News Roundup for 3/7/12

Romney's latest tax plan

-Headline of the day-
"'It can't be scored.'"

Mitt Romney has a tax plan problem; he keeps coming out with new ones that nobody likes. According to Steve Benen, "For the second time in as many months, Mitt Romney unveiled another tax plan recently, and this one was intended to make his party's far-right base even happier. There's a lot for a conservative to like: major new tax breaks for the wealthy, slashing the corporate tax rate, and eliminating estate taxes altogether."

And the reason that the far-right will like it? It's completely insane and not at all based in anything resembling reality -- which is exactly what the wingnuts like. According to Benen, "The non-partisan Tax Policy Center published a fairly detailed analysis of Romney's new proposal and found that it's not only heavily tilted to benefit the rich, it also would make the deficit much worse -- by nearly a half-trillion dollars in 2015 alone -- because the former governor has made no effort to explain how he'd pay for these unnecessary tax breaks." It's typical Republican mumbo-jumbo; you pass huge tax breaks for bazillionaires and money flies out of your butt to cover the lost revenues. Worked for Bush, right?

Anyway, Romney made the mistake of going on CNBC, where people are serious about money and know things about it. The host of the network's Squawk Box asked Mittens what was up with this crazy, deficit exploding tax idea and Romney laughed it off. You can't score this thing, he answered, because how I pay for it all is, by design, a complete mystery.

No, really.

"I haven't laid out all the details of how we're going to deal with each one of the deductions and exemptions," Mittens said, "so I think it's kind of interesting for the groups who try and score it because, frankly, it can't be scored because those kinds of details are going to have be worked out with Congress."

"A tax plan that can't be scored because it doesn't include sufficient details is not a plan," Ezra Klein's WonkBlog notes. "[Romney] has a statement about what he would like a reformed tax system to include: lower rates for everyone. But that's cake-and-ice-cream stuff. All the hard questions -- which tax breaks to close, for instance -- remain unanswered, and it doesn't appear that he plans to answer them anytime soon."

So all pie-in-the-sky promises and no specifics? The nuts will just eat it up. And if this doesn't work, the next plan can include free unicorn rides. (Maddow Blog)


-The eyes follow you everywhere-



It'd totally work, though... (Truthdig)


-Bonus HotD-
"Joe The Plumber May Become Congressman The Plumber."

But more likely he'll remain Loser the Plumber. (Wonkette)

News Roundup for 1/5/12

What the Romney tax plan looks like to the middle class

-Headline of the Day-
"Romney Plan Raises Taxes On Lower-Middle Class, Cuts Taxes On Wealthy."

Mittens is the 1%. If you ever doubted that, check out his new tax plan, which can best be described as a massive middle finger to anyone who isn't fabulously well-to-do. Basically, it works like this; the less you make, the larger your tax hike. Conversely, the more you make, the bigger your tax cut.

According to the report, "The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center crunched the numbers — part of a series of analyses the group has done of the GOP candidates’ tax proposals — and found that the plan constitutes a major tax cut for wealthy Americans. But compared to today’s rates, Romney proposes effective tax increases for people making less than $40,000."

Meanwhile, the "average millionaire would thus pay $145,568 less in taxes in 2015 than they do today." Relying on the poorest to make up for the wealthiest just plain doesn't work -- mostly because math has a liberal bias -- and this makes Romney's plan a "a budget buster, meaning greater deficits or deep cuts to federal programs."

So, if you're not a bazillionaire and you're planning to vote for Romney, you're a chump. Plain and simple. (Talking Points Memo)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, did you know there was this big election thing going on? Of course you do! And did you know that other things are going on too? Of course you don't, thanks to...


Click for animation

For example, did you know there was political unrest in Iraq, with explosions across Baghda... Oh wait, BREAKING NEWS: Ron Paul seen eating ribs with mustard!

Ooh... That's really going to hurt him in Missouri. (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Santorum Suggests Banishing Ninth Circuit Court Judges To Guam."

Oh Rick, you are going to be fun. (ThinkProgress)

News Roundup for 12/6/11

Ineffective Effective protester

-Headline of the Day-
"Cuomo caves to protesters, will hike taxes on rich New Yorkers."

Those Occupy Wall Street commies are never going to accomplish anything, because they don't have a message and they're living outside like hobos and they're screwing around with drum circles and... Oh look, they accomplished something!

According to the report, "After facing repeated protests over his resistance to raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo relented on Tuesday, striking a deal with legislators that will boost state revenues by $1.9 billion while simultaneously dropping the middle class tax rate to the lowest it has been in 58 years."

"New York citizens earning $20,000 per year or more are currently taxed at a rate of 6.85 percent, as are married couples earning more than $40,000 per year," the report continues. "The new tax brackets would drop tax rates for the lowest incomes to 6.45 percent, while increasing the rates for higher earners. Couples with incomes between $150,000 and $300,000 will pay 6.65 percent; households that earn $300,000 to $2 million will pay 6.85 percent; and incomes over $2 million will be taxed at 8.82 percent..."

That sound you hear is about a thousand empty-headed pundits and corporate apologists eating crow. (Raw Story)


-And a Happy Newt Year-


Click to embiggen

I don't know what they're complaining about, they almost got stuck with Cain. This is actually a step up. (Truthdig)


-Bonus HotD-
"Hero Child Explains Gay Rights In Words Bachmann Can Understand."

