Patterico's Pontifications

11/8/2017

Ted Cruz Says “Read My Lips No New Taxes” Plus I Hate the New 280-Character Twitter

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:06 am



I am pressed for time so I will Inflatable football helmet tunnel just link these posts at RedState:

THREE CHEERS For Ted Cruz, Who Says: The GOP Plan Should Not Raise Taxes

I Hate The New 280-Character Twitter

Enjoy.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

81 Responses to “Ted Cruz Says “Read My Lips No New Taxes” Plus I Hate the New 280-Character Twitter”

  1. So we are left with a political system where Republicans always argue for lower taxes and Democrats always argue for higher spending. Neither party advocates coherent policies linking taxation to spending to balance the budget.

    Alas, the deficit will continue to grow. So the Republicans should just say, “screw it,” and forget about increasing the deficit.

    Eliminate all itemized deductions for mortgages, state, and local taxes.

    Lower the corporate tax rate to 20%

    Increase the standard deduction

    Institute the “Alternative Maximum Tax” that allows a taxpayer to lock in his percentage of income paid as taxes in 2017 so that in subsequent years, he will never pay more than that. This way we don’t have to worry about how different individuals are impacted by the elimination of itemized deductions.

    Dumb fiscal policy, but smart politics.

    Talking about cutting federal spending doesn’t appear to lead to winning coalitions. So Democracy is doomed as long as the Federal Reserve can just keep monetizing our deficit spending.

    El Gipper (f1f816)

  2. tax reform is dead

    they should have combined it with the bill to confirm mitch mcconnell’s corrupt piggy wife to her sweet sweet cabinet job, but they were shortsighted (whoops)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  3. Good policy is good politics. Unfortunately the wonks-R-us in Washington continue to be wedded to trying to turn bad policy into good politics squandering the generational opportunity voters gave them. It’s fool’s gold.

    crazy (d99a88)

  4. Alas, the deficit will continue to grow.

    The deficit is not really growing. Thanks to the fiscal discipline of the GOP congress, the budget deficit fell from 9.8% of GDP in FY09 to 3.2% of GDP in FY16.

    Deficit spending at the level of 2-3% of GDP is not really a problem. We are still a bit above the safe level, but not by a lot. If estimates for the next few years are right, we will be under 3%. The growth of entitlements is a longer term problem that will need to be addressed, though.

    Here’s a graph showing the last 50 years of deficits.

    Dave (445e97)

  5. lol you failmerican piggies think you can afford your debt but that’s just cause you ensconce these harvardtrash pigs at your fed to keep rates artificially low

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  6. He [Ted Cruz] is the closest thing we have to Ronald Reagan in this era.

    Ronald Reagan Myth Doesn’t Square with Reality

    Excerpt: “Reagan was not happy about raising taxes or expanding government, and we certainly shouldn’t forget that he had to work within the constraints placed upon him by a non-compliant Congress. But that doesn’t change the fact that Reagan both increased spending and, after the initial cut, showed a willingness to raise taxes – exactly the sort of policy prescriptions so widely condemned by today’s Reagan-reverent conservatives… Meanwhile, following that initial tax cut, Reagan actually ended up raising taxes – eleven times. That’s according to former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, a longtime Reagan friend…”

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ronald-reagan-myth-doesnt-square-with-reality/

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  7. Mr. Feet, ‘harvardtrash pigs’ lead by example; for ‘example,’ they have been known to eat their young:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaZGaJrd3x8

    It’s been a year and we’re still here! Remember, ‘swing for the fences!’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssYJuKQenHU

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  8. “of course in Texas, we cook bacon a little differently than most folks”

    this is a lie i’m from texas and we cook bacon same as everywhere else

    do not trust content from Ted Cruz

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  9. how is 280 twat any different from two 140 twats done bang bang one right after the other

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  10. 280 characters is a Dickens novel.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  11. The incredibly hypocritical Congress:

    This year, Congress passed a special law for hurricane victims: they can deduct the first dollar of their loss from their income (waiving the 10% exclusion) AND can do so without itemizing as they normally would have to.

