Barack Obama Backtracks On Tax Hike Pledge

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

I should just like to point out to my inimitable, irreplaceable and sui generis Thomas Jefferson Street colleague, Michael Barone, the dean of political journalists, that apparently President-elect Obama has decided to drop his pledge of hiking taxes on upper-income earners. That's one reason I have more hope for the Obama administration than I did while Sen. Obama was running for president.

Michael wrote yesterday:

Tyler Cowen does us the signal service of reminding us which of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies worked and which didn't. Policies that didn't work include higher taxes on high earners (also a policy of Roosevelt's predecessor, Herbert Hoover) and increasing unionization (which helped some who held jobs but did nothing for or hurt those who didn't).

I agree that hiking taxes on any income bracket during a recession/depression is asking for failure if the government's goal is to restore economic activity and growth.

On a slightly different topic, why do the media and government officials still refer to the "coming" or "current" recession? Isn't it clear that it's here and it's been here at least since September if not before?

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By Bonnie Erbe