Wednesday, November 5, 2008

New President

It is exciting to see Obama to be the next President of the US.
One of the reasons of his win is economy. People said:
1992 - It is the economy, stupid!
2008 - It is the stupid ecnomy!

So how to deal with the economy from now on?
My view is as follows,
1. Increase government spending on infrasturure (more public transportation in metro area), human capital (K12 education system), alternative energy research.
2. Let the Fed do his job.
3. Financial system overhaul. There are so many principal-agent problems out there. The smart regulation is needed.
4. Before we recover from the current recession, put buget deficit problem aside.
5. Before we recover from the current recession, don't think about increasing tax on the rich!
6. If we want to deal with income inequality issue, work hard on reducing health care cost. The current system is a complicated mess.
7. After we recover from the current recession, increasing consumption tax is better than income tax. We should save a little bit more. Current account deficit is an issue we have to face finally.
8. In the long run, a little more tax on gas consumption (Pigou Tax) and securities trading (Tobin tax) sound good to me.