Maybe it’s just me, but I found this little noticed detail about Rmoney’s Magic Tax Plan amusing.
This week the Romney campaign was knocked on its heels by a study which suggested that Romney’s tax plan would — in addition to giving a windfall to the wealthiest Americans — increase taxes on 95% of Americans. So the guy who’s running for President to turn back President Obama’s supposedly high-taxing and deficit creating ways would actually raise taxes on virtually everyone and also explode the deficit.
But, wait, there’s more!
[J]ust look who the campaign is putting forward as the expert on the Romney Economic Boom. I’m sort of surprised no one has pointing this out. It’s none other than Kevin Hassett.Who’s Kevin Hassett? Well, he’s none other than the coauthor of the spectacularly boomtime late 90s bestseller Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market. As TPM Reader WM points out, not only was the book amazingly wrong and basically assumed the tech boom was permanent, the whole concept was based on the idea that stocks should be valued on a “formula that double-counted earnings and dividends. A true classic in wingnut economics.”
Don’t really follow economists much beyond Atrios myself, but I assume this means he’s a well regarded and often quoted expert among the far right punderati.
Bubblegum Tate
So he’s basically the David Barton of economists?
Quaker in a Basement
…but I assume this means he’s a
well regarded and often quoted expert among the far right punderatigreat big doofus.YrWlcm!
mclaren
As I’ve said before, I’m going on record as predicting that this election won’t even be close (contra the pundits). It’s going to be a blow-out win for Obama.
maya
Trickle treat!
Sad_Dem
Dems, please repeat endlessly: He won’t release his taxes, but he wants to raise yours.
Also, Mr. President, when the chance arises during the debates, ask Mr. Romney where he thinks you were born.
Zifnab
Did this guy, at any time, work for the Bush Administration? Because it totally sounds like their style.
PeakVT
I doubt anybody but the commenters on BI care what Hassett says. He’s a joke. Which raises the question: can’t the Romney campaign team get anyone better, or are they just that stupid?
Spaghetti Lee
NOW HIRING: Careerist right-wing has-beens ready to sign on with doomed presidential campaign. Out-of-touch, incompetent assholes from wealthy backgrounds preferred. Benefits include millions of dollars snatched from super PACs in the form of ‘consulting fees’ and stabbing each other in the back when the post-campaign tell-alls are published. If interested, please contact Rafalca the Dancing Horse, care of Ann Romney, Winnipesaukee Lake, NH, 03253.
Hal
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/opinion/the-mysteries-of-mitt-romneys-financial-records.html
Villago Delenda Est
You people are all so terribly negative.
You need to clap louder.
You heard me.
Clap louder!
Villago Delenda Est
@PeakVT:
No. And Yes.
SATSQ.
Spaghetti Lee
@Zifnab:
Ding ding ding!
He was John McCain’s chief economic adviser in the 2000 presidential primaries and an economic adviser to the campaigns of George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election and McCain in the presidential election of 2008. (Wikipedia)
ding dong
Romney graduated from Harvard fer petes sake. Can’t he find somebody from Harvard or MIT or Tufts?
gbear
LGF had a post up recently about Romney’s energy advisors. LGF’s take: Be very afraid.
Romney is a fuck-up. If he wins, we are literally toast.
wrb
@Hal:
Oh my
maya
Mr Governor,sir… Sheldon called. He wants his money back.
gbear
@Spaghetti Lee:
Have you seen Rafalca’s TV commercial?
scav
He and Tim Pawlenty can avoid Tax(ing) questions together in a jazzy matched set!
the Guard
jl
@scav:
TPaw’s chances at veep just went up a little, you ask me.
So, now we know the economist behind Rombot Model 38000’s economic plan.
gbear
Tim Pawlenty needs to retroactively take a pleasure cruise on the Titanic. I hope Mitt picks him just for the sheer joy of watching him go down. Man, I hate that guy.
Catsy
@mclaren: For once we completely agree on something.
NotMax
@gbear
Perhaps FOX roll out a new animated series,”The Adventures of Rafalca, America’s Hero Horse.”
gbear
@NotMax: or ‘Dancing With The Stirrups’.
Linda Featheringill
One of my favorite parts of the whole tax plan PR was a member of Team Romney saying that critics did not take into account the sudden burst of prosperity that would take place when Romney was installed in office.
Magic, I guess.
inthewoods
@PeakVT: “I doubt anybody but the commenters on BI care what Hassett says. He’s a joke. Which raises the question: can’t the Romney campaign team get anyone better, or are they just that stupid?”
Pretty challenging to get an economist on-board your campaign where you’re going to ask them to lie any time anyone asks you a straightforward question like “will Rmoney raise taxes?” You also have to believe in the Magic Economic Tooth Fairy otherwise known as the Confidence Fairy, and that the best way to create jobs is to lower taxes and lower the deficit. And you have to do all this despite the fact that all the evidence points against all of these things.