Eight year old Elijah from Myrtle Beach leaves Shelly Bachmann speechless, becomes hero to the nation. (Wonkette, with video)

News Roundup for 11/3/11

Grover Norquist

-Headline of the Day-
"Boehner: Grover Who?!"

John Boehner is starting to feel the heat. As the deficit super committee gets closer to its deadline, Republicans are starting to realize that their no-taxes-ever stand is kind of a political dog. You take your 99-percenters and your polling and your what-have-you, mix it all up, and you've got a political disaster brewing. Dems say a "balanced approach" of cuts and tax increases on the wealthy are the way to go -- and the public agrees.

So, when the Orange One was asked "whether anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist was a positive influence on his caucus," John kinda-sorta threw Grover under the bus. See, Norquist made all the Republicans sign a "no tax increase" pledge and apparently that pledge is way more important than their Oaths of Office. Or it's supposed to be anyway, but it looks like it's not anymore.

"It’s not often I’m asked about some random person in America," Boehner said. Grover who? Is he some sort of muppet? Never heard of him! And other House GOPers are likewise tearing up their pledges.

"If the Super Committee fails, and Congress can’t pass significant deficit reduction measures by the end of 2013, it’ll trigger an enforcement mechanism, cutting $1.2 billion across the board, mostly to Medicare provider payments and defense programs," according to the report. "In this context, 40 members of the House GOP caucus signaled that they’d be amenable to tax increases paired with cuts to entitlement programs."

Give it a little more time and Boehner will crumble into a pile of amber rubble. (Talking Points Memo)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, you know how lower taxes are automatically good? Well then it stands to reason that no taxes must be the goodest!


Click for animation

Of course, "feudal lord" is just one way of putting it. In the libertarian paradise that is Somalia, they're called "warlords."

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, really. (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Romney’s Estate Tax Cut Would Save The Koch Brothers Up To $8.7 Billion Each."

Of course it would. (ThinkProgress)

News Roundup for 10/13/11

History's greatest president (and two Hollywood actors)

-Headline of the Day-
"Rep. Bachmann Hits Cain On Taxes: 'I Want To Adopt The Reagan Tax Plan.'"

Shelly Bachmann must've heard that Herman Cain got his economic plan from a video game, because she's totally against it. She has a better plan, she says, from one of the "great economists that I admire, Ronald Reagan." Note to Shelly: Reagan was an actor in monkey movies, not an economist. But close enough, right?

Anyway, here's her plan; take the current tax rates and raise them (Reagan's rates were higher than they are today), then freak out over the huge deficits these tax rates create and raise them again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Make sure that at least one of these tax hikes is called "the biggest tax increase ever enacted during peacetime."

Then enjoy a new golden age as your economy suffers through a recession and the president's approval rating hits 35%. To make it all extra-Reagany, throw in a massive market crash so severe that will forever be remembered as "Black Monday." Obviously, you're going to want to schedule that one for an actual Monday.

You know, looking at this, it seems like less of an economic plan and more of a way for a sad and forgotten former-frontrunner to drop Reagan's name at every opportunity. (Media Matters, with video)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, have you heard about the 99-percenters and this Occupy Everystreet business? Well, it turns out they've found a spokesperson!


Click for animation

Freakin' hippie FDR! Go back to San Francisco and smoke pot, you commie! (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"John McCain's ideas will save billions and billions of jobs."

That's literally what McCain argues, that eliminating regulations would increase employment, because they're currently "costing businesses billions and billions of jobs."

I think Mr. Cranky needs a nap. (Plum Line)

News Roundup for 10/5/11

Rep. Steve King believes there's just way too much voting going on in America

-Headline of the Day-
"Rep. Steve King Pines for the Days When Only Male Property Owners Voted."

A high-ranking member of the House Conservative Moron Caucus, Rep. Steve King, used his time on a hearing on a Balanced Budget Amendment to long for the good ol' days when only male property owners could vote.

"As I roll this thing back and I think of American history, there was a time in American history when you had to be a male property owner in order to vote," Steve said. "The reason for that was, because they wanted the people who voted -- that set the public policy, that decided on the taxes and the spending -- to have some skin in the game."

See people who rent or are women don't have that "skin in the game," because "47 percent of American households don't pay taxes, 51 percent of American wage-earners don't have an income tax liability." According to the report, "King made the disclaimer that he was only making 'a historical observation' about the era of property-owner-only voting, but the rest of his dialogue made it seem as though he thought the Founding Fathers might have been on to something."

Here's the problem with his "historical observation" -- it's not historically accurate. Or, at least, apt. The income tax didn't actually exist until 1861, when it was first implemented to pay for the Civil War. The only people running around in stockings and powdered wigs at that point were lunatics, not founders.

The thing is that the only people in the US nowadays who aren't paying taxes are those who never make or spend money. Everyone has "skin in the game" and if King wants to pretend that the only tax in America is the income tax, then its his prerogative as an American to pretend he's an even bigger idiot than he already is. (Crooks and Liars, with video)


-Meanwhile, in the corporate penthouse...-


Click to embiggen

He probably already does. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"IBM Projects It Will Have World’s Most Powerful Supercomputer in Two Years, Artificial Human Brain in 10."

Can you speed that artificial brain project up a bit guys? Steve King needs one now. (Talking Points Memo)