Friday, April 8, 2011

Not to beat a dead horse, but...

...Charles Morris has a good piece in Politico today, "Cut taxes? U. S. already levy-light," which contains the chart above.

I think my favorite paragraph is:

America’s low taxes, compared with any of its competitors, make it nonsense to claim that we need tax cuts for the sake of “competitiveness.” Germany’s businesses, judging by trade data, are out-competing America’s by leagues — though German taxes are more than 50 percent higher.

This dovetails nicely with an article in Bloomberg yesterday, "Germany's Future Rising in East as Exports to China Eclipse U. S." (my emphasis):

With its consumers and companies sating their appetite for power turbines, cars and electronics, China became Germany’s largest non-European customer at the end of last year, helping drive up share prices from BASF SE to Bayerische Motoren Werke AG. Economists expect data tomorrow to show German exports rose the most in five months in February as China’s share of foreign sales continues to grow.
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“The theme for this decade is that millions of people in China want to live like Europeans,” said Herbert Perus, head of equities at Raiffeisen Capital Management in Vienna, who helps oversee about $36 billion. “The ‘Made in Germany’ brand is going to be very strong in this market.”

Ouch! Don't tell the editors of the Wall Street Journal that...

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