This is the seventh article in a series of FreedomFest 2021 articles. FreedomFest 2021 is created by PhD.Mark Skusen, An economist and presidential researcher at Chapman University in California. This article covers a panel discussion on the final U.S. agenda of holograms and their adverse effects on businesses. The group includes Alex SalterAssociate Professor of Economics, Texas Tech University), Hannah Cox (Liberal conservative writer, activist and commentator), Guy Bentley (Director of Consumer Freedom, Rational Foundation), host Elizabeth Nolan Brown (Elizabeth Nolan Brown)Senior Editor of Reason Magazine).
Salter: Government spending and budget-this is not good for the United States. The macroeconomic wave that Biden has brought to the government is terrible. Fiscal policy should only be used as a last resort. It used to be a consensus position. All this was thrown out the window. The government is squeezing out business activities and has a negative impact on business growth. Biden’s team is surpassing Keynes. Even Keynes believed that the budget needs to be balanced within the economic cycle (the appearance of fiscal responsibility). In a good fiscal period, the political class cannot be expected to cut spending. Biden is using the federal budget as a top-down control of federal resources to influence all economic activities. When interest rates return to normal levels (now at historically low levels), debt servicing costs will surge. The deficit is the future tax (DAFT). The bill will expire at some point; taxes must be increased to make up for these deficits. This will be the biggest negative impact on the company’s future. The size and scope of the federal government is so large that it will never restore fiscal discipline and balance the budget. Therefore, we will see a slowdown in the overall economy. The productivity of private sector operations will decline. The economics community has changed its tone. We understand that supply-side considerations dominate fiscal policy. If the economy under fiscal policy is weak, fiscal measures will not be able to solve the real economic problems. Politics chooses people and power.
Cox: Biden is fighting small businesses. There are 60 million independent contractors in this country (not just a gig economy).last year California passes AB5, The meaning of reclassification of independent contractors. Proposal 22 was passed to change AB5.This Unions are promoting PROAct at the federal level, Which is the same thing AB5 is trying to do. The requirement for independent personnel is that they must provide services that are inconsistent with the general services provided by specific companies (for example, media companies cannot hire independent contractors to provide/enhance media services). The union wants their power to return to the state that passed the right to work law. People don’t want to be tied to a nine-to-five job. PROAct will transfer this trend back to union labor. Independent contracting is really beneficial to people because it gives them flexibility in their employment situation and provides people with choices and opportunities. This is the American dream, not the union environment pursued by the Democrats/Lefts. They hope to receive union funds and in-kind donations from union labor during the campaign. Independent contracting is particularly conducive to new/young entry into the labor market. Trump changed the definition of independent contractor (if you set working hours yourself, you are an independent contractor). The Biden regime may succeed in changing the definition of the Trump era.
Bentley: Biden’s corporate tax plan is my theme. Years ago, the UK cut actual expenditures and corporate tax rates; the economy responded well (Thatcher tax cuts). Biden hopes to increase the corporate tax to 28% (higher than most countries in the European Union). These taxes are a tax on capital-a bad idea. Corporate tax will ultimately burden individuals and consumers. Biden is planning to reduce all Trump’s corporate tax cuts. Then the United Nations set the global minimum tax rate at 15%. This would allow countries to levy taxes on the country where they do business, rather than the country where their headquarters are located. This has had a disproportionate impact on American companies. It will also weaken tax competition among countries. It is hoped that the US Congress will abolish this global minimum tax because the Constitution requires Congress to initiate all taxation bills. Tax avoidance and tax competition are the keys to economic growth.
Brown: Antitrust laws involve unfair restrictions on trade and unfair competition. These are all vague and left to the political class to explain. Consumer welfare standards (consensus since the 1980s): We should not focus on competition itself, but on how they affect consumer welfare (a narrow definition of price, but other factors are included). The Biden regime wants to abolish this antitrust enforcement standard; in their view, consumer choice should be irrelevant. This is all about the Democrats’ belief that a company is “too big.” Their goals: increase the cost of mergers and acquisitions, prevent technology companies from having multiple business lines, and change the packaging of services provided by large companies to make consumers more hateful, etc. Their rules will not solve the social media content review problem, however (this is the real problem people have for tech companies). Some Republicans also did these things with Democrats. They wanted to punish technology companies, but they did not find the root cause (violating the First Amendment). Biden is currently acting in accordance with administrative orders. They have big plans. Promoting competition and small businesses is their goal (fuzzy definition), not consumer welfare.
Salt: Although the Biden regime may talk about “free trade” and lowering tariffs, they may keep tariffs unchanged because many companies benefit from tariff protection.
Salter: If we keep the government growth rate within the population growth rate. We will see a gradual decline because US securities are still in widespread demand globally. We only need to control the growth rate.
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