About That Romney "Tax Plan", cont...

Feb 26th, 2012

Some instructive charts detailing the nonsense.
click images for clearer view

Roughly half of all cuts go to the top 5% with the largest reduction going to the top 0.01%.

Chart via the Tax Policy Center of the Brookings Institution

Totally unrealistic and draconian measures to mitigate the deficit impact are central to the plan.

CBO analysis republished by White House Policy Director, James Kvall

Worth 1,000 Words - Trickle Down Edition

Nov 5th, 2011

From the amazing Clay Bennett

What Has Government Ever Done For Us?

July 21st, 2011

via

Trickle down economics are back, baby. This is, of course, insane. And yet, the proven failure of the scheme has not stopped the yo-yos who have conquered the Republican Party from doubling or even tripling down on it. Grover Norquist's dream of starving government down to the size where Republicans can "drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub" seems very nearly within reach.

Quote Of The Day

July 21st, 2011

"Trickle-down theory - the less than elegant metaphor that if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows."
-- John Kenneth Galbraith

The Paul Ryan Pamphlet Part 2 - Defense

April 11th, 2011
by F. Grey Parker

© copyright 2011 S. Harris

Having examined Rep Paul Ryan's (R-WI) Path To Poverty in some detail, it's been frustrating watching so many rightist partisans and pundits respond by lavishing praise upon its "seriousness." My first critique, focusing on the tax implications alone, argued that it is largely removed from economic science as we know it.


It was satisfying to see Paul Krugman say much the same thing and for the same reasons a few of days later. He does, after all, have a little more experience reading budgets than I do.

"They should have waited until people who know how to read budget numbers had a chance to study the proposal. For the G.O.P. plan turns out not to be serious at all."

The Paul Ryan Pamphlet Part 1 - Taxes

April 5th, 2011
by F. Grey Parker

My first reaction when I finished reading The Path To Prosperity, Rep Paul Ryan's (R-WI) highly anticipated "budget," was to wonder where the rest of it was. It's like an introduction without a following body of work. The calculated lack of specificity is stunning. It's a buffet of political talking points.

There are certainly many scary charts, spooky graphs and a lot of Neo-Con think-tank phrases. But to call it a "budget" is an insult to arithmetic itself. In fact, at his press conference earlier this afternoon Ryan said it "is not just a budget, it’s a cause." With all due respect, faith doesn't secure the outcome of financial equations.

Let's look at the Ryan scheme:
"Keeps taxes low so the economy can grow. Eliminates roughly $800 billion in tax increases imposed by the President’s health care law. Prevents the $1.5 trillion tax increase called for in the President’s budget. Calls for a simpler, less burdensome tax code for households and small businesses. Lowers tax rates for individuals, businesses and families. Sets top rates for individuals and businesses at 25 percent. Improves incentives for growth, savings, and investment"

Taxes are at their lowest levels in modern history and have been for years. There has been no corresponding expansion of the economy. What's more, the $800 billion in prevented "tax increases" he touts is predicated on the complete repeal of HCR. That is not going to happen. There is no demonstrably broad benefit to the U.S. economy from the hyper-wealthy having a tax rate of 25%. A 10% drop in the corporate rate with not one single loophole singled out for elimination is ridiculous.

We have to substantially raise taxes and soon. I say it. Krugman says it. Reich says it in no uncertain terms. In fact, a majority of Americans say it. And yet, Ryan skips merrily through an alternate reality. 

Ryan actually cites economic projections from the Heritage Foundation as supporting data within the plan itself. The same Heritage Foundation that said "pro growth tax cuts... always create jobs" while arguing for the extension of the disastrous  W Tax Cuts that didn't create jobs. As a matter of fact, the weakest ever post-Depression job creation accompanied that fiscal policy. Of course, that's not what Heritage had projected prior to their initial implementation. Matt Yglesias dug up this gem today.

Heritage  prosperity projections that they insisted would follow passage of the W Tax Cuts...

The entire payroll expansion under W came to 2.3% which is almost six times smaller than the expansion rate under just 4 years of Jimmy Carter! Ryan's plan is a larger dose of the same failed "stimulative policies" which have caused this mess. But by all means, let's assume that Heritage is totally correct... this time.

The subject of our revenue in-stream is carefully packaged alongside political triggers designed to provoke panic:

"As economic growth deteriorates, it becomes harder for the government to raise revenue through taxes, and a vicious cycle ensues. If the nation ultimately experiences a panicked run on its debt, it will be forced to make immediate and painful fiscal adjustments (like the austerity program that has provoked riots in Greece)"

America/Greece comparisons are absurd. They are also dishonest. The crisis in Greece was caused by two principal factors. The first is that their economy was so much smaller than ours and not complexly diversified. The second is that they invested their national treasure heavily in our own under-regulated derivatives markets. These are the same markets that Mr. Ryan doesn't want to "over-regulate."

