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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Fifty nine problems but a Mitt ain’t one

Fifty nine problems but a Mitt ain’t one

by DougJ|  September 6, 201111:42 pm| 93 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Steve M. thinks Mitt’s 59-point economic plan is an attempt to win the David Brooks primary. It probably is, in part, but it also has a lot of “economic nationalism” — meaning blame everything on China — something Democratic pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner thinks is a good idea. But this is too high-brow for teahadists:

One of his 10 first-day actions would be an executive order to sanction China for its trade practices and the manipulation of its currency. Romney also would create a new multinational trade group called the “Reagan Economic Zone,” described in his plan as “a multilateral trading bloc open to any country committed to the principles of open markets and free enterprise.”

Naming it after Reagan is a good idea, but multilateralism? Why not just give Our Republic over to the Black UN Helicopters?

Mitt’s trying to have it both ways, pleasing media elites with high-brow stuff while appealing to the Sinophobic heart of the Tea Party. I think it all goes over their heads. It’s like “Friday Night Lights”, a tv show about Real Murkins that Real Murkins never watched.

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93Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 6, 2011 at 11:50 pm

    Romney also would create a new multinational trade group called the “Reagan Economic Zone,”

    Good Lord. I don’t believe Romney is actually stupid enough to believe that people outside of the Republican Party, much less outside the country, share the infantile obsession with the mythical Daddy of the Tea Party.

  2. 2.

    Mark S.

    September 6, 2011 at 11:50 pm

    59-point plans and Reagan zones. Does Mitt have any political advisors?

  3. 3.

    TooManyJens

    September 6, 2011 at 11:50 pm

    Wait, does liking Friday Night Lights make me a commie?

  4. 4.

    Comrade Kevin

    September 6, 2011 at 11:51 pm

    How many of those 59 points are “tax cuts” and “deregulation”?

  5. 5.

    boss bitch

    September 6, 2011 at 11:53 pm

    Mark Halperin:

    Using no text and no Teleprompter, Romney appeared comfortable and conversational in his first major address on the economy. He walked a fine line in touting/bragging about his experience with Staples, Bain and the Olympics. Instead of getting bogged down in policy weeds, Romney used clear language to draw specific contrasts with Obama. If he displays this kind of command on the economy in the general election—including debates—as the GOP nominee, he could beat Obama in 2012

    Read more: http://thepage.time.com/#ixzz1XEeBzGJf

  6. 6.

    Mark S.

    September 6, 2011 at 11:54 pm

    I’m going to start telling women how I will satisfy them by “Reagan Erogenous Zones.”

  7. 7.

    Akadad

    September 6, 2011 at 11:54 pm

    “Reagan Economic Zone”

    He’s gonna triple the debt?

  8. 8.

    jrg

    September 6, 2011 at 11:55 pm

    Romney’s running for VP. Regardless of which slack-jawed mook Republican primary voters select to run at the top of the ticket, the pundit class will be dry humping Romney’s leg non-stop by the time the 2012 Republican National Convention rolls around.

  9. 9.

    KG

    September 6, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    Getting into a trade war with a country that owns most of our debt? Crazy like a fox or crazy like Fox News?

    In a lot of ways, we do need to confront China about their economic practices, but Romney’s plan sounds like “here’s what we are going to do: whatever pisses them off the most.”

  10. 10.

    Anya

    September 6, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    One of his 10 first-day actions would be an executive order to sanction China for its trade practices and the manipulation of its currency.

    If he added: “My second act will be an executive order sanctioning the appropriation of all of Libya’s oil” he will win the Donald J. Trump primary.

  11. 11.

    fasteddie9318

    September 6, 2011 at 11:57 pm

    @boss bitch:

    I think Mitt has given up winning the nomination and just wants to make Villagers see starbursts.

    He walked a fine line in touting/bragging about his experience with Staples, Bain and the Olympics.

    You’d want to walk a fine line too, if the bulk of your business experience consisted of running a company that ate other companies and shat out their former employees.

    Instead of getting bogged down in policy weeds, Romney used clear language to draw specific contrasts with Obama.

    Translation: he talked real slow so Mark could understand him.

