Quote Originally Posted by maladroit
"Supply dictates the cost of a product."

- not if the product is oil...what about demand? cost of labour/manufacturing/parts? in traditional economic theory, price is determined by the intersection of supply and demand curves...these days, i'm not so sure
Yes it does.. Currently there is an overwhelming supply of oil with very few buyers since just about everyone in the world has cut back on their oil consumption. This is why Oil has plummeted to in the $60 range.

Not sure about where you live but here in Texas the price of gas has dropped off about $1 from where it was a month ago. Hell we even went through a Hurricane and costs are still down.

It seems to me that supply/demand is still working.



"If he had another hand helping him then Joe could take on more business."

- *IF* there is demand...otherwise, joe could hire 100 extra people and take on all the business in the surrounding 1000 square miles
You don't make demand by putting $10 into people's pockets every week. Demand is created when people have more disposable income. $10 is hardly either worth investing nor could you call it disposable.

Creating new jobs and putting people who were currently making an income of $0 is how you stimulate demand. Create a new workforce out of those unemployed. More people you have making money then the more people you have spending money.

Demand doesn't just make itself.. and demand doesn't come out of people who are unemployed or if companies are not hiring new employees/giving out pay raises.


"If taxes are raised 3-6% then at best.. BEST job creations will come to a dead slow crawl or a halt altogether."

- if joe had extra demand and was turning away customers, but taxes depleted his cash reserves, he could borrow money to cover the additional salary, and the money the new employee earned would pay back the bank loan plus a tidy profit for joe and more tax revenue for the government...increased demand is a win-win-win situation

You miss the point here all together. If hiring comes to a halt.. there is not going to be demand, making the borrowing moot all together because without demand then there is no need to hire. Raising taxes will cause businesses to put on the brakes and maybe even cut jobs; why do you ask? Because a businesses job is to protect the health of the business and it's investors first and foremost. Raising taxes is just like asking for a way to further slow the economy.

Supply dictates the cost of a product while demand drives the need for supply.

Why not kill two birds with one stone and lower taxes. It will counteract the increasing unemployment rate.. giving more disposable income.. which will drive up demand for products...which will drive up the need to better supply the products... which will in turn raise the need for more assets/equipment/manpower to put out the supply.... which creates more jobs.. which creates more disposable income... which helps demand for products/services go up... which creates the need to increase supply.. which increases the need to get more assets/equipment/manpower to put out the supply...

As you can see it's an endless cycle.. Please show me where raising taxes will create the same positive perpetual cycle.

i like joe...y'know he just came out and endorsed mccain? celebrity endorsements work!
I'm not even sure why we're talking about Joe.. I never even brought him up. I mentioned a hypothetical involving a kid on a paper route but I'm glad you like Joe.


FYI, you do realize that several times through our discussion you've indirectly agreed with me. P4B has pointed out a few of those instances.