Kratovil says the economy is the No. 1 issue on the trail

Jeff wrote:

"So small business owners (typically a business with less than 20 employees) who file as individuals would benefit from middle class tax cuts and NOT benefit from tax cuts for the super rich and Halliburton et. al."

As clear as I can tell, the tax cuts being proffered by the Democrats would be for individuals earning less than $80,000 per year - and that those tax cuts would amount to just around $500 per individual.

Neither of which is particularly apropos for small business.

The problem is, when your definition of middle-class is so skewed to be just above how one defines the poverty line (given how the Democrats defined "poverty" for their debates on children's health insurance), the overall net impact of your policy is going to be limited in all reality.

And it's actually _BECAUSE_ of Democratic policies that we have this $4.00 per gallon gas - regulations that have prevented the building of American refining capacity, for instance, and obstructionist policies that have prevented us from drilling for oil in places (and not just Alaska) that could seriously offset our dependence on foreign oil.

Unfortunately, Polly is allowing her lack of objectivity about Nancy Pelosi to cloud her good judgment. Polly, we are in a national economic crisis and you could be the next victim.

Now that the economy is in the tank and Corporate America is in hock to the Arabs and the Chinese to carry operations, we are back looking at revving the small business, middle class economic engine to restart this Recession-weary economy.

Kratovil should be applauded for promoting fiscal responsibility and a tried and true recovery policy: allow the middle class and small business owners (often one in the same) to hold on to more cash so they can invest in new infrastructure to support new ideas and markets. This reinvestment will drive American prosperty by increasing small business employment and spurring orders to corporate America for goods and services. When Small Business is building, employing and spending, Big Business enjoys greater dividends for shareholders and job security for American workers.

Kratovil doesn't know anything about tax policy - if he did, he wouldn't be repeating the Democratic mantra about "middle class tax cuts", which is essentially a meaningless phrase and defined incredibly narrowly, generally offered to incite class warfare.

The fact is, the engine of our economy is small business. 90% of American businesses have fewer than 20 employees, and the owners of these businesses generally file as individuals (as opposed to as corporate entities). These businesses create about 2/3 of all new jobs.

These are the people who would be hit first and most predominantly by a Kratovil/Pelosi/Hoyer/Van Hollen tax hike.

But the people who would be hit hardest are the people whose jobs would be lost as a result of the businesses that would shrink or be closed as a result of those tax hikes.

And this is not even to mention the impact of the other side of the Kratovil/Pelosi agenda: regulation. Like his fellow Democrats, Kratovil speaks with one hand about reducing taxes for a targeted segment of the economy, while calling for massive increases in the hidden tax of regulation. We've got a trillion dollar regulatory state in America, and according to the SBA these same small businesses pay nearly $8,000 per employee per year in direct regulatory costs.

Any tax cuts Kratovil might be in favor of would be offset by the massive regulatory state he's calling for (along with his fellow Democrats).

Kratovil doesn't understand economics. He has no small business agenda.

His politics are a recipe for disaster.