    If he displays this kind of command on the economy in the general election—including debates—as the GOP nominee, he could beat Obama in 2012

    Well, Mark has his fingers crossed at least.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 6, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    @TooManyJens: a Coastal elitist, no matter where you live

    @boss bitch: What a shock, Mark Halperin is in love Shoulders McGameshowhost. I don’t watch a lot of Republican campaign appearances, not many Dem ones for that matter, but Romney has always struck me as desperate and uneasy, always trying to remember which talking points he should hit for which target group

  13. 13.

    KG

    September 6, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    @boss bitch: I keep hearing people say Obama is in trouble, but I have one question that no one seems able to answer: what states can Romney, Perry, or Bachmann flip from blue to red? I mean, I know there are a few that they flip the other way, but how do they when in the system we have?

  14. 14.

    Warren Terra

    September 7, 2011 at 12:00 am

    OK, that may be one of the easier points to demagogue. And I suspect it is full of equal parts Stupid and Bad Policy.

    But it’s other parts that are scarier: No capital gains taxes; slashing corporate taxes (even though so few pay them now); fewer tax deductions for working folks; lower taxes on rich folks; and I didn’t notice, but I’d bet the estate tax goes away.

    This tax plan is a wet dream for the idiot child of every billionaire, and a nightmare for their housemaid.

  15. 15.

    Lev

    September 7, 2011 at 12:00 am

    I’m a Mitt man–okay, not a real Romney fan, just a commie lib who thinks that a person with a working mind beats someone who prays for rain–but I’m beginning to worry he’s losing it. Where are the fierce, 24/7 attacks against Perry? The GOP establishment almost always gets its choice, but Romney acts as though he’s got all the time in the world. He does not. The establishment is scared of Perry now, but if it starts to look like Perry has an iron-clad lock on the GOP electorate, how long is it until making peace with Perry becomes a priority with the establishment?

    He really doesn’t have the killer instinct, does he? I guess we’ll see. But DougJ’s right, this isn’t going to do anything.

  16. 16.

    boss bitch

    September 7, 2011 at 12:02 am

    History Channel: Targeting Bin Laden.

    watching now. heard it was pretty good.

  17. 17.

    Lev

    September 7, 2011 at 12:06 am

    @boss bitch: Isn’t there some sort of rule about Halperin like with Dick Morris and Bill Kristol, you know, like if they say something it’s almost certain the opposite is true?

  18. 18.

    Anya

    September 7, 2011 at 12:08 am

    @fasteddie9318: Halperin getting his autograph from his bestest, handsomest star politician. Wulnuts must be feeling so used.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    September 7, 2011 at 12:10 am

    @boss bitch:

    Mark Halperin is a douchebag.

    Teleprompter my ass.

  20. 20.

    aisce

    September 7, 2011 at 12:11 am

    you laugh now, but at least mitt actually understands how currencies work and how they’re valued against each other. fuck, rick perry probably thinks fiat currency is slavery or some ron paul-type shit.

    by the way, i just saw some guy named buddy roemer and t-paw on the daily show and colbert. tremendously confusing experience. they seemed entirely…human and genuine and shit. in a way that makes you almost sad that they got their asses kicked by crazy eyes bachmann. i gotta figure it’s why the president will never ever abandon bipartisanship as his goal for the future. because as fucked up as it is, most republicans don’t believe their own bullshit. which is hopeful, and yet simultaneously so infuriating i want to line them all up against a wall and open fire.

  21. 21.

    Scott P.

    September 7, 2011 at 12:15 am

    Getting into a trade war with a country that owns most of our debt?

    Sorry to pick on you, but although Mitt is an economic idiot, the idea that “China owns most of our debt” is a myth that has infected even the left.

    China owns around 15-17% of outstanding U.S. treasuries. Around 67% is held by Americans.

    Another myth is that holding that debt gives China some kind of leverage over the U.S. That is not true. In fact, buying U.S. treasuries is exactly the means by which China is engaging in currency manipulation. All of the pressure on China to allow their currency to float is just another way of saying to China: please stop buying Treasuries. Were China to stop buying U.S. debt, they would be doing us a huge favor.

  22. 22.

    boss bitch

    September 7, 2011 at 12:17 am

    @Lev:

    Yep. He’s the ‘This Is Good News For John McCain’ guy.

  23. 23.

