CNN 2010-01-30

Well, the big question for most taxpayers¹, are we getting the most bang out of our buck²?

 

Our next guest says that the answer to that is a big fat costly³ no. Jeffrey Miron has some pretty impressive credentials⁴. He's a visiting professor in the Department of Economics at Harvard, and is also tied at MIT and the University of Michigan.

 

All right, Jeffrey, I think it was about a year ago, you said that this stimulus⁵ package was a bad idea.

You still think it is?

 

I still think it's a bad idea. And I should emphasize it's this stimulus package that I'm criticizing, because it was focused especially on spending rather than being focused on tax cuts. When you decide you're going to spend a lot of money quickly, it's very hard to spend it well, and a lot of the things we are spending it on are not especially productive or they are mainly just shifting people from jobs they already had into different government jobs. Had we done tax cuts, we would have put that purchasing power in the hands of individuals and firms, and that would have lead on average to much better decisions about how that extra demand would have been spent.

 

All right. Let's talk about the tax cuts for a minute. Because Jeffrey Sax, and you know Jeffrey Sax, highly- respected economist⁶, said -- let me address that tax issue. You know, he says there is no room, nor case for broad-based personal or corporate⁷ income tax cuts or credits or rebates⁸. He said the deficit⁹ is hemorrhaging and will do so for years to come. And with aging, health care cost increases, etcetera, the underlying¹⁰ chronic¹¹ deficits¹² will tend to rise, not fall. We will therefore need increased, not decreased taxes.

 

Well, Jeff is taken as given that we need to do all the spending that we are doing. But my position is that a huge amount of existing government spending is actually not especially productive. And over the long term, we should be cutting it very substantially.

 

And he is ignoring the evidence, okay, which part of it produced by Christina Romer, the chairman of the council of economic advisers¹³ under Obama, which finds that tax cuts are very effective in stimulating¹⁴ the economy evidenced by a lot of other people. It doesn't find much evidence that spending increases our effect at stimulating the economy. Either one, of course, adds to the deficit in the short term. But over the longer term, the tax cuts probably add less because they help make the economy more efficient and that leads to more income etcetera that can be taxed going down the road.

 

1 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

2 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

5 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

8 rebates   

n.退还款( rebate的名词复数 )；回扣；返还（退还的部份货价）；折扣

参考例句：

• The VAT system offers advantages, such as rebates on exports. 增值税有其优点，如对出口商品实行回扣。 来自辞典例句
• In more recent years rate rebates have been introduced for households. 近年地方税的减免已适用于家庭。 来自辞典例句

9 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

10 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

11 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

12 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

13 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

14 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。