Opening disclaimer, I voted (as I usually do) and I didn’t like it. Next confession, I’m a bit of a markets and economics junkie, not hardcore, but more than a little interested and fascinated by the movements of people, goods and numbers. I’m much more interested in progress and productivity than politics. I read John Mauldin every week. His latest newsletter is an Open Letter to Karl Rove.
It’s a remarkable view of what could be coming down the pipe now… and touches on income tax and social security reform, putting responsibility for business cycles back into the laps of businesses, the Bush recession, the falling dollar, tort reform and the cost of healthcare. He’s a former insider in the Texas Republican Party, but this letter has something to bother everyone… and therein lies my hope that we might yet all come together in a more prosperous and responsible world.
Missing from this are notes on things like environment, but arguably some of these major issues that have been so long ignored (the economic ones) are likely (only temporarily, I hope) to squish the environmental and social type issues into the background in the next, likely deeper recession. The important thing seems that we come through it more together and better prepared to do those other next things next.
The one item I’m most suspicious of here is swapping the income tax for sales tax. Horribly regressive, but I’m willing to consider and would be glad to see how this change might (dare I say) trickle down in the same way that tort reform eventually aims at making healthcare cheaper and employment easier. In the meantime, I think I could cheer for a future like this.