    Jenny

    September 7, 2011 at 12:18 am

    “Reagan Economic Zone,” described in his plan as “a multilateral trading bloc open to any country committed to the principles of open markets and free enterprise.”

    The actual Ronald Reagan was a protectionist who didn’t believe in free trade.

  24. 24.

    boss bitch

    September 7, 2011 at 12:18 am

    @KG:

    I can’t help you either. A good question though.

  25. 25.

    Jenny

    September 7, 2011 at 12:20 am

    After Romney’s disastrous presentation, Halperin ran up to Mittens like a teenage girl and asked the creep to autograph his program.

    Photo: one

    Photo: two

    Can you imagine the scandal if a member of the media had asked Obama for an autograph.

  26. 26.

    TooManyJens

    September 7, 2011 at 12:22 am

    @KG: Indiana and NC come to mind, and maybe Virginia. That’s not a path to 270, but there might be others. And of course there’s always voter suppression in Democratic areas to contend with.

  27. 27.

    max hats

    September 7, 2011 at 12:22 am

    But how does he do in the Hamptons, with Richard Cohen’s friends? That is the most important political consideration.

    Over the Labor Day weekend, I went to a number of events in the Hamptons. At all of them, Obama was discussed. At none of them — that’s none — was he defended. That was remarkable.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/its-no-longer-obama-land-in-the-hamptons/2011/09/06/gIQAoJWS6J_blog.html?hpid=z1

  28. 28.

    Viva BrisVegas

    September 7, 2011 at 12:23 am

    It’s like “Friday Night Lights”, a tv show about Real Murkins that Real Murkins never watched.

    From Sully some months ago, I seem to recall that FNL was in the top ten TV shows for liberals and Big Bang Theory was in the top ten for conservatives.

    I don’t know what that implies, except maybe that BBT is a show that seems smarter than it actually is, and FNL was a show that actually is as smart as it seems.

  29. 29.

    KG

    September 7, 2011 at 12:23 am

    @Scott P.: No worries, I am working with limited information, so additional info is always good. Now I’m wondering if China owning the percentage that they do is something like a shareholder having controlling interest in a company while having a smaller overall percentage of shares?

  30. 30.

    Valdivia

    September 7, 2011 at 12:24 am

    @max hats:

    really? No one defends Obama in ny?
    just wow. the bs on that meme building.

  31. 31.

    aisce

    September 7, 2011 at 12:25 am

    @ kg

    indiana. virginia, maybe. i suppose florida, in the abstract, but not after gov. gollum.

    the short answer is that republicans can’t win the electoral college. obama will win reelection. it’s a certainty.

  32. 32.

    boss bitch

    September 7, 2011 at 12:26 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Romney is very painful to watch. I can’t watch him for more than a few minutes.

  33. 33.

    Jenny

    September 7, 2011 at 12:28 am

    Mitt’s 59-point economic plan

    you know who else had a 59 point plan… that’s right…

  34. 34.

    Valdivia

    September 7, 2011 at 12:29 am

    @KG:

    Indiana. and maybe Virginia. But not NC. That seems safe to me. Close but ours

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 7, 2011 at 12:29 am

    @TooManyJens: Is McDonnell (?) still at 60%+? Ohio’s been razor close in the last three presidential elections, IIRC; Florida (if Rubio’s on the ticket), even Wisconsin. Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico. Pennsylvania just sent the original Club for Growth poster boy to the Senate. The economy sucks and neither Palin nor Bachmann will be on the GOP ticket. I wouldn’t take anything for granted.

  36. 36.

    aisce

    September 7, 2011 at 12:30 am

    oh, and new hampshire.

    but not places like nevada or colorado. that’s what bigotry against hispanics will get you. the gop will lose arizona in 2016 at this rate, and heck, texas becomes a toss-up in 2020?

  37. 37.

    Jenny

    September 7, 2011 at 12:33 am

    @max hats: Richard Cohen is the same guy who famously said Stephen Colbert isn’t funny.

    “Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian but rude.”

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050302202.html

  38. 38.

    Rock

    September 7, 2011 at 12:34 am

    Wow…no teleprompter and not getting bogged down in policy weeds! I know most of you failed to realize this, but that totally contrasts with the current President! I’m surprised that Halperin didn’t see it and draw the contrast more sharply. From what Halperin is saying, I think Romney sounds like a real President.

