Eesh. Failed to file in eight of nine years.

Thanks to Jack Straw.

Posted by: Ace at 01:02 PM | Comments (58)
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As I've pitched before. I don't know if Mankiw's idea is this dramatic, but Flip Pidot ran the numbers and for the $1.2 trillion the stimulus was (it's growing), we could cancel all employer-paid payroll taxes for 2 1/2 years, or cancel both employer and employee paid taxes for 1 and 1/4 years.

Using standard economic modeling, such cuts should result in a gain of 2.8 million jobs, Flip found.

He pushes his own spin on the idea here.

Mankiw's idea is a bit different. He wants to link this cut to a hike in gas taxes, so that the two end up being revenue-neutral-- over time. At first, it would just be the tax cut, to give the economy a jolt; the hike in gas taxes would be phased in during the recovery.

He sort of has to propose such a thing, because I think he's talking permanent cuts to these taxes, and he has to make up the revenue (for SS and Medicaid and etc.) from some source.

Eh, it's an idea. For those upset by the idea of the gas-tax hike -- well, again, it's revenue neutral as ultimately implemented, so in theory the drop in payroll taxes should equal, more or less, the additional taxes you're paying at the pump.

And while I generally buy the "don't raise taxes, ever" notion, I don't think Mankiw's gas-tax hike is a bad idea as part of this package. If the same amount of taxes are to be extracted from us either way, it seems to make more sense, to me at least, to lower the costs of business and employing workers while raising a tax on gas that will encourage more fuel-efficient vehicles. And no, I don't give a crap about carbon; I care about putting money in the hands of "countries that don't like us very much," as McCain said.

(It occurs to me now that if that actually happens, we won't have as much revenue coming in via the gas tax, and somewhere taxes will have to be raised. Well, maybe. Sometimes a dynamic change in the tax structure encourages more growth and thus generates more revenue even at lower rates of taxation.)

Not sure where I saw this, but I think even super-lefty Juicebox Mafia bogger Matthew Inglesias called it "indefensible" that the stimulus did not have some payroll tax cuts.

Posted by: Ace at 12:04 PM | Comments (74)
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Bait and switch. He promised a much more sensible stimulus with more tax cuts -- and costing only $174 billion -- as Candidate Obama.

As President Obama, he is ramming an $1.3 trillion porkfest on us and claiming the "people have spoken" and have endorsed this plan through their votes.

Actually, to the extent they endorsed anything, they endorsed the more Republican-friendly $174 billion plan.

AP meanwhile actually bothers to fact-check Obama and finds him... less than honest.

At least Route 31 is a road to somewhere.

President Barack Obama had it both ways Monday when he promoted his stimulus plan in Indiana. He bragged about getting Congress to produce a package with no pork, yet boasted it will do good things for a Hoosier highway and a downtown overpass, just the kind of local projects lawmakers lard into big spending bills.

Obama's sales pitch on the enormous package he wants Congress to make law has sizzle as well as steak. He's projecting job creation numbers that may be impossible to verify and glossing over some ethical problems that bedeviled his team.

In recent years, the so-called Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska came to symbolize the worst excesses of congressional earmarks, a device that allows a member of Congress to add money for local projects in legislation, practically under the radar.
Nothing so bold, or specific, as that now-discarded bridge project is contained in the stimulus package. That's not to say the package steers clear of waste or parochial interests. Obama played to such interests Monday, speaking at one point as if he'd come to fill potholes.

A look at some of Obama's claims in Elkhart, Ind., in advance of a prime-time news conference called to make his case to the largest possible audience:
OBAMA: "I know that there are a lot of folks out there who've been saying, 'Oh, this is pork, and this is money that's going to be wasted,' and et cetera, et cetera. Understand, this bill does not have a single earmark in it, which is unprecedented for a bill of this size. ... There aren't individual pork projects that members of Congress are putting into this bill."

THE FACTS: There are no "earmarks," as they are usually defined, inserted by lawmakers in the bill. Still, some of the projects bear the prime characteristics of pork - tailored to benefit specific interests or to have thinly disguised links to local projects.

For example, the latest version contains $2 billion for a clean-coal power plant with specifications matching one in Mattoon, Ill., $10 million for urban canals, $2 billion for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrid cars, and $255 million for a polar icebreaker and other "priority procurements" by the Coast Guard.
Obama told his Elkhart audience that Indiana will benefit from work on "roads like U.S. 31 here in Indiana that Hoosiers count on." He added: "And I know that a new overpass downtown would make a big difference for businesses and families right here in Elkhart."

U.S. 31 is a north-south highway serving South Bend, 15 miles from Elkhart in the northern part of the state.

First of all, there are earmarks in the bill. Earmarks can be either "hard earmarks" (actually encoded into the legislation) or "soft earmarks" (not actually part of the law, but included in legislative reports strongly signaling to those who will spend the money what Daddy Earbucks wants the money spent on).

The AP is claiming the "usual definition" to be that only soft earmarks are actually earmarks, and thus, the earmarks in the bill being hard earmarks, are not earmarks at all.

That's just not true. Obama is simply lying. There is pork and there are earmarks in the bill. AP's "usual definition" of what earmarks is somewhat unusual in that it's flat-out wrong and a shabby contrivance designed to absolve Obama of the charge of direct and unambiguous lie.

