3/18/2023 0 Comments Syndicate projectSuch temporary taxes hurt neither investment nor employment, and there is nothing unjust about taxing exceptional gains that companies did nothing to deserve. Moreover, in seeking the private sector’s cooperation in limiting price increases, he has been at pains not to appear “anti-business.” But taxing windfall profits and using the proceeds to finance the necessary war spending and support for those hurt by high prices is not anti-business it is responsible wartime governance, which is necessary to maintain popular support for the war effort. That is understandable, given that US President Joe Biden has been busy enlisting support for signal achievements like the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act. Similarly, while several members of Congress have put forward bills to tax Big Oil’s superprofits, the Biden administration has so far failed to move on the issue. The European Union has proposed such a measure, but it would come too late, and it is too weak and too narrow for the challenge at hand. But today, they include many energy producers and traders who, rather than being marched to the gallows, should be subjected to a windfall profits tax. Historically, war profiteers have typically been executed. Wars inevitably cause shortages and generate windfall gains for some at the expense of others. That’s why the United States has the Defense Production Act, which was enacted in 1950 and invoked recently in the “war” against COVID-19, and again to address a critical shortage of baby formula. Markets simply move too slowly for the kind of major structural changes that are required. No country has ever prevailed in a serious war by leaving markets alone. Meanwhile, Europe and America have provided economic and military assistance, and the rest of the world has been dealing with the war’s fallout, including higher energy and food prices.īut it is a mistake to think that the war can be won with a peacetime economy. While Putin has described his project as a confrontation with the entire West, Ukrainians alone are doing all the fighting and bearing the full brunt of Russian attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Even a little empathy should make us shudder in horror at the prospect of having to live under Putin’s rule. ![]() The dangers of appeasement should be obvious. Russian President Vladimir Putin violated the most fundamental principle of international law by launching an unprovoked attack on another member of the United Nations – an institution created explicitly to prevent such aggression. ![]() NEW YORK – Politically, the G7 and likeminded countries around the world have adopted a war footing to stop Russian aggression.
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