    Seriously, how can someone not get their ass kicked for writing such transparent crap. Gee, Mark, we get it — Romney rulez and Obama droolz. For goodness sake, at least take some pride in your propaganda and make it insidious instead of bluntly moronic and smug. It pains me that people with actual skills are unemployed right now while this asshat makes millions.

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 7, 2011 at 12:37 am

    @Jenny: only fool, or a Frenchman, could doubt that invading Iraq is the right thing to do

    I stand by my support of the Iraq War, because after watching 9/11 on TV, I felt the need for some therapeutic violence.

    Larry Summers is right, girls don’t know math. Deal.

    The wankery of Hiatt/Kaplan Liberal Richard Cohen seems almost limitless.

  40. 40.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    September 7, 2011 at 12:39 am

    @boss bitch:

    Thanks but no thanks. If I want to smell fresh shit I can drive over to the local sewage processing plant. At least that place has a nice view of the ocean from there.

    A beautiful sunset and the odor of raw sewage beats reading Halperin’s prose in praise ball-washing of the right.

  41. 41.

    AkaDad

    September 7, 2011 at 12:43 am

    @Jenny:

    Richard Nixon?

  42. 42.

    Jenny

    September 7, 2011 at 12:52 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Richard Cohen was the creep who said outing Valerie Plame was:

    “This is not a major story. It’s a crappy little crime and it may not be a crime at all.” (via)

    In 1971 Deep Throat (W Mark Felt) approached Bob Woodward for the first time telling him that then Vice President Agnew was involved in a kickback scheme. Woodward asked Cohen about it because he was covering Agnew. The creep said it was impossible, that Agnew was incorruptible.

  43. 43.

    Jenny

    September 7, 2011 at 12:57 am

    @AkaDad: Good point. Nixon was a real economic interventionist (ending the gold standard/Bretton Woods; wage and price controls; etc.) A 59 point plan sure sounds like Big Government interfering with the invisible hand.

  44. 44.

    Calouste

    September 7, 2011 at 12:59 am

    So, which other countries does Romney think are going to join the zombie-politician zombie-economics zombie-zone?

    Can’t see the EU joining, the zombie-politician zombie-economics will be a bit too much for the Brussels regulators.

    Free trade of course doesn’t include free movement of labor, so it will probably be Chile and Colombia and some Central American nations. And some third world countries that have nothing to lose anyway and whose leaders can be bribed with a photo-op with Prez Mittens.

  45. 45.

    Roger Moore

    September 7, 2011 at 1:00 am

    @Comrade Kevin:

    How many of those 59 points are “tax cuts” and “deregulation”?

    If a point is allowed to count twice if it includes both, I’m betting the answer is larger than 59.

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    September 7, 2011 at 1:06 am

    @Jenny:

    you know who else had a 59 point plan

    Wilt Chamberlain? Kobe Bryant?

  47. 47.

    Martin

    September 7, 2011 at 1:06 am

    @Scott P.: Everyone should read Scott P’s comment again and memorize it.

    And no ‘what happened to the 69 point plan’ jokes? I’m disappointed in all of you.

  48. 48.

    Suffern ACE

    September 7, 2011 at 1:12 am

    @Rock: There appears to have been massive grade inflation at the top end of our press corps since Watergate. Its like they all said “Watergate” and “Murrow” and collectively gave themselves “As” for the next 40 years, and they won’t die off fast enough to save their woeful estate. Standard deviants and all that…

  49. 49.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 7, 2011 at 1:15 am

    @max hats:

    Over the Labor Day weekend, I went to a number of events in the Hamptons.

    This puts me in mind of the joke that’s something like how every cartoon in The New Yorker could have the caption, “Christ, what an asshole.”

  50. 50.

    Comrade Kevin

    September 7, 2011 at 1:23 am

    @Roger Moore: Good point.

  51. 51.

    Suffern ACE

    September 7, 2011 at 1:25 am

    @Calouste: I know. Does anyone know how hard it is to set up free trade zones? And what exactly was the WTO there for if China has all these “violations” and no one can punish them? Perhaps everything is functioning as it is designed to function. I think Iran, Cuba and Venezuela should be the first to offer to sign up for this enhanced Reagan zones.

  52. 52.

