Monday, January 07, 2008

Brad DeLong on Huckabee's Crazy Tax Plan

I am grateful for the existence of Brad DeLong and his ability to write things like this Salon piece.

When I first heard about the Huckabee ("Huckabee, fuck me!") plan, I couldn't believe such a batshit idea was being proposed by a mainstream political figure. In addition to giving a precise explanation of why the Huckabee plan makes no sense, DeLong has a concise explanation of why it is still getting a hearing
[huckabee] is counting on people not knowing what he is really promising. I believe he is counting on the nigh total fecklessness of America's press corps -- a fecklessness that I at least now see as deployed with a sharp partisan edge. As economist John Irons laments on his blog, ArgMax.com: "I'm not sure how he is getting away with adopting the FairTax as part of his platform. Wouldn't Democrats be skewered in the media if they proposed a tax increase on people making between $30,000 and $200,000?" Yes.

But Huckabee is a Republican. And it is different if you are a Republican.

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