Is Economic Ignorance Driving The Tax Cut Debate ?

Investors.com posted an article on Friday about the economic ignorance surrounding the debate on extending the current tax rates. 

According to the article:

"(Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod) Brown ripped into GOP Rep. Eric Cantor, saying he "either failed English class or failed logic class or failed history class because these tax cuts for the rich that Bush did twice ... resulted in very little economic growth. We saw only 1 million jobs created in the Bush years, 22 million created in the Clinton years, when we reached a balanced budget with a fairer tax system.""

This simply is not true.  The article reports:

"From 2002, the last year before the cuts, to 2007, the last year before the financial meltdown, the real economy expanded by $1.77 trillion, or 15.2%. "Very little" growth? Jobs increased by 7.77 million, business investment surged 38%, and personal net worth soared 56%."

Tax cuts work--they stimulate economic growth.  The article also points out that giving President Clinton the credit for balancing the budget is a bit disingenuous.  The budget is controlled by Congress--not the President.  The Republican Congress is the 1990's passed spending cuts, welfare reform,and cut capital gains taxes--that's what balanced the budget.

The article concludes:

"If we want a strong expansion, business investment must grow. It won't as long as Brown and his colleagues continue to believe that extending jobless benefits to boost consumption, and raising taxes on the "rich" would create economic activity."

If we truly want to see the economy grow, we need to cut spending and taxes.  It will be interesting to see if this Congress has the nerve to do this.