    Martin

    September 7, 2011 at 1:41 am

    Here’s the list:

    1. Maintain current tax rates on personal income
    2. Maintain current tax rates on interest, dividends, and capital gains
    3. Eliminate taxes for taxpayers with AGI below $200,000 on interest, dividends, and capital gains
    4. Eliminate the death tax
    5. Pursue a conservative overhaul of the tax system over the long term that includes lower,
    flatter rates on a broader base
    6. Reduce corporate income tax rate to 25 percent
    7. Pursue transition from “worldwide” to “territorial” system for corporate taxation
    8. Repeal Obamacare
    9. Repeal Dodd-Frank and replace with streamlined, modern regulatory framework
    10. Amend Sarbanes-Oxley to relieve mid-size companies from onerous requirements
    11. Ensure that environmental laws properly account for cost in regulatory process
    12 Provide multi-year lead times before companies must come into compliance with
    onerous new environmental regulations
    13. Initiate review and elimination of all Obama-era regulations that unduly burden the economy
    14. Impose a regulatory cap of zero dollars on all federal agencies
    15. Require congressional approval of all new “major” regulations
    16. Reform legal liability system to prevent spurious litigation
    17. Implement agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea
    18. Reinstate the president’s Trade Promotion Authority
    19. Complete negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership
    20. Pursue new trade agreements with nations committed to free enterprise and open markets
    21. Create the Reagan Economic Zone
    22. Increase CBP resources to prevent the illegal entry of goods into our market
    23. Increase USTR resources to pursue and support litigation against unfair trade practices
    24. Use unilateral and multilateral punitive measures to deter unfair Chinese practices
    25. Designate China a currency manipulator and impose countervailing duties
    26. Discontinue U.S. government procurement from China until China commits to GPA
    27. Establish fixed timetables for all resource development approvals
    28. Create one-stop shop to streamline permitting process for approval of common activities
    29. Implement fast-track procedures for companies with established safety records to conduct
    pre-approved activities in pre-approved areas
    30. Amend Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview
    31. Expand NRC capabilities for approval of additional nuclear reactor designs
    32. Streamline NRC processes to ensure that licensing decisions for reactors on or adjacent to
    approved sites, using approved designs, are complete within two years
    33. Conduct comprehensive survey of America’s energy reserves
    34. Open America’s energy reserves for development
    35. Expand opportunities for U.S. resource developers to forge partnerships with neighboring countries
    36 Support construction of pipelines to bring Canadian oil to the United States
    37. Prevent overregulation of shale gas development and extraction
    38 Concentrate alternative energy funding on basic research
    39. Utilize long-term, apolitical funding mechanisms like ARPA-E for basic research
    40. Appoint to the NLRB experienced individuals with respect for the rule of law
    41. Amend NLRA to explicitly protect the right of business owners to allocate their capital as they see fit
    42. Amend NLRA to guarantee the secret ballot in every union certification election
    43. Amend NLRA to guarantee that all pre-election campaigns last at least one month
    44. Support states in pursuing Right-to-Work laws
    45. Prohibit the use for political purposes of funds automatically deducted from worker paychecks
    46. Reverse executive orders issued by President Obama that tilt the playing field toward organized labor
    47. Eliminate redundancy in federal retraining programs by consolidating programs and funding streams,
    centering as much activity as possible in a single agency
    48. Give states authority to manage retraining programs by block granting federal funds
    49. Facilitate the creation of Personal Reemployment Accounts
    50. Encourage greater private sector involvement in retraining programs
    51. Raise visa caps for highly skilled workers
    52. Grant permanent residency to eligible graduates with advanced degrees in math, science,
    and engineering
    53. Immediately cut non-security discretionary spending by 5 percent
    54. Reform and restructure Medicaid as block grant to states
    55. Align wages and benefits of government workers with market rates
    56. Reduce federal workforce by 10 percent via attrition
    57. Cap federal spending at 20 percent of GDP
    58. Undertake fundamental restructuring of government programs and services
    59. Pursue a Balanced Budget Amendment

  53. 53.

    Martin

    September 7, 2011 at 1:46 am

    I like this one: “12 Provide multi-year lead times before companies must come into compliance with onerous new environmental regulations.”

    Presumably those would be the onerous new environmental regulations that his own EPA will impose.