What actually makes it "harder for the government to raise revenue through taxes," is cutting taxes, allowing rampant loophole abuse and refusing to impose taxes in the first place.

The obvious initial steps towards solving our problems are as follows; Expire the W Tax Cuts, return the highest marginal individual rates to Eisenhower Era levels and set the top corporate tax rate on profits at a flat 15% with no loopholes. 

Describing Ryan's collection of fantasies as Reaganomic nonsense, which I did earlier today, is actually unfair to the Gipper. When President Reagan was confronted with the destructive and unsustainable reality of tax rates that were substantially higher than today's, he signed bills into law which raised them 7 times. 

One must wonder. If Rep. Paul Ryan and his ilk were presented with an actual Reagan budget today, would they portray it as "progressive?"

This "Path" isn't conservatism. It's corporatism. It's less Jefferson than it is Mussolini.

Paul Ryan's Recipe For Misery

April 4th, 2011

As we await the full release of Rep Paul Ryan's (R-WI) "budget" proposals enough has leaked out to know that it's more of the same serve-the-rich nonsense that has been inflicted upon ordinary Americans for years. It just takes those policies and puts them into overdrive.

From TPM:

"Ryan's plan will also propose tax reforms that lower corporate and upper-income tax rates, while eliminating certain loopholes. The details of that part of his plan are unclear, but if they adhere to his Roadmap for America's Future, the GOP budget will propose to overhaul the tax code in a way that reduces the burden on the wealthy and increases it on the poor and middle classes."

Quote Of The Day - Reaganomic Endgame Edition

March 30th, 2011

"Conservatism cannot be defined as whatever is the most extreme right-wing narrative of the moment. Time matters. Conservatism needs to be flexible enough a governing philosophy to be able to correct for conservative ideology itself. When such an ideology threatens fiscal balance, a prudent foreign policy, and a thriving middle class, it has become the enemy of real conservatism, not its friend." -- Andrew Sullivan

The Top 1%

March 22nd, 2011

The devotion to tax cuts as a recipe for job growth is universally endorsed by the American conservative movement. This is increasingly hard to fathom. During the last decade, the most dramatic conversion of this theory into actual policy was undertaken. We must face the fact that the results of this experiment have not only failed to maintain balanced economic expansion relative to population, they have actually crippled it. The resulting collapse in revenue has put our country's credit rating at risk. If we do not eliminate a vast majority of corporate tax loopholes and raise the top marginal personal rate by at least 3 to 4 percentage points, the dream of America is very likely lost. Even the architects of trickle down theory are declaring this continued article of faith to be a disaster. I stipulate that furtherance of these tax codes is closer to insanity. Late last year, the following graphic was published by Jay Kimball. Let us revisit it, shall we? The vast American middle class could never have been created in the first place had this monetary system been in place from the 30s through the 70s.

Losing The Future, cont...

Feb 16th, 2011

But Wait!There's more. Yup, more tasty Reaganomic Fallout goodness...
Via CNN:

A Modest Proposal To Restore U.S. Economy

Jan 17th, 2011

by Stephanie Baselice

The once mighty US economy remains in deep and dangerous waters. Although the markets have largely recovered from the “Great Recession” the general public remains wary and depressed, which is potentially bad for business. It is also a political minefield. Unemployment floats around 10 % by official standards, closer to 20% if one includes those who have ceased looking for work. Despite modest job gains in 2010 at current rates employment growth will take 5 or 6 years to reach pre-recession unemployment levels of 5-6%. Indeed, it may be that the problem lies deeper and that many of the workers recently laid off during this difficult time were comparatively unproductive and will not need to be replaced. We may well shoulder a 10% unemployment rate far into the future. In any case, once high hopes for “change” have been dashed against the rocks of a deep and extended downturn. Inflammatory rhetoric from liberal elites and labor groups about the possibility of shifting economic focus to risky and untried ventures in “green jobs” puts the American way of life at risk. Quality of life measures rank America lower and lower, and despite relatively high worker productivity, our creative and technological edge is growing dull. Rising nations such as India and China will soon surpass us in critical areas such as inventing new products. Education and healthcare are thankfully still private enterprises, yet they consume increasingly large shares of the economic pie for most families. National solutions to these problems are out of the question, of course. Any reasonable person understands that such solutions must be too expensive and disruptive to the profits of current business leaders to even be considered. Yet recent pro-business political gains may well evaporate if the recovery does not soon produce sufficient job growth to avoid a broad based re-evaluation of the political and economic system.