now for our question of the week. here s what i want to know. should the united states let all of the bush tax cuts expire? if you re an american, i know, i know, nobody wants to pay more taxes. but what do you think would be best for the country? let me know. don t forget to subscribe to our podcast on itunes. that way you ll never miss a show. and you cannot beat the price. it s free. now, as i do every week, i want to recommend a book. this one is called the most powerful idea in the world. it s all about the steam engine, or steam power. what the author, william rosen, plausibly argues is the most important invention in human history. he explains why it happened the way it did. british laws that promoted patents and property rights, which allowed people to get rich off their inventions.
chunk of our structural budget deficit. take a look at this chart. it shows the deficit growth over the next ten years. and the red stripe shows just how much those bush tax cuts add to the deficit. well, those tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year. were the tax cuts to expire, the budget deficit would instantly shrink by about 30%, or more than $300 billion. but republicans are now adamantly opposed to any expiration of the bush tax cuts because they say that would weaken the economy. but wait a minute. they have been arguing for the last year that what s weakening the economy most is the prospect of unending budget deficits. they should look across the atlantic at prime minister david cameron, who realized that to get serious about his deficit he needed spending cuts but also tax increases. democrats for their part only want to let those parts of the cuts expire that affect the richest americans, those earning more than $250,000 a year. but this too is political
tax cuts are the single largest chunk of our structural budget deficit. take a look at this chart. it shows the deficit growth over the next ten years. and the red stripe shows just how much those bush tax cuts add to the deficit. well, those tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year. were the tax cuts to expire, the budget deficit would instantly shrink by about 30%, or more than $300 billion. but republicans are now adamantly opposed to any expiration of the bush tax cuts because they say that would weaken the economy. but wait a minute. they have been arguing for the last year that what s weakening the economy most is the prospect of unending budget deficits. they should look across the atlantic at prime minister david cameron, who realized that to get serious about his deficit he needed spending cuts but also tax increases. democrats for their part only want to let those parts of the cuts expire that affect the richest americans, those earning more than $250,000 a