Friday Open Thread
Welcome to the Friday edition of your open thread. I don’t know about you but it’s been a pretty exciting week in Delaware politics. What do you think?
I can’t wait until Republicans are charge of the economy! They are so smart!
While many conservatives have called for tax cuts aimed at benefiting corporations and multimillionaires, economist Arthur Laffer — a former member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board — went a step further today. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Laffer argued that the best way to stimulate the economy is to have “no federal taxes at all.” Here is what Laffer proposed to eliminate:
No income tax, no corporate profits tax, no capital gains tax, no estate tax, no payroll tax (FICA) either employee or employer, no Medicare or Medicaid taxes, no federal excise taxes, no tariffs, no federal taxes at all, which would have reduced federal revenues by $2.4 trillion annually. Can you imagine where employment would be today? How does a 2.5% unemployment rate sound?
It’s the magical tax-cut unicorn! Zombie Reagan rules!
The Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire in January. President Obama has expressed a desire to preserve the cuts for the middle class while letting tax rates for the wealthy reset to where they were during the Clinton administration. Conservative lawmakers and pundits have been fearmongering that allowing the tax cuts for the wealthy to expire will kill job creation and small businesses (despite the fact that fewer than 2 percent of small business owners will be affected). Last night on CNBC, Wall Street Journal editorial board member Stephen Moore went so far as to say that he can’t “see the sense” of allowing cuts for the rich to expire, and then advocated that taxes be raised on the poorest Americans in order to finance more tax cuts for the rich:
I just don’t see the sense of this. In fact, if I could have my ‘druthers, I’d raise the ten percent tax rate to fifteen percent and lower the [top] rates.
I wonder what Moore’s unemployment prediction is? He’s probably feeling foolish for not being as bold as Laffer.
Tags: Open Thread
$10 billion debt, Illinois Democrats give 7% raise to their union masters to buy November support
The Collins Report.com July 9, 2010
This is how the modern Democrat/Marxist Party operates. Because of nonstop spending, high taxes and rolling over for higher and higher union salary and benefit demands, the state of Illinois is in a $10 billion debt hole.
Things are so bad in the “Land of Lincoln” that it is unable to pay its day to day bills. Illinois has stopped paying its vendors and other obligations. No honest person who was actually trying to rescue Illinois from a debilitating default would consider taking on new spending at this point, but of course that doesn’t apply to the Democrat/Marxists who run many of our states.
Illinois’s taxpayers be damned
Illinois’s lead “drunken sailor” spending his way through the people’s money is Governor Pat Quinn. Incredibly Quinn has raised the salaries of 35 workers on his own staff 43 times over the past 15 months. At a time when the unemployment rate for Illinois is 10.4% and Chicago is involuntarily furloughing all but its most essential workers, these pay increases have averaged 11.5%. The state’s Budget Director actually got a 20% raise netting him a $24,000 increase!
In a new and total capitulation to Illinois’s unionized extortionist state employees, Governor Quinn has granted 40,000 of them a staggering 7% raise which is the front end of another 7% raise scheduled for next July 1. These raises will mean a new half-billion yearly expenditure for the state.
***************
que Bobby Mcfarren… Don’t worry, keep spending…
80s watermelon smasher Gallagher is a RWNJ.
“The state’s Budget Director actually got a 20% raise netting him a $24,000 increase! ”
But Ish, if he didn’t get the raise, he might bolt to the private sector, where they’re willing to pay people a much higher salary…oh, wait.
Harry Reid came out swinging:
In the 32nd, there will be primaries on both the Democratic and Republican side. But there are only three candidates in the race.
William McVay is running as a Libertarian, Democrat and Republican.
Details from Ginger Gibson: blogs.delawareonline.com/dialoguedelaware
Yes, anon, see the post directly below this one. Already on top of it. There’s also another McVay running in Kent County. Relative?
anyone taking notice of how Krugman bitch slaps Fareed Zakaria for spewing US chamber of commerce talking points?
He can’t run on all three party lines. He has to run under the banner of the party for which he’s registered.
I’m guessing that one of Nancy Cook’s cronies resented having their computer solitaire game disrupted, and just screwed up.
Oh, and seein’ as how both McVays share the same address, yes they’re related, if only in the West Virginia meaning of the word.
El – sounds like they are taking the page out of mid-20th century-era Gov Wilson of CA (ran as both a D and R).
As far as the McVey’s, and it may have already been discussed here before, they are apparently father/son…apparently.
‘Bulo, where do we find the rules clarifying that McVay can’t run on more than one party line? I figured as long as he paid the fee and followed the rules of that party he could do it. Wouldn’t it be up to the party to say that he’s not eligible since he isn’t a registered Republican or Democrat?
Running in primaries and voting in primaries are limited to members of political parties. Rule #1 to follow is that you must be a party member in order to be eligible to run.
Delaware is not an open primary state, either for running or for voting. You will recall that many people switched their registration to ‘D’ in 2008 to vote in the primaries, especially for governor.
How’s Tim Kaine working out? You know, the current head of the DNC? Anybody seen his picture on a milk carton?
cross-posted …
El Som – You’re wrong. Sorry.
Recall Karen Hartley-Nagle’s 2006 campaign for Congress. She ran in the general as an IPOD and in the Democratic primary as a Democrat. She lost to Spivack in the primary, but if she’d won, she would have been on both the D and I lines. Same applies to McVey.
There was a bill to ban fusion candidacies a few years back, but it didn’t pass. It was in response to KHN’s fusion attempt, if I recall correctly.
We are not an open-primary state when it comes to voter registration, true. But if someone wants to run on two or three tickets and has the money and wins the primaries, God bless ‘em!
So will McVay be the first to lose in three parties at once?
I wonder when the Feds lawsuit against AZ is going to be thrown out due to it being unconstitutional. Anyone think that judge will have the balls?
The only one with the tubes is Jan Brewer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzDlN7VLmXQ
Woohoo! Get out your clown noses, both Mike Protack (County Council District 3) and Christine O’Donnell (U.S. Senate) have filed.
NCC District 3 is against whom?
District 3 is Tansey’s open seat. He’s in a primary against Janet Kilpatrick. The Democrat in the race is Renee Taschner.
Danny Short’s running for re-election in Seaford. Don’t look for a Democratic challenger. He knocked out his last one with close to 70 percent.
In bigger news, Greg Hastings is making it a rematch against John Atkins in the 41st. Will the grudge match never end?
Woohoo! Get out your clown noses, both Mike Protack (County Council District 3) and Christine O’Donnell (U.S. Senate) have filed.
On my birthday, nonetheless. It was on purpose!!! 😛
So, my comment back at 2:55PM on Friday was wrong. Not an old former governor Wilson, but make that former Gov Earl Warren. Look at the thread about the 32nd RD Seat for the correlation.