    “52. Grant permanent residency to eligible graduates with advanced degrees in math, science, and engineering”

    DREAM Act.

    But it looks like 1/4 tax cuts, 1/4 deregulation, 1/4 union busting, 1/4 drill-baby-drill, with assorted teatard red meat thrown in for good measure.

  54. 54.

    demz taters

    September 7, 2011 at 1:49 am

    @FlipYrWhig: This.

  55. 55.

    Yutsano

    September 7, 2011 at 1:50 am

    @Martin: All of this can be killed with one easy question:

    “Governor Romney, how much of this will you believein 6 months from now?”

    Then grab the popcorn.

  56. 56.

    Comrade Kevin

    September 7, 2011 at 2:06 am

    @Martin:

    I like this one: “12 Provide multi-year lead times before companies must come into compliance with onerous new environmental regulations.”

    Since the EPA already does that, I’m not sure what he thinks will be different under him.

  57. 57.

    Ripley

    September 7, 2011 at 2:08 am

    @Martin: Thanks for the list. And… Personal Reemployment Accounts?

    Comedy gold, Jerry. Comedy gold.

  58. 58.

    Martin

    September 7, 2011 at 2:13 am

    Oh, and I like how many of these require spending and employees, while still calling for what amounts to a 30% reduction in discretionary spending relative to his GDP cap, and a 10% reduction in employees.

    And Oh yay! Personal Re-employment Accounts! Hey, they didn’t work in 2003, they can not work again in 2012!

  59. 59.

    Yutsano

    September 7, 2011 at 2:15 am

    @Ripley: @Martin:

    Personal Reemployment Accounts

    BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??

    (No really. What the duck?)

  60. 60.

    Comrade Kevin

    September 7, 2011 at 2:17 am

    @Yutsano: It’s called a bank account, into which you put everything you make, and starve yourself.

  61. 61.

    Suffern ACE

    September 7, 2011 at 2:20 am

    @Martin: Yep. Could be said to help non-voters from other countries- like more visas for skilled workers, heck, just get rid of the H1B step and go right to permanent residency – than actual voters who are unemployed now.

  62. 62.

    Suffern ACE

    September 7, 2011 at 2:30 am

    Oh goody. Why do i get the feeling that “spurious lawsuits” are going to be prevented by no longer allowing any grievance to be heard by a court.

  63. 63.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    September 7, 2011 at 2:45 am

    Here’s my start on the translation of “The List”:

    1. Maintain current tax rates on personal income (Keep the Bush tax cuts)
    2. Maintain current tax rates on interest, dividends, and capital gains (no new taxes on wealth and diverted earnings)
    3. Eliminate taxes for taxpayers with AGI below $200,000 on interest, dividends, and capital gains (Toss the middle class a chicken bone)
    4. Eliminate the death tax (toss the rich a steak bone)
    5. Pursue a conservative overhaul of the tax system over the long term that includes lower, flatter rates on a broader base (tax the middle class and poor more and the rich less)
    6. Reduce corporate income tax rate to 25 percent (another big steak bone to the rich)
    7. Pursue transition from “worldwide” to “territorial” system for corporate taxation (More corporate gifting of wealth without taxation)
    8. Repeal Obamacare (tossed in to show teabagger street cred)
    9. Repeal Dodd-Frank and replace with streamlined, modern regulatory framework (make it easier for financial institutions to fleece consumers without recourse)
    10. Amend Sarbanes-Oxley to relieve mid-size companies from onerous requirements (who needs financial auditing? Not us!)
    11. Ensure that environmental laws properly account for cost in regulatory process (businesses can pollute to their hearts content as long as it’s too expensive to do anything to prevent it)
    12 Provide multi-year lead times before companies must come into compliance with onerous new environmental regulations (since all environmental laws are onerous there will be no line for this shortcut, everybody wins!)
    13. Initiate review and elimination of all Obama-era regulations that unduly burden the economy (cause you know that anything that Kenyan Mooslim did was socialist and needs undoing!)

    Anybody want to take over translating? I’m all wingered out.

  64. 64.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    September 7, 2011 at 2:46 am

    Hep me Hep me!! Muy post has dun ben modurated by teh Eebil BJ Mod Gawd!

    Thanks mods!

    Oh, and FYWP.

  65. 65.