    Then they turn around and eliminate the casualty loss deduction entirely for next year.

    http://beta.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wildfire-tax-deduction-20171107-story.html

    And all this for a higher standard deduction (that is immediately zeroed out by eliminating personal deductions). Again, this “reform” is all about cutting the corporate rate and moving the burden to the middle class.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  12. 280 characters means Trump can pack more idiocy into every tweet.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  13. Meanwhile, following that initial tax cut, Reagan actually ended up raising taxes

    Reagan cut the marginal income tax rate from 70%(!) to 28%. That it then inched up to 33% should be considered in perspective. Not even BERNIE argued for 70% again.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  14. President Trump’s very smart and his twitters are read by literally countless people from all walks of life all over the world, and they are much discussed.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  15. @14. Consider all the ‘dot… dot… dots’ he will save making America grate again!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  16. @Dave:The deficit is not really growing.

    In constant dollars, the deficit may not be growing, but the debt is increasing, $7.4 trillion since 2007. You may if you like make the argument that this growth int debt is okay.

    In constant 2009 billions of dollars:

    2008: -459.5
    2009: -1,412.7
    2010: -1,274.4
    2011: -1,250.2
    2012: -1,025.1
    2013: -632.7
    2014: -444.3
    2015: -399.5
    2016: -528.3

    Which adds up to $7.4 trillion, in constant dollars, added to the debt. Which I think rather a lot, but YMMV.

    Frederick (64d4e1)

  17. hf,

    You haven’t been to Texas in a while, have you?

    Bacon Bash Texas.

    Many Texas State Fair bacon selections, every year, including Smoky Bacon Margarita.

    Bacon wrapped bacon courtesy of Texas Monthly.

    Snook TX chicken fried bacon.

    Ted Cruz’s machine gun bacon. (I’ve reached my link limit but you can Google it.)

    DRJ (15874d)

  18. i am not a bacon aficionado but i use it in certain recipes (flavor) but we do not make it using the machine gun i promise (you will get trichinosis)

    personally as a texan this are how i make my bacons (cause it’s so easy to make it crispycrumbly this way)

    i need the margarita though

    btw i go to Texas for the thanksgiving this year!

    going to Allen just to hang out and eat steak and drink on the porch and be thankful

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  19. guess what i’m thankful for? (hint: he’s the most magnificent president ever)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  20. Lincoln began the celebration of Thanksgiving in 1863 as a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” You can praise your earthly idol if you aren’t a believer, but Thanksgiving wasn’t created for that purpose.

    DRJ (15874d)

  21. i’m thankful for how our beneficent Father sent President Trump to us in our darkest hour

    i’m so happy we have so many blessings

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  22. Nifty 180 degree change. It reminds me of someone.

    DRJ (15874d)

  23. I can get behind this… but I do like to see blue staters squirm and get all self righteous over paying more taxes when someone takes them up on their empty claim to want to pay more.

    Lefty: I can pay way more in taxes and we all should
    Trump: OK. Here you go
    Lefty: waaaaaah, waaaaaah.

    steveg (e8c34d)

  24. happyfeet isn’t really a Texan. I mean we all see how he or she treats women, how much he likes ‘failamerica’ and how much he loves God. Even in Austin he would be recognized as a transplant instantly.

    DRJ, I never knew that about Lincoln’s link to Thanksgiving. Very interesting! That’s my favorite holiday by far.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  25. 280 characters means Trump can pack more idiocy into every tweet.

    As everyone else can. I’m even more glad I don’t use Twitter.

    dlm (a4eb00)

  26. TEXAS OUR TEXAS ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY STATE

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  27. Kevin M (752a26) — 11/8/2017 @ 10:26 am

    eagan cut the marginal income tax rate from 70%(!) to 28%. That it then inched up to 33% should be considered in perspective. Not even BERNIE argued for 70% again.

    Reagan cut it stages, not all in the 1986 bill. I think it was Kennedy, or rather Johnson, after the assassination, who signed the bill cutting the top marginal tax rate, I think it was 50% for earned income salaries, wages and tips), and 70% for business income.

