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Why has no one (but me) mentioned Romney’s erroneous claim that the federal budget can’t be balanced if we raise taxes? C’mon, folks; the Clinton administration ended only 12 years ago.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012 15:30
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A really striking feature of the Romney campaign is the candidate’s penchant for stating policy positions as though each one exists in a
vacuum. To wit: His 20% across-the-board
tax-rate reduction, which, this successful businessman made clear at the debate
last week, he didn’t trouble himself to figure out the likely result of it on
the actual federal budget.
vacuum. To wit: His 20% across-the-board
tax-rate reduction, which, this successful businessman made clear at the debate
last week, he didn’t trouble himself to figure out the likely result of it on
the actual federal budget.
Which lead to his saying: Hah? A $5 million loss of revenue? No, sir! That won’t happen, because I won’t
let it happen, because if it looks like it’s going to happen, I’ll won’t let
the plan take effect.
let it happen, because if it looks like it’s going to happen, I’ll won’t let
the plan take effect.
And that huge additional
tax cut for the wealthy that people keep claiming I want to put in place? Huh?
No, sir! I figured out five weeks before the election—and eight months after I
starting saying, repeatedly and explicitly, that I would lower taxes by 20% on
the wealthy (they’re jobs creators, you know!)—that that really would raise the budget deficit a
bunch. So no way, no how, am I gonna
lower taxes on the wealthy! (And no way,
no how, did I ever say I would. You
folks who thought I did just don’t understand the English language!)
tax cut for the wealthy that people keep claiming I want to put in place? Huh?
No, sir! I figured out five weeks before the election—and eight months after I
starting saying, repeatedly and explicitly, that I would lower taxes by 20% on
the wealthy (they’re jobs creators, you know!)—that that really would raise the budget deficit a
bunch. So no way, no how, am I gonna
lower taxes on the wealthy! (And no way,
no how, did I ever say I would. You
folks who thought I did just don’t understand the English language!)
Another hallmark of his campaign, of course, is his
statements of blatantly false undisputed facts, including about things of the
sort that you’d think a successful businessman—especially one who was so active
in business during the 1980s and ‘90s—would know. (Especially a successful businessman who says
he should be president because he was a successful businessman.) Such things as
that, well, yes, you can balance the
federal budget via a tax increase, and in fact that’s what occurred during the
1990s, after George H.W. Bush famously agreed to have Congress raise income tax
rates and then Bill Clinton, also famously, fought hard and successfully in
1993 for another tax-rate increase. And
that Ronald Reagan, early in his second term, agreed to raise the tax rate on
capital gains, interest and dividends to equal the rate on work income, and
that he did this in order to narrow the budget deficit. And that it worked! It narrowed the budget deficit! But Romney said at the debate that it can’t
be done; you can’t eliminate or reduce the budget deficit if you raise
taxes. Do we want a president who
suffers from amnesia?
statements of blatantly false undisputed facts, including about things of the
sort that you’d think a successful businessman—especially one who was so active
in business during the 1980s and ‘90s—would know. (Especially a successful businessman who says
he should be president because he was a successful businessman.) Such things as
that, well, yes, you can balance the
federal budget via a tax increase, and in fact that’s what occurred during the
1990s, after George H.W. Bush famously agreed to have Congress raise income tax
rates and then Bill Clinton, also famously, fought hard and successfully in
1993 for another tax-rate increase. And
that Ronald Reagan, early in his second term, agreed to raise the tax rate on
capital gains, interest and dividends to equal the rate on work income, and
that he did this in order to narrow the budget deficit. And that it worked! It narrowed the budget deficit! But Romney said at the debate that it can’t
be done; you can’t eliminate or reduce the budget deficit if you raise
taxes. Do we want a president who
suffers from amnesia?
Or maybe a president who just thinks we do. I was shocked when Obama didn’t point that
out at the debate. But I’m even more
surprised that he hasn’t pointed it out since
then. Especially since this particular
lie isn’t one in which he claim that there’s a study that says otherwise, or something;
it doesn’t allow him to change his representation of his own policy position,
because this fact is not a fact about what already occurred and cannot be
revamped, and is not about something that something said and that can be altered by word games. And since pointing out such a clear, bald lie on
this particular fact would illustrate on its own that Romney is a conniving
snake who’s trying to con the public.
out at the debate. But I’m even more
surprised that he hasn’t pointed it out since
then. Especially since this particular
lie isn’t one in which he claim that there’s a study that says otherwise, or something;
it doesn’t allow him to change his representation of his own policy position,
because this fact is not a fact about what already occurred and cannot be
revamped, and is not about something that something said and that can be altered by word games. And since pointing out such a clear, bald lie on
this particular fact would illustrate on its own that Romney is a conniving
snake who’s trying to con the public.
But it also hands Obama another important argument: that
Romney’s business career either failed to prepare him for reading and
understanding even basic, clear budget and tax facts, or it did prepare him to
lie.
Romney’s business career either failed to prepare him for reading and
understanding even basic, clear budget and tax facts, or it did prepare him to
lie.
As they say in Latin, caveat
emptor. Let the buyer beware. Say, Mr. Obama. Say it.
emptor. Let the buyer beware. Say, Mr. Obama. Say it.
Again and again and again. And again.
2012-10-09 15:21:45
Source: http://www.angrybearblog.com/2012/10/why-has-no-one-but-me-mentioned-romneys.html
Source:
Lower tax rates lead to higher taxes collected. Reagan proved that during his administration. Higher tax rates lead to less taxes collected. Obama proved that.