    Comrade Kevin

    September 7, 2011 at 2:48 am

    @Yutsano: In reality, he’s probably talking about privatizing unemployment insurance.

  66. 66.

    Martin

    September 7, 2011 at 2:49 am

    @Yutsano:

    BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??

    They are to federal unemployment insurance what personal retirement accounts are to social security. Basically, you pay your unemployment insurance (oh yeah, your employer stops contributing – surprise!) and when you get laid off, your PRA ‘activates’ and you start getting payments. If you get a job before it runs out, you get to keep what remains.

    It’s like marrying a forced savings account to Angry Birds. Get a job in less than 13 weeks, and you could earn a $500 bonus of your own money!

  67. 67.

    Suffern ACE

    September 7, 2011 at 2:56 am

    22. Increase CBP resources to prevent the illegal entry of goods into our market

    So which industry is that helping? I didn’t know the black market was such a suck on the economy as a whole.

  68. 68.

    Martin

    September 7, 2011 at 2:58 am

    They were tried as an experiment in 2003. The feds dumped a bunch of money in and people could choose the PSA route or standard unemployment. The problem is that while PSAs are designed to incentivize rejoining the workforce, the % of the population on unemployment that don’t want to return to the workforce is exceedingly small. So the PSAs don’t work.

    And the main reason they don’t work is a concept that Republicans fail to grasp – if there are enough jobs, the unemployment rate drops to a very low level. That happens not because companies are enslaving workers, but because people want to work. When people want to work, you don’t need to incentivize them. And when people aren’t working, you can’t credibly claim ‘hey, look at those lazy liberal minorities!’ because the problem is simply that there aren’t enough jobs.

    So, PSAs, like voter id, and abortion laws, and tax cuts solve problems that simply don’t exist.

  69. 69.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 7, 2011 at 2:58 am

    @max hats:

    This is so typical of the vermin of the Village. So, Richard Grand Fucktard Cohen and his circle of dipshit friends don’t defend Obama. Like anyone actually cares what Richard Grand Fucktard Cohen thinks about anything, after he demonstrated what a Grand Fucktard he was in the wake of Stephen Colbert dressing down the vermin of the Village in their own fucking house.

  70. 70.

    Martin

    September 7, 2011 at 3:00 am

    @Suffern ACE:

    So which industry is that helping? I didn’t know the black market was such a suck on the economy as a whole.

    Clothing, accessories, and to a small degree, electronics. Basically, industries with virtually no jobs in the US. It protects revenues and profits, but not jobs.

    Shit, some of the black market goods are made on the same goddamn factory line by the same workers as the regular goods. There’s no job loss there.

  71. 71.

    Calouste

    September 7, 2011 at 3:41 am

    45. Prohibit the use for political purposes of funds automatically deducted from worker paychecks

    So if a company does an across the board pay cut, or even raises the wages less than it did in preceding years, it can’t make any political contributions until that pay cut is reversed, amirite Mitt?

  72. 72.

    Valenciennes

    September 7, 2011 at 4:17 am

    FNL was so great.

  73. 73.

    Valdivia

    September 7, 2011 at 5:43 am

    @Calouste:

    I think this is simply union busting: Unions can’t give political contributions as the dues are automatically deducted no? What. Assholes.

  74. 74.

    debbie

    September 7, 2011 at 7:12 am

    When I read “Reagan Economic Zone,” I think Mitt needs to claim In Living Color’s “Cult of Personality” as his campaign song.

  75. 75.

    A Mom Anon

    September 7, 2011 at 7:17 am

    How in fuck’s name is any of this going to create one god damned job? The rich(oh,sorry,Job Creators) have had tax cuts for a really long time now,where are the jobs? I’d really like to know precisely how this load of crap is supposed to help anyone who isn’t Mitt.

  76. 76.

    4tehlulz

    September 7, 2011 at 7:17 am

    @Martin: My summary of everyone’s reaction outside the Beltway:

    “tl;dr”

  77. 77.

    Groucho48

    September 7, 2011 at 7:47 am

    The wing nuts have an interesting relationship with China. On the one hand, as mentioned in this thread, China is the devil. On the other hand, the autumn talking point for wing nuts appears to be that it is regulations that are killing the U.S.. Just look at how great China is doing without all those pesky rules!

    Of course, no one in the MSM seems to notice the cognitive dissonance here.

