Tag Archives: Paul Krugman

I’ve always been a Paul Krugman fan.  Here’s why…

Class Warfare Exists

Paul Krugman is on a roll calling out Mitt Romney for his false assertions about his tax and “jobs” plans.  There is a reason why a “large margin” of economists and 68 Nobel Laureates have said they prefer Obama over Romney (source).

But – I am amazed at the number of people who are even going to vote for Mitt Romney.  The election isn’t going to be a blowout even though I think the fundamentals are in Obama’s favor … but even if Obama had a blowout like never seen before and he won 60% of the American vote which has never been done in modern history (if ever) … that would still leave 40% of Americans actually voting for this guy.  That scares the hell out of me.  I can appreciate social issues being a core driver for some but when it comes to economic issues, income inequality, the social safety net or foreign policy …. Romney is a HUGE step backwards.

Krugman actually calls Romney a liar HERE; an excerpt:

But back to the Romney jobs plan. As many people have noted, the plan has five points but contains no specifics. Loosely speaking, however, it calls for a return to Bushonomics: tax cuts for the wealthy plus weaker environmental protection. And Mr. Romney says that the plan would create 12 million jobs over the next four years.

Where does that number come from? When pressed, the campaign cited three studies that it claimed supported its assertions. In fact, however, those studies did no such thing.

So when the campaign says that these three studies support its claims about jobs, it is, to use the technical term, lying — just as it is when it says that six independent studies support its claims about taxes (they don’t).

The most recent math by the tax policy center said that Romney’s tax plan to reduce income tax rates by 20% affecting 53% of Americans would still be short $3.7 trillion … yes – TRILLION dollars.  Mitt Romney has said that his plan will not add to the deficit and the only possible solution is that it would increase taxes on the middle class.  There is no other solution.  Read more on that HERE.

And as I’ve already shared HERE … Krugman’s absolutely correct … Romney’s plans are pure fantasy:

Regarding Romney’s Tax Plan:

• The Congressional referee – the Joint Committee on Taxation says Romney’s plan is impossible HERE.
• The former McCain economic adviser and current chief economist for Moody’s says the arithmetic “doesn’t work” HERE.
• Politifact says Romney’s claim that 5 independent studies corroborate his math is “mostly false” HERE.
• A Fox “journalist” actually says “How can you not tell the people these facts” HERE.
• An independent study by the Brookings institution says Romney’s tax plan isn’t mathematically possible HERE.
• Factcheck.org says his math is impossible in Romney’s Impossible Tax Promise.
• I’ve given a very simple explanation that Romney’s plan will in fact cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans HERE.
• The Tax Policy Center says Romney’s plan is a $5 trillion tax cut which would give anyone making more than $1 million a year at least an $87k tax cut HERE.
• Bill Clinton says Romney’s tax math is impossible HERE.
• Fox’s Chris Wallace calls out the Romney campaign for their math HERE.

Regarding Romney’s Jobs Plan:

The Washington Post did in fact call it a “bait and switch” … they said Romney’s tax plan “doesn’t add up”.  We’ve shard their article along with a history of Romney’s economic advisers who were also Bush’s main economic advisers HERE; an excerpt:

This is a case of bait-and-switch. Romney, in his convention speech, spoke of his plan to create “12 million new jobs,” which the campaign’s white paper describes as a four-year goal.

But the candidate’s personal accounting for this figure in this campaign ad is based on different figures and long-range timelines stretching as long as a decade — which in two cases are based on studies that did not even evaluate Romney’s economic plan.  The numbers may still add up to 12 million, but they aren’t the same thing — not by a long shot.

In many ways, this episode offers readers a peek behind a campaign wizard’s curtain — and a warning that job-creation claims by any campaign should not be accepted at face value. The white paper at least has the credibility of four well-known economists behind it, but the “new math” of this campaign ad does not add up.

Related articles

• Growing Up Romney: Mitt, Tagg, And The Romney Family’s Myth Of Self-Reliance (huffingtonpost.com)
• Taking Note: Tax Policy Center Questions Romney Tax Plan (takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Bushonomics on Steroids: Romney’s Tax Plan Is Still Severely Impossible (theatlantic.com)
• Mitt’s (Still) Impossible Math (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
• Romney’s tax plan still nowhere close to adding up (salon.com)
• Why Does Mitt Romney Think There are No Mathematicians in the U.S.? (desertdogmeh.wordpress.com)