AP is taking a page from Bill Clinton. Is oral sex not sex? Are hard earmarks not earmarks? I would think the terms themselves would answer those questions fairly dispositively. HINT: See the last part of each term.

And, meanwhile, Charles Schumer delcares the country doesn't care about pork.

Posted by: Ace at 11:24 AM | Comments (55)
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I'm taking a long, long plane trip on Thursday. I'll share the details later; they haven't told me I can mention it yet.

So I need books for the trip out and the trip back. Looking mostly for history, noirish (non-femmy) mysteries, other interesting nonfiction.

Any recommendations?

Right now I'm reconsidering the value of a Kindle.

Posted by: Ace at 11:11 AM | Comments (378)
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Obama's biggest (non-media) fan. more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:03 AM | Comments (94)
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In other news, I just saw a flock of pigs flying over my house and elephants dancing down the street. There have also been local rumors at my favorite bar of hell freezing over.

...My guess is President Obama is busy these days sticking pins in his Nancy Pelosi doll. To his credit, Obama argued against a lot of the pork while stressing that time is our enemy. Pelosi could care less.

As the legislation headed for the Senate amid cries for more stimulus and less pork, the Republicans pounced. Sensing yet another Democratic miscalculation, the Republicans seized the advantage in the debate.

They want more tax cuts and more real stimulus -- stuff that will create jobs now. Not some pie in the sky proposal that may pay dividends years down the road. And they're right...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 10:29 AM | Comments (45)
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I got some tremendous news on the business side of my world today and took off to walk off some of the energy. I made the mistake of taking my usual route around the Capitol and was met with one of the most grotesque sights I have ever witnessed.

There was a pork orgy of Caligulesque proportions going on as every scumbag, Brooks Brothers suit-wearing lobbyist, every interest group that could cobble together four letters to make an acronym, every left wing butthead asshole cause in the world was shoveling America's future out the door of that place at warp fucking speed.

There were lines dozens deep trying to get their fat noses inside to sup at the trough of what used to be America's future. They had placards and matching t-shirts, they were all smiling and slapping each other on the back as they stole our fucking prosperity. I went from the bliss that the possibility of riches for me and mine gives to the despair of knowing the weasels were stealing more than I could make right before my goddamn eyes.

I'm not joking about the causes, they were herding a passel of blind folks in, followed by Indians in vests (feather not dot) trailed by the trans-gendered, organic emu farming coalition. BASTARDS!

All I could think of was the phrase, when the Nazis and Communists fight you don't pick sides, you call in an airstrike. These fucks are lucky I am a pacifist now. Everywhere I turned were more greedy douchebags hauling satchels of promissory notes out in garbage bags. I feel sick. Must.....find.....vodka. Ahhh that's better, hey where is my hobo-bashing stick or wait I should try out that sword from yesterday's video. Hobo Shish-kabob...bliss.

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 10:16 AM | Comments (37)
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Breaking now. Passed, 61-37.

Usual GOP suspects crossed the aisle: Snowe, Collins, Specter.

Ouch - Iowahawk, in the comments:

Atlas shrugged, bent over, and goatse'd.

Schumer: "The American people really don't care" about pork.

Update - The market responds to Obama's stimulus - red across the board.

Posted by: Slublog at 08:49 AM | Comments (236)
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Fear itself.

US stocks fell sharply Tuesday, led by banks, as details of the governmentÂ’s latest bank bailout plan trickled out.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 70 points, then lost another 100 in a matter of minutes -- before even any official government announcement.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geither will reveal the proposals to help banks at 11 am New York time, after a one-day delay. CNBC will interview Geithner after his speech, at noon. Then he's on to Capitol Hill, where he will testify before a House panel.

Some market watchers remain skeptical over the benefits of the plan and legendary investor Jim Rogers told CNBC it could even make things worse. The bailout will plunge the US further into debt and it is designed by the same people who failed to forecast the crisis in the first place, Rogers said.

Heh. A reminder from JackStraw about Geithner:

Remember, this is the indispensable genius we just had to have running Treasury despite the fact he isn't smart enough to pay his taxes.

Update - Behold the power of the Geithner.

LONDON (AP) - European and U.S. stock markets sagged Tuesday as the Obama administration outlined a new bank rescue that could mobilize in excess of $1 trillion in public and private support to get frozen credit markets working again.

After opening modestly higher, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 315 points, or 3.5 percent, to 7,995.94, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 34.72 points, or 4 percent, to 835.17.

European shares widened their losses late in the day, closing lower as U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was speaking about the rescue plans.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 94.53 points, or 2.2 percent, to 4,213.08, while Germany's DAX was down 161.28 points, or 3.5 percent, to 4,505.54. The CAC-40 index in France fell 114.12 points, or 3.6 percent, lower at 3,020.75.

Posted by: Slublog at 07:18 AM | Comments (132)
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I have a post up at Blackfive with three important pieces from Bill Roggio, Fred Kagan & Dave Tate (who is reporting for us from A-stan) about the current situation and our responsibilities and options there. President O is having second thoughts about trying to win there, but the consequences of losing ought to scare the shit out of anyone paying attention.

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 06:58 AM | Comments (17)
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