Zone of Opportunity

I don't know if my beloved Republicans are up to it, but we have an incredible opportunity to rebuild the gulf with conservative ideas. I was happy to see homesteading and opportunity zones in the President's speech. But it is time to engage Congressional GOP members and push for an aggressive, conservative response.

The lead editorial in the WSJ today has a good idea:

The idea is to lure businesses back to the region through lower tax rates, incentives for new capital investment, and low-cost business loans and loan guarantees. So far the details are sketchy. But one promising magnet for capital is the small-business expensing plan, which allows firms to immediately deduct from their federal tax bill the first $100,000 of the cost of a new office, plant or equipment. We're typically against temporary tax incentives, but if anything warrants such a lift, the aftermath of Katrina does -- and especially as an alternative to the "Marshall Plan" for new federal spending via FEMA or a bureaucratic cousin that is already being proposed in Washington.

We only wish the tax incentives went further than what Mr. Bush has proposed. Why not allow the Gulf to operate as a laboratory for a flat tax, with an 18% rate and no taxes whatsoever on capital investment for businesses -- small and large? And if this works for New Orleans, as it has for so many of the former economically ravaged nations of East Europe, then make it the law of the land.

The Bush plan also provides an "urban homesteading" feature, whereby low-income families would be given a free plot of federal land in the ruined areas in exchange for a commitment to build a home there. It's a truism that people better maintain homes that are their own property. The plan also contains what amounts to a voucher for students uprooted by Katrina. They'd be able to use up to $7,500 for public, but also for private or religious, schools -- which has the teachers unions up in arms. Leave it to the National Educational Association to let its own monopoly interests trump the welfare of kids, even in the wake of a disaster.

Pretty good stuff, but I think the NYTimes' John Tierney has an even better idea: abolish FEMA and put Wal*Mart in charge. Ahh, those rightwing kooks at the Times...

Politics Posted by jk at September 21, 2005 11:06 AM