  78. 78.

    redoubt

    September 7, 2011 at 8:26 am

    @Calouste: Make the collection of union dues illegal, but enforce “tithing” of a worker’s salary (to the church of the employer’s choice).

  79. 79.

    Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937

    September 7, 2011 at 9:23 am

    Who are going to be the members of this Reagan Economic Zone? The U.S. and Singapore? Do we have to dump the ag tariffs and subsidies?

  80. 80.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    September 7, 2011 at 9:35 am

    I stopped at a McDonalds this morning which had Fox on the TV. One of the things they would be talking about later is the battle for number one in the Republican party between Romney and Perry. Someone needs to tell Michelle that she’s no longer invited to the party.

  81. 81.

    Suffern ACE

    September 7, 2011 at 9:55 am

    @Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937: I doubt even that Singapore is going to join. It looks like a free trade zone where the US can unilaterally impose sanctions on its trade partners for whatever practices it deems uncompetitive, which would mean anything that some billionaire donor to one of the parties wants done. If you are a country leader and think that your country might have its own trade interests, it’s probably not for you.

  82. 82.

    wrb

    September 7, 2011 at 10:47 am

    @Mark S.:

    59-point plans and Reagan zones. Does Mitt have any political advisors?

    Just wait.

    Coming soon from the chorus:

    “Romney’s plan has 59 points and Obama’s only has four!!”

  83. 83.

    Cacti

    September 7, 2011 at 10:49 am

    What are Mitt’s two great examples of job creation that he likes to beat his chest about?

    Staples and Dominoes.

    Retail clerk and food service jobs. Two of the lowest compensated positions there are.

  84. 84.

    maya

    September 7, 2011 at 10:51 am

    @Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937:

    Who are going to be the members of this Reagan Economic Zone?

    1. We’re Number 1

    2. Thatcherstan

    3. Isle of Dementia

  85. 85.

    catclub

    September 7, 2011 at 11:12 am

    @A Mom Anon: see # 76
    It probably will not help Mitt either.

  86. 86.

    Bulworth

    September 7, 2011 at 11:13 am

    Romney also would create a new multinational trade group called the “Reagan Economic Zone,”

    You’re kidding, right?

  87. 87.

    catclub

    September 7, 2011 at 11:25 am

    @Martin: The congnitive dissonance is also spread out on these:
    1-6. Effectively Cap federal income at 15% or less of GDP.
    7-56. Lots of jibber-jabber….
    57. Cap federal spending at 20 percent of GDP
    58. a little bit of jibber-jabber.
    59. Pursue a Balanced Budget Amendment

    I doubt the right wingers will read to the end to find out how important he thinks a balanced budget is. But if they do, they won’t like it.

  88. 88.

    catclub

    September 7, 2011 at 11:32 am

    @aisce: “thinks fiat currency is slavery or some ron paul-type shit.”

    Not just slavery, but Eyetalian slavery.

  89. 89.

    Monkey Business

    September 7, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    @Mark S.: Oddly enough, I’ve been asking who needs a big stimulus package.

  90. 90.

    Suffern ACE

    September 7, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    @catclub: Nah. It’s the nature of long lists. People read the first five, get bored then skip to the end.

  91. 91.

    Suffern ACE

    September 7, 2011 at 12:31 pm

    @Bulworth: Nope. We probably would only let in countries that didn’t have their health care costs under control who then wonder why their workers just can’t seem to be “competitive” even when wages have been stagnant for a decade.

    In other words, we’re looking for stupid countries.

  92. 92.

    Hal

    September 7, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    Romney also would create a new multinational trade group called the “Reagan Economic Zone,”

    yeesh

  93. 93.

    Hal

    September 7, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    @Cacti:

    Staples and Dominoes.

    Retail clerk and food service jobs. Two of the lowest compensated positions there are.

    Look at Hermain Cain. Minimum wage pizza jobs was all he could crow about, and his fan base thinks it’s wonderful.

    Or Donald Trump: If you want to work in a Casino or high end hotel, great. Certainly quite a few white collar jobs there too, but otherwise? Not much in the way of jobs for the average American, but that won’t stop them from boasting.

    Funny also how Mitt doesn’t talk about all the folks who lost there jobs after he took over. I’m sure he would say that would happen anyway.

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