No Gain, No Pain
Among our readers is a stellar economist who pointed out a humorous blunder on John Kerry's web site. Kerry has announced a "plan" to "Create Millions of High-Tech Jobs and Restore America’s Technological Leadership." The plan "will be paid for by accelerating the transition to digital television." Well, sure, why didn't we think of that?
But here's the funny part: If you follow the link to see the details of the plan, you find that the very first component, presumably a key ingredient in the plan, is:
I. Create a Business Environment that will Enhance America’s Competitiveness • Eliminate capital gains for long-term investments in small businesses.
Democratic administrations have a long track record of impeding gains in the value of capital, but not since the early days of the Bolsheviks has anyone tried to eliminate capital gains altogether.
In fact, eliminating capital gains taxes on investments in small businesses--other evidence in the "plan" suggests that this is what Kerry has in mind--may be a good idea. Capital gains taxes on investments in big businesses, too. But when did Kerry become a capital gains tax-cutter? He voted against capital gains tax relief just last year. And its hard to have a lot of confidence on the economic stewardship of a group of people who don't know the difference between a capital gain and a capital gains tax.
