I think after the Presidential Electioin we will see an uptrend in the Economy as a whole, and the Stock market, and I also think Oil prices will decline as well. It may seem a bit optimistic, but an election year always seems to be a bad time in the economy.

Does anyone understand how our current tax system really works? Businesses don't pay taxes now. Consumers pay taxes. If I have something that cost me $1.00 and I want to make a 10% profit margin on each item I sell, then logically I would have to charge $1.10. Well our current tax system does not allow this to be true. I would have to factor in my tax rate that I pay for the sale of the item as well as my payroll tax, social security tax, and all other taxes I pay for this product and my operating costs. So I would have to charge lets say $1.40 now to make that %10 margin. Like the one comment before, the corporation wrote the check but you paid the tax. The fair tax eliminates this and thus to make the 10% profit margin, I as a business owner would only charge $1.10. That unless this massive collusion happens and they keep the price at $1.40 and just pockets the profits. However, this won't happen in our capitialistic society. Trust me I know. Someone will want to gain a higher stake in the market and offer a lower price. How can you explain why corporations get together now and have 50% profit margins. Food companys, Car dealers, Gas companys could charge what they want because we need these goods but yet each of these industries hold a less than 10% profit margin. For those of you who don't know what a profit margin is, it is the profit made on each dollar. I.E. Gas coorporations make 8% or $.08 on every dollar spent. By the way the government makes 15% right now, which is one of many reasons we pay what we pay at the pump.
Please, do your research and think logically. The fair tax is fair, not prefect. I don't understand the house example above, if you buy a house under the fair tax scheme then you pay taxes on that purchase regardless of the reason you buy it. That is a false statement.
Unfortunately the people who have already paid income tax on savings would be in essense double taxed but since the price of goods should go down due to capitalism then that rate would not be too high. Like I said this is not prefect and we can come up with something to contridict that difference. We can't be afraid of change because of this. We will never move from status quo if we don't. Please do your research on both sides. Use your common sense and think about how our system works now. Do we want to move to more capitialistic society or to a bigger government society. Also not mentioned in this is how our economy would thrive under the fair tax. More business would setup here in the States because it would be easier to make a profit. That means, more jobs, higher wages, stronger dollar, lower deficit, more money for the Federal government. Our country would grow and thrive under the fair tax and more people could make better wages and thus continue the cycle of growth. Unlike our current tax system of make it more expensive to do business in the States and watch our jobs go overseas and money go over seas and see more of us depend on the government to live and see our dollar become weaker thus killing our savings. The deficit is out of control and the obivious solution to that will be make taxes higher for imports...well who the hell do you think is going to pay for that. We need lower or have no taxes for business and the only way to do that fairly is the fair tax. Please don't buy into the hype that the consumer is going to have to burden the corporate taxes if we goto the fair tax. WE ALREADY BURDEN THE TAXES....

Fair or not, switching to the 'Fair' tax would cause economic havoc just as this country seems to be sliding into a recession. The point of this tax is to charge us for spending with the natural end result being that we'll cut back. But cutting back now could move us from stagnation to recession to possibly recession.

It is true that the consumer debt levels in this country is out of control and saving and investing should be promoted. But we need to move carefully.

"Everybody has to be corruption free," said Jennings, a professor of legal and ethical studies at the W. P. Carey School of Business. "If one of these [four groups] falls, the system falls."

I'm not sure the system fails as much as the system is simply inherently flawed in many cases.

It is ironic this speech took place in Mexico, where one of the world's richest men controls virtually all of the telcom industry.

I don’t think it’s fair neither! It’s just another manipulating trick! Seems that for many people this looks like a revolution, like a great saving idea… I think it’s crap! A study made by Nouveau Rich University proved that, if a tax has in its name a trustful word, like faith, people trust it more. But it’s silly.

Information Technology Boom, changed almost everything: starting with the mass media and finishing with the internet marketing. We could say this is a good think… but when the tip is big, the risks grow.

Good post. Since January, real estate volume has picked up as prices for existing homes have continued to slide. It appears our new housing market is now bumping along the bottom with 6 months of similar building permits being issued and 3 months of steady prices. Now let's hope the resales follow suit.

I don't think US economy will fall, its just a slow down and will not laast forever.

I do freelancing and get money via paypal. Will it cause problem if
i dont file the tax for the money which i get from paypal?
Please suggest.

Real Estate market is booming in india too and this has happened just because of Information Technology boom and i totally agree with you.

Though I can't remember where, someone recently had a great conceptualization, comparing this mortgage trouble to a house of cards and basically suggesting that trouble on the bottom will mean trouble all the way up by way of shockwaves.

I'm curious to know how much longer lenders will behave defensively for, and what impact their behaviours will have on the market long-term.

I completely agree with you Michael.
There is really a higher tempo nowadays in how we do business.

Outsourcing is becoming bigger, and Im convinced that the word "permanent employment" will be history very soon.

Interesting reading!

Thanks!

You have a point Kevin. Much blog content, political or otherwise, is taken directly from the media. I feel that is part of the blog world, but individuality weaves it's way through. A proponent of a political candidate is likely to weave personal reflection throughout the mass media hype.

Nice article Carrie. I think you hit the nail on the head with foreclosure rates and investors. It would be nice to see nationwide foreclosure statistics broken down into a primary home category and an investment home category. My guess is that the individual foreclosure rates might not be as bad as compared to the investment foreclosures.

Looking at trends in the current real estate market is very important. One thing to pay attention to is to look for places where most people go to work A lot of home buyers are now looking to buy their homes close to their jobs as gas prices are soaring.

Yes you are right but it doesnt happen everytime.
Only those blogs can impact political opinion which are run by
influential people not all.

More and more, we see baby boomers who are aiming to escape from slumburbia--and move to places where the lifestyle is more carefree. Surprisingly, many of them are choosing urban lifestyles where they can walk to restaurants, shopping, theaters and museums. A nearby transit center or train station also helps.

Hence, many shrewd investors are looking at redevelopment areas in growing cities. The downtown area of Oceanside, CA (just north of San Diego), as an example, is attracting much investor interest--particularly from baby boomers. This is occurring in spite of the ongoing credit crisis.

The tax structure needs to be reformed but after reading this post and the comments, the fair tax does not seem like the solution. I really appreciate this information, it makes me see the fair tax from a different perspective.

This is such a great article. This may sound negative but I think companies will continue to do whatever they can to expand, save money, etc... even if that means violating ethical standards in the future years to come. Poor ethics are a major problem as you explained in Mexico. How is this stopped or prevented? I saw a comment above about Wal-mart, who can stop them?

I work as a webdeveloper and make administrational systems for real estate brokers. I have noticed a boost in the last year. But now it seems like it's about to go downwards again.

You can only hope that the trends will stay in the way they are today.