Responding to a New Emerging Meme

In the comments section here at Angry Bear, I’ve noticed a question being left by our friends on the right, and I’ve seen it a few times in the past week or so. To paraphrase it – if folks on the left think that tax rates should be higher for the good of the economy, why don’t they advocate higher taxes now that the economy is going into a recession?

Now, that might sound like a clever question for folks who think the solution to absolutely everything are tax cuts. But let me try to explain this in a way even such a person might be able to understand… I am an advocate for exercise. I don’t think most people exercise enough. (And though I try to exercise as much as I can, I think “most people” includes me.) I believe we’d all be stronger and healthier if we exercised more. But guess what… for people who are under the weather, I would suggest a temporary halt to whatever exercise regime they’re on, and that rest and relaxation is probably better until they start feeling better.

I realize that its a strange concept for people who believe eating cake three meals a day is the way to go, but a wise person adjusts to the circumstances at hand. So I don’t support raising taxes as a way out of a recession. (I’m a firm believer in balanced budgets, except in times of recession and other emergencies, in fact.) And by the way, as I’ve noted many times in the past few weeks, I don’t think tax cuts right now are a good idea either.