How Will Increased Sales Tax Affect Car Sales in California?
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It’s no joke: the state sales tax goes up tomorrow. What will that mean for car sales and local government? Will California get as much new revenue as the Governor says it will? On our rebroadcast of today’s To the Point, cozy relations between Wall Street and Washington make the US look like Argentina, Russia and Indonesia. So says a former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund. We talk to him about “financial oligarchs” with too much political power.
Main Topic
Is the US Becoming a Banana Republic? ()
Argentina, Indonesia, Russia and other so-called “emerging economies” have followed a pattern that’s all too clear to officials of the International Monetary Fund. Entrenched financial elites take too many risks during good times, and when times go bad they can’t pay their debts. But they’ve accumulated so much influence that governments can’t call them to account and the rest of the country suffers.
Guests:
- Simon Johnson: former Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund
- Desmond Lachman: former Deputy Director of the Policy and Review, International Monetary Fund
- Thomas Ferguson: Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts
- Michael Mandel: Chief Economist, BusinessWeek
Links:
- Johnson's (Atlantic) article on the 'financial oligarchy' in the US
- Lachman's (Washington Post) article on the US as an emerging market
- Ferguson's 'Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems'
- Mandel's 'Rational Exuberance: Silencing the Enemies of Growth and Why the Future Is Better than You Think'
Main Topic
How Will Increased Sales Tax Affect Car Sales in California? ()
Billboards, radio ads and reminders by mail are urging California consumers to “Buy Now,” before the state sales tax goes up tomorrow by one cent on the dollar. We look at tomorrow's tax increase and its possible impact on California.
Guests:
- Peter Welch: President, California New Car Dealers Association
- Rudy Cabriales: Mayor, City of Victorville
- Sung Won Sohn: Professor of Economics, California State University Channel Islands
- Jean Ross: Executive Director, California Budget Project
Links:
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.
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