Joe Scarborough has a very good track record about picking who will endure and who will go by the wayside. He did a bunch of boasting today. Scarborough called himself the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” of pundits. “Just strike me down and I only get stronger, Darth,” he said. He has predicted each of the flavors of the week correctly.
There has been lots of boasting on the blogs about who is going to whup Obama’s butt. However, before there is too much chest thumping, the Republicans have to have a candidate. Who will the heir apparent for the Republican party be?
Cain for the GOP. If you don’t vote for Cain, its because you hate……pizza.
And Romney for the Democrats in a sudden primary upset over Obama.
😉
Its too early to tell. I really don’t care yet. At this time during the last election, all of the predictions were wrong, in both parties.
If you want to win a general election you have to run someone mainstream. Romney is mainstream. If you run nutwings you won’t even come close.
Cain wants to impose a national sales tax on all of us, greatly increasing the tax burden on all of us.
What would it cost to buy a car or a house? What ceiling would be on that 9%?
What amount of income would you get back from only paying a TOTAL of 9% on your income?
9% more for the car or house. Talk about transparency! You wouldn’t have a hidden tax taken from your check with this!
Of course, even Cain says that his plan isn’t perfect. No plan is. As for increasing the tax burden, Starry, what do you care? I haven’t seen you worry about that before about any other tax increases. Besides, we have to pay for all these programs from THIS administration, right?
And remember, don’t be a bigot. Vote for Cain. Vote for pizza. Stop the hate against pizza.
That would be almost $3000 bucks in tax on a 30k car and about $30k on a $300,000 house. What would THaT do to the housing and auto industry?
@Cargosquid It’s the “ethnic” kind of pizza people don’t like. They want all that yuppy “white” pizza these days, they put chicken and other weird stuff all over it, and forget the anchovies.
I love the idea of a national sales tax. Utterly transparent. Not loaded with waivers and exceptions. The more you buy, the more you pay. And EVERYBODY pays. The ultimate in fairness. I would think Progressives would rally around the idea. But maybe transparency makes some of them a little uncomfortable…
We need to broaden the tax base and cut TAX RATES.
Personally, I want a national sales tax of about 15-18% and NO INCOME TAX! No tax on food or medicine.
I love the whole “the Republicans don’t even have a candidate yet!” thing, like nobody ever saw a nomination process….like the Democrats never had a nomination process against an incumbent Republican President. Maybe if the Dems had paid more attention to the nominating process, we’d have President Clinton, instead of ole Hussein we’re stuck with now.
Pokie! Correct name please.
Republicans do not have a candidate that they can agree on. Listen to what Joe Scarborough has to say. He makes a great deal of sense. If one candidate is selected, he/she will be a nut wing. If another is selected, he will be a rino.
The Democrats got it together going in to the election. Will the Republicans? They don’t have a track record for doing so. I heard more smack about McCain from Republicans than I ever did from Democrats.
Great analysis! We’d have to pay 9% out of the extra 25 or more % in our pocket! How could that work?! We’d all starve to death!
@Slowpoke Rodriguez
We DO have a candidate. Most polls have Obama losing to Any Generic Republican candidate.
And that’s exactly who we have!
Besides, Romney’s running……he’s just in the wrong primary.
Didn’t the administration launch a trial balloon regarding a VAT? That’s also a consumption tax like the 9-9-9. But, it eliminates all the other taxes and replaces it one transparent tax that everyone pays.
One tax to rule them all, as it were.
I’d agree with the notion that food/meds be excluded from the federal tax. States would continue to be free to tax them at whatever rate they choose.
I know without a federal income tax my direct take home pay would go up almost $12K/year. That’s a few iPhones I can buy. 😉 Now that’s stimulus!
marin, it doesnt eliminate state and local taxes, gasoline tax or liquor tax.
Hrm. I didn’t say that right.
The VAT doesn’t eliminate all other taxes. Cain’s 9-9-9 would.
Just wanted to clear that up. I’d rather have one transparent tax that we ALL pay than a system where even tax ‘experts’ don’t know what’s in the Code.
@marin, like Clarence Thomas? He obviously can’t fill out a tax form since he missed $200k that his wife made. Maybe she hid the money from him. Yea, that’s the ticket.
Paying tens of thousands of dollars for tax on a home doesn’t sound like it would do much for home ownership. How about a flat out 3k on a car? That would also raise rents by 150 a month at least.
Cain has a simplistic answer for a very complex problem. For example, people with lots of children/dependents pay very little in taxes. What is going to happen to them once they get hit with thousands of dollars worth of new taxes, just to make purchases.
Will equities be taxed and if yes, upon purchase or when sold? This is a horrible horrible plan. And just wait until the state and local govts get in line to get their fair share. You won’t have enough money to buy a pair of shoes.
Most people won’t bother to tease out what they might save if Cain’s plan goes into effect. Their immediate reaction may be more like “holy @#&%! My BigMac cost 9% more!” If people quibble about where they’ll eat supper when one jurisdiction has 1/2 % higher meals tax, you can bet they’ll sit on their wallets when faced with 9% plus local and state taxes. It’ll take a while to sink in and in the meantime merchants will take a loss.
The big item stuff is enough to tell me it is a horrible idea. Tacking $30k on to the price of a house in this area is a huge deal.
Not if it also involves eliminating income tax. That would have to be the first caveat to a national sales tax.@Moon-howler
@Emma
That’s my one problem with the 999 plan. Kill the income tax FIRST, THEN replace it with a sales tax.
BUT, the problem with that, like with the FAIR Tax, is that Congress will never repeal the 16th amendment and give up all that power.
I like, though, that its getting a big hearing and maybe the American public will be interested in alternatives to the current cluster-f&&k that we have today.
@Moon-howler
Agreed that the national income tax would need to be eliminated first. Busy day today so my posts aren’t as clear as I would’ve liked them to have been.
MH, you are exactly right. No more Clarence Thomas-type problems. Simple transparency. The problem is complex only to the extent that we think it needs to be. If we taxed everyone equally on consumption a person could avoid tax (OR pay more) depending on how they consume things — so the people that say “tax me more Mr. President” will get their wish.
So yes I 100% agree with you MH. No more tax scandals because the tax is collected at POS. No more hiring armies of accountants to find loopholes. Is it food? Is it medicine? No. Then you have ought to have paid a tax on it.
I love the idea of a fair tax that’s easy to figure out.
“First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Next we kill all the accountants. 😉
@marinm
Don’t blame the accountants. Its the politicians that are at fault. The accountants are the ones trying to figure out the mess we’re in and fix it for you.
@Cargosquid
awww. It’s not everyday that I quote Shakespeare…
@marinm
Mea culpa.
You did it quite well. That part was good. I could ……SEE it. HEAR it….. (applause)
What part of “you keep more than that in your paycheck” is so hard to understand? No wonder we have these jokers to lead us.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.
@Slowpoke Rodriguez
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.
I couldn’t have said that any better….(wiping a tear)….that was…..WONDERFUL.
@Emma
30k in income tax is above my pay grade. I think 9-9-9 would destroy the housing market. It couldn’t do much for the auto industry either. I don’t think people have thought this one through.
Large families would be screwed. 9-9-9 is a very regressive form of taxation.
Everyone buys a certain amount. Poor people would be screwed also as well as people on a fixed income.
Of course, everyone should realize that 999 will not become reality. Congress has to screw with it first and then try to pass it.