressed concern that the Republican establishment, and Mitt Romney, were open to such a tax:
With the standoff continuing in an election year, the most likely near-term scenario is higher fees and tolls on existing fees and tolls, which are set by autonomous agencies, cities and municipalities.
Traditional taxes, including federal and state income taxes, municipal property taxes and federal and state payroll taxes, are unlikely to be raised further, at least until new political forces appear.