That basically leaves only the grifters to get on board, aka anybody that Kudlow likes/knows/has on the show, or Bush appointees like Greg Mankiw who clearly has his head up his ass.
David Koch
Dick Halperin was on Tweety tonight saying, despite today’s jobs report and stock market jump, despite the swing state polls, despite all the gaffes, Mittens is gonna win the election.
For their own credibility, MSNBC needs to let the clown go.
inthewoods
@PeakVT: “I doubt anybody but the commenters on BI care what Hassett says. He’s a joke. Which raises the question: can’t the Romney campaign team get anyone better, or are they just that stupid?”
Pretty challenging to get an economist on-board your campaign where you’re going to ask them to lie any time anyone asks you a straightforward question like “will Rmoney raise taxes?” You also have to believe in the Magic Economic Tooth Fairy otherwise known as the Confidence Fairy, and that the best way to create jobs is to lower taxes and lower the deficit. And you have to do all this despite the fact that all the evidence points against all of these things.
That basically leaves only the grifters to get on board, aka anybody that Kudlow likes/knows/has on the show, or Bush appointees like Greg Mankiw who clearly has his head up his ass.
Sapient
@mclaren: ‘cept you’d better get out the vote for Obama anyway, because money talks.
Sapient
@mclaren: ‘cept you’d better get out the vote for Obama anyway, because money talks.
Mike G
coauthor of the spectacularly boomtime late 90s bestseller Dow 36,000
I’m so glad we live in a meritocracy, where only the best people rise to high positions through hard work, intelligence, competition and demonstrated achievement.
Romneyfail.
David Koch
Dick Halperin was on Tweety tonight saying, despite today’s jobs report and stock market jump, despite the swing state polls, despite all the gaffes, Mittens is gonna win the election.
For their own credibility, MSNBC needs to let the clown go.
mclaren
@Spaghetti Lee:
You won the internets today, laddie buck.
Maude
I think Obama is reminding people about Romney’s tax plan.
Joseph Nobles
@Sad_Dem: I wish the President could present Governor Romney with an exquisitely-framed certified copy of his birth certificate and then ask politely if we could examine his tax returns.
WereBear
Please please please let the American voter have suffered enough from these kinds of fact-free pointless promises; and finally retaliate.
Turgidson
@gbear:
Agreed. He tries to pull off some Upper Midwestern version of Mike Huckabee’s 2008 schtick of seeming like a halfway decent guy while actually being a dangerous wacko and insufferable asshole. Except he doesn’t have any of Huck’s aw shucks charm. He’s just a clown. Not a “ha ha” clown. A “that guy is some kind of dipshit” clown.
Guy did what he could to ravage Minnesota, but got “moderate” cred because he did it without foaming at the mouth like the braindead teabaggers do. Fuck that guy.
mclaren
@Sapient:
Well, yes, money talks…but in the early 2010s it’s starting to look like money is a drooling mongoloid idiot that blabbers demented drivel.
I live in such a blue state that no matter what, Obama is gonna win it big, so I still plan on voting against Obama and writing in Elizabeth Warren. Not that it’ll make a whit of difference in my state.
Howzabout Dems start doin’ some heavy-duty speculatin’ about why Romney won’t release his tax returns? Could it be because Romney took huge tax write-offs for money he paid for orgies with underage boys and 18-wheelers full of coke and crystal meth as “business expenses”? Or perhaps it’s because Romney took immense tax losses carrying forward because of all the human sacrifices he made to Cthulhu?
Would it be irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible not to!
Turgidson
@David Koch:
I am at the point where I’m starting to think Halperin says shit like that on purpose – that it’s all satire.
The “McCain not knowing how many houses he owns is good news for McCain” thing, then the “No matter which way SCOTUS rules on the ACA, it’s bad for Obama” and let’s not forget that Obama was “kind of a dick” for being a meanie and saying true things about the GOP’s determination to destroy the economy.
I mean…he can’t….really be serious….can he?
mclaren
@WereBear:
Shorter Mitt Romney:
And then, everybody gets a pony!
The Other Chuck
@mclaren:
YOU get a pony! And YOU get a pony! And YOU get a pony!
rikyrah
……………………………………………
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2012/08/romney_s_accountability_scorecard_bain_s_ceo_becomes_governor_of_massachusetts_again_.html
You do know what this means…they’re running away from the ONLY REASON they gave as to why Willard should be PRESIDENT.
YES YES YES YES!!!
The Prudential Building has GUTTED the only reason Willard put forth as to why he should be President, and now he’s scrambling.
His time as Governor?
hee hee hee
scav
@The Other Chuck: 99 free ponies distributed and one dancing warmblood!
jl
@David Koch:
” Halperin was on Tweety tonight saying, despite today’s jobs report and stock market jump, despite the swing state polls, despite all the gaffes, Mittens is gonna win the election.”
