# Do tax cuts stimulate job growth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 22, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531 "2012-03-22T19:41:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531/61 "2012-04-02T02:56:03Z")
Moderator speaketh sternly: **Askance** , you know better than to call a fellow poster names. … Especially one who’s so very close to you. And a very happy April Fool’s Day ---
**Author:** ![Zack\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/35a633/32.png) [@Zack\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zack_G)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531/62 "2012-04-03T18:39:28Z")
I know this is off topic of the tax subject but I have a question burning a whole in my mind. Is it possible to get accepted to place a question to get answered by Cecil? I’m new at this so please go easy me. Im jus a enosent litl boy. But seriosly, how do I?! Answer me, pwease? Oh yeah, in the comment thing (what I’m doing now) why are there two emoticon sections? 😛 ``` yours truly, Zack G. ``` P.S. I like the G for it sounds like gangster XD ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531/63 "2012-04-04T03:37:00Z")
His contact details are[right there on the front page](http://www.straightdope.com/), right side. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531/64 "2012-04-04T05:31:52Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Well…and the companies they worked for paid into it as well (IIRC, they match the 7-8% of wages the employee is paying). You don’t just get what you, and individual pay into Social Security (Medicare too for that matter), it’s a aggregate. Also, not ALL people who get Social Security benefits paid into it fully. I know of several people who are fairly young who get Social Security benefits without having paid in fully (or in some cases, at all). > > I don’t know whether Social Security or Medicare are technically an ‘entitlement’ or not, per se, but it’s a bit more complex than ‘I’m only getting what I paid for!’…something some liberals are sometimes loathe to admit. 😛 > > -XT Ahem. For the most part, people only get what they pay for. Minor exceptions like young people getting Social Security when their parents die (who DID pay into Social Security) are just that … minor exceptions. If employers are paying 7-8 percent of Social Security, well, that’s just another job benefit, part of salary like health insurance. If you want to demonstrate that Social Security is not paid for by Social Security taxes, have at! Should be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531/65 "2012-04-04T14:42:32Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Minor exceptions like young people getting Social Security when their parents die (who DID pay into Social Security) are just that … minor exceptions. That prove the rule? Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531/66 "2012-04-07T00:47:51Z")
> [@mmckee44](#): > > Do tax cuts stimulate the economy? This is a rather simple question with a simple answer. Putting money into the economy will of course stimulate the economy. So the real issue is what is the best way to put money into the economy. Is tax cuts the best way? > > We all hear about the Reagan tax cuts and how they so very much were the reason for the burgeoning economy of the later 80s. > > But in 1980 the prime rate was 20%, raised to that level to kill inflation. It killed the economy and also killed the Carter presidency. But it killed inflation back then, something Nixon and Ford could not do. By 1984, the prime rate was 12% and by 1986 it was 8%. No one mentions this drop, partly I suspect because it doesn’t fit the talking point that we need more tax cuts for the rich. > > But wait, there is more… In 1980 the price of a barrel of oil peaked at $80 a barrel due to the cut in production by a united OPEC. But by 1980, OPEC was splintering and production was increasing and a glut was starting on world oil supply. Plus the North Sea oil fields were coming more fully into production contributing to that glut. Thus by 1985 the price of a barrel was back down to stable $30 per barrel. Again, no one mentions this factor on the economy as well. Again I would suggest you don’t hear about these factors because they don’t fit the talking point of lets give more tax cuts to the rich. > > Yeah rich, the backbone of America!!! Republicans do not want to admit the effect the spikes in oil prices that followed the OPEC Oil Embargo of 1973 and the Iranian Revolution of 1979 had on the stagflation of the 1970s. There are three reasons for this: they would rather blame Keynesian economic policies; they do not want admit that foreigners they do not like have considerable power over the U.S. economy; they do not want to admit that America’s dependence on automobile transportation is a national problem. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531/67 "2012-04-07T02:29:31Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] Ahem. For the most part, people only get what they pay for. Minor exceptions like young people getting Social Security when their parents die (who DID pay into Social Security) are just that … minor exceptions. If employers are paying 7-8 percent of Social Security, well, that’s just another job benefit, part of salary like health insurance. [/QUOTE] What are you talking about? Employers pay the same in as the employee does. Did you never look at your pay stub? It’s not a ‘minor exception’…it’s half. You don’t get what YOU pay in, you get what you and your employer pay in. If you want to see that as just another job benefit, that’s fine…after all, employers don’t have any more choice in paying than you do. > [@](#): > > If you want to demonstrate that Social Security is not paid for by Social Security taxes, have at! Should be interesting. But why would I want to demonstrate your strawman for you? It’s not even a very interesting strawman. -XT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-tax-cuts-stimulate-job-growth/616531.md?page=3)