# The Republicans have lost their mind **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 26, 2008, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308 "2008-09-26T10:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/61 "2008-09-27T16:20:22Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > …(I point this out because someone else–not me–will **somebody** tear strips off you for doing this. Hell, we have some Dopers who won’t take a print cite: if you can’t link to your support, you’re screwed. I don’t agree with that stance, but “my buddy here says I’m right” won’t earn you any points in the Pit. It will get you laughed out of GD. > > Word to the wise. I meant some DAY, not somebody. Gah. :smack: Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/62 "2008-09-28T03:59:18Z")
[QUOTE=The Walking Dude] One of the first things we learn in an economics class, yes there are classes, you should try taking one, is that lowering or getting rid of the capital gains tax encourages investment. Not by you and I, mind you, but by the people who invest to make lots of money anyways. So, no capital gains tax and the stock market soars. Doesn’t seem too bad to me. Ask an economist, they are all for it. [/QUOTE] Economists? I think you mean the crappy free-market hacks who teach at many state colleges. They oversimplify things & misapply Adam Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/63 "2008-09-28T04:12:35Z")
> [@MichaelQReilly](#): > > According to these blatant thieves, lowering the capital gains tax will somehow encourage more investment in the shaken markets. Because, you know, people wouldn’t invest their money otherwise.:rolleyes: Yep, that’s right, only two options: (i) invest in the U.S. stock market or (ii) don’t invest at all. You are a genius. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/64 "2008-09-28T04:20:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > This. > > This persistent myth that capital gains taxes must be low for the economy to grow is ridiculous. What the hell do you think wealthy people will do with their money to avoid capital gains tax? Stuff it in a mattress? > > No, they’ll buy things, invest in things, maybe put some in a bank, whatever. _It’s all economic activity, and it’s all beneficial._ > > Anyway, returning to what Rysto said, buying stock doesn’t magically increase the size of the economy. You’re buying it from somebody else. Buying IPO stock is economic investment. Buying previously marketed shares, on the other hand, is no different than sticking your money in an interest bearing account. Lots of things besides stock are taxed at the capital gains tax rate. For example (and with lots and lots of exceptions), gain on the sale of: mortgage-backed securities, other types of debt, partnership interests, real estate, etc. So lowering the tax rate on capital gains does not encourage ONLY investment in stocks. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/65 "2008-09-28T04:44:59Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So lowering the tax rate on capital gains does not encourage ONLY investment in stocks. Why is it necessary to encourage investment? Doesn’t the free market do that adequately by providing a return on investment? What alternative do investors have, stuff it in a mattress? And spending it all instead of investing it is just as powerful a stimulus to economy as lower taxes. The government achieves nothing by so called “encouragement”, except to gain the approval of the investor class for the party that passes such tax cuts. Sounds like a quid pro quo to me. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/66 "2008-09-28T06:58:12Z")
You know, when you say stuff like that about the Free Market, it goes on your permanent record. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2008, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/67 "2008-09-28T12:24:37Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I was just about to say that. > > If the current administration has one problem, subscribing to libertarian ideals isn’t it. That would suggest that they’d actually be trying to reduce their spending, rather than doing whatever they want and charging it to their credit card. Listening to the conservatives and the libertarians trying to distance themselves from the Bush Administration reminds me of an old saying: “Success has a thousand fathers, failure has but one.” ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/68 "2008-09-28T17:10:37Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Listening to the conservatives and the libertarians trying to distance themselves from the Bush Administration reminds me of an old saying: “Success has a thousand fathers, failure has but one.” I always heard this as “failure is an orphan.” Apropos this thread, I’ve always felt that loyalty to a political party–unless you yourself are a politician by trade–is embarrassing at best. But anyway, if Nixon couldn’t doom the Republican Party, than clearly Dubya’s failures won’t either. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/69 "2008-09-28T17:59:00Z")
Our big problem is not Republican or Demorcrats per se, but Congress as an entity. They are not doing their jobs and haven’t done it in years. They spend uncontrollably, they continue to play the porkbarrel game knowing full well that we don’t have the funds to cover them, they’ve allowed Wall Street to run amouck, and protected the crooks and thieves who are supposed to be fiduciary stewards of their stockholders’ money and instead bankrupt their companies, putting honest people out of work while pocketing millions. And Congress not only allows it to happen without repercussions, but they bail them out with taxpayers’ money, knowing full well that those executives will reward them with a big, fat check. In short, they’ve fucked over their constitutents. Do I care that capital gains are cut? No. Hell, I think it’s high time we Americans started withholding ALL of our taxes from the crooks in Washington until they’ve proven that they can manage it appropriately. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308/70 "2008-09-28T18:04:20Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Hell, I think it’s high time we Americans started withholding ALL of our taxes from the crooks in Washington until they’ve proven that they can manage it appropriately. That was the idea behind the tax cuts, to starve the beast. Republicans then discovered deficit spending and concluded that increasing the national debt was a virtue. Cutting off taxes merely makes the problem worse when Congress and the president are determined to spend beyond their means. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republicans-have-lost-their-mind/465308.md?page=3)