Just checked Silver’s Fivethirtyeight blog for weekly wrap up. Obama chances of winning inch up to 71.1 percent, forecast electoral votes: 299.6 (and somehow I feel like rounding up).
Suddenly the awfulness of my head cold did not seem so awful. I will gut it out, for tomorrow will be a better day!
jl
@rikyrah:
” His time as Governor? ”
I look forward to a constructive, mature, and informative debate on health care reform.
Caz
“I assume this means he’s a well regarded and often quoted expert among the far right punderati.”
And you’d assume wrong, of course.
I bet you also assume that Romney didn’t pay taxes for 10 years, because Harry Reid said so.
I assume you don’t care if any of this is true or not, because I assume you are only interested in bringing down conservatives and putting liberals on a pedestal.
Hal
@rikyrah:
Well, according to Mittens:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-was-severely-conservative-governor-he-tells-cpac/2012/02/10/gIQABoNT4Q_story.html
bemused
@gbear:
Pawlenty is a scumbag with an ice cold heart just like all the rest. When he was Majority Leader in 2004, David Strand, a secretary of the Aitkin County DFL Club spoke to Pawlenty about the thousands of Minnesota kids at risk through abuse and neglect. Pawlenty said, “David, children who are victims of failed personal responsibility are not my problem, nor are they the problem for our government”.
See, those kids should have been smart enough to be born to responsible parents.
The Ancient Randonneur
The Obama campaign is all over this one. They sent out an email link to a calculator that shows a side by side comparison on what would happen to your income under each tax plan.
Maude
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Romney can’t run and he can’t hide.
Mnemosyne
@Caz:
There’s an easy way for Romney to prove Harry’s a liar, and it coincidentally would be the exact same thing that every other presidential candidate has done for the past 40+ years: release his previous 10 years of tax returns. So why doesn’t Romney do it and shut Harry up?
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne:
Because the truth is an ironclad defense for accusations of libel or slander.
OvenMitt is toast. He cannot win. He’s painted himself into a corner, forgotten where he laid the land mines, and placed the bullseye on his own ass.
JustAnotherBob
@jl:
“” His time as Governor? ”
I look forward to a constructive, mature, and informative debate on health care reform.”
And Massachusetts’ 47th ranking for job creation…
NonyNony
@mclaren:
I hold to my prediction that Romney will not perform worse than McCain did in ’08. In fact, I’m willing to predict as of right now that Romney gets at least one state that McCain didn’t and gets at least 2% more of the popular vote than McCain did.
Why? Because 90% of the people who show up to vote every 4 years vote for the party that represents their beliefs and would vote for a trained yellow dog so long as they were certain that the dog would veto/sign the right things and appoint the right Supreme Court judges. The remaining 10% don’t vote rationally – instead they believe that when things are bad you throw the bums out no matter who the bums are or who actually created the situation that is bad. And when times are good they often forget to bother to show up to vote. Times are bad, so it’s time to “vote for the other guy”.
Fortunately for Obama, Romney has turned out to be an utterly ridiculous candidate and makes the worst possible response to any prodding they do. They’re herding him like a cow to the slaughter and he doesn’t even see it. So I’m upbeat about us not having to suffer under a Mitt Romney presidency with a Republican controlled House and a Senate controlled by the conservative faction of our political elites.
But don’t kid yourself. Unless he does something to convince the traditional Republican voters that he’s less reliable than a trained yellow dog for appointing Supreme Court justices and vetoing/signing legislation, he’ll still get 45% of the vote. He does seem intent on convincing that last 10% that he’s going to screw them over every which way possible, though. Which I have to believe can’t be good for holding onto that necessary “throw the bums out” demographic.
karen marie
Mitt Rmoney is proof that money can’t buy love. Ha!
It gives me great satisfaction to know that he has to be one unhappy sonofabitch right now.
TenguPhule
Its quite simple to handle Mitt Vista.
1. Romney Always lies.
2. When in doubt, see 1.
Consult the user manual for further questions.
Another Halocene Human
@mclaren: I’m sure Elizabeth Warren appreciates your support IN HER HISTORIC RUN FOR US SENATE IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Sister, you have no style with your write-ins. If I still lived up north, well I would be voting for Obama in the general anyway, fuck yeah! but I might have written in VAN JONES in the Democratic primary.
Or maybe MICHELLE OBAMA.
Hehe.
Another Halocene Human
@rikyrah: Whoa, his campaign is headquartered in the Pru? That just tickles me to death somehow.
Daulnay
Kevin Hassett’s notorious for that book. Check out Brad DeLong (Berkeley Econ.) having mocking good fun with “Let’s Have a Kevin Hasset Day“. Hassett is worse that you think.
liberal
@Sad_Dem:
Actually, that’s a good line. Damn good line.