Today, The AP reports, “The U.S. trade deficit widened in August as exports fell to the lowest level in six months, a worrisome sign that a slowing global economy is cutting into demand for U.S. goods. The deficit increased to $44.2 billion in August, the biggest gap since May and a 4.1 percent increase from July, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Exports dropped 1 percent to $181.3 billion. Demand for American-made cars and farm goods declined. Imports edged down a slight 0.1 percent to $225.5 billion as purchases of foreign-made autos, aircraft and heavy machinery fell. The cost of oil imports rose sharply.”
The story notes, “A wider trade deficit acts as a drag on growth because it means the U.S. is earning less on overseas sales of American-produced goods while spending more on foreign products. . . . U.S. economic growth slowed to an annual rate of just 1.3 percent in the April-June quarter. Most economists don't expect the economy to grow much more than 2 percent for the rest of the year.”
With the economy continuing to limp along, now is not the time to raise taxes. Yet, once again a top Senate Democrat has signaled his insistence on tax increases at the end of the year.
Politico explained, “Lawmakers from both parties are approaching a tax code overhaul in remarkably similar ways: tossing out or limiting current tax provisions to help bring down marginal rates for everyone. Not Chuck Schumer. The New York Democrat outlined a very different path Tuesday when he argued that lawmakers should use the lame-duck session to raise tax rates on top earners, end some deductions, [and] increase taxes on investments . . . . If embraced by other Democrats, Schumer’s approach would represent a hardening of the party’s position on taxes and could complicate the prospects for a bipartisan deal before year’s end to avoid the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts and the start of automatic budget cuts.”
Back in 2010, when the President Obama signed an extension of all current tax rates, he said tax hikes “would have been a blow to our economy.” But the economy remains weaker than when the president agreed that it would be a bad time to raise taxes. And. now Senate Democrat leaders remain committed to a political strategy of doubling down on their demands for tax increases. It is as if we have an insane asylum run by the insane seeking the economic destruction of America.
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