    Bernie doesn’t want to go to 70% or higher but he argues it wasn’t so bad.

    https://mises.org/library/good-ol-days-when-tax-rates-were-90-percent

    Bernie Sanders noted that “When radical, socialist Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, I think the highest marginal tax rate was something like 90 percent.” Paul Krugman said the same thing as did Michael Moore in his film Capitalism: A Love Story and you’ll see this factoid repeated on countless memes floating around the Internet.

    However, what a tax rate is and what is actually paid are two very different things. Indeed, in 1955, the only people paying 90 percent (actually 91 percent) were those making over $3,425,766 when adjusted for inflation. And these are marginal rates, so they only paid that on any earnings above that threshold.

    And then there’s a chart. The top rates, dating from the 1930s, were around 90%. At those levels you better be able to deduct state and local income taxes or you risk going over 100%

    Sammy Finkelman (69aa73)

  28. Bacon-wrapped scallops covered in hollandaise sauce – Manny’s Minneapolis.

    harkin (b4548f)

  29. From the Mises website:

    It should be noteworthy that back in the 1950s, the government wasn’t actually collecting any more in tax revenue as a percentage of GDP. There’s something called Hauser’s Law, which basically states there is a maximum threshold on how much the government can tax out of its population. I think this “law” is no such thing. If the government really wanted to expropriate more, it could do so. But Hauser’s Law based on the fact that in pretty much every year since 1950, the government has collected between 17 to 20 percent of GDP in taxes. …A study from the Congressional Research Service concludes that the effective tax rate for the top 0.01 percent of income earners during the period of 91-percent income taxes was actually 45 percent. Given that the top bracket is so much lower today ($3,425,766 in 1955 vs. $413,200 in 2015), the 39.6 percent top marginal rate probably yields something pretty close.

    Sammy Finkelman (69aa73)

  30. That sounds delicious, harkin.

    DRJ (15874d)

  31. The advantage of 280 characters is that one can use better grammar, rather than having to compress too much to stay within 140.

    Of course, our host can always self-limit to 140.

    The Twitterphile Dana (e48a51)

  32. There’s a tapas bar on the peninsula that does bacon-wrapped, chorizo-stuffed, dates. They are incredible.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  33. Reagan cut it stages, not all in the 1986 bill.

    It was rolled out in stages, but it was all passed in the 1981 bill. First to 50%, then two more stages. It was 28% by 1984. The 1986 bill had increases in it, after the Dems promised they’d find matching cuts (spoiler: they didn’t). The big increases in 1986 were FICA changes that raise the rates, blew out the caps, and made self-employed people pay both halves of FICA. It essentially tripled FICA taxes on self-employed folks.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  34. But the FICA thing was Dole.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  35. “When radical, socialist Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, I think the highest marginal tax rate was something like 90 percent.”

    It was set to 90% by FDR during World War II. It stayed there until JFK dropped it to 70%. Bernie is being disingenuous when he implies it was Ike’s idea.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  36. Sammy, the Hauser’s Law thing says that at a certain point there are diminishing returns. Set the rates too high and wealthy people stop working and you get ZERO rather than 40%. Presumably, high income folks have money saved up.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  37. That sounds good, too, aphrael, as are tapas.

    DRJ (15874d)

  38. 36. Kevin M (752a26) — 11/8/2017 @ 5:28 pm

    Sammy, the Hauser’s Law thing says that at a certain point there are diminishing returns. Set the rates too high and wealthy people stop working and you get ZERO rather than 40%.

    I think that’s the Laffer curve. Hauser’s law is empirical. It just seems to be the track record that the federal government never collects more than about 20% of GDP.

    The Mises website argues that’s maybe not really a law – in other words, politics, and maybe the reactions of people in a mostly free society seems to cause that, not economics.

    It also says there are loopholes, tax avoidance, tax evasion – it says there was plenty before 1986 – and also people adjust what they do so as not to be taxed too much. They’ll change from deriving profits as an individual to doing so as a corporation etc. They’ll think hard what can they do.

    Sammy Finkelman (69aa73)

  39. I don’t know why Trump uses that twitter site when he could kill that rat leftist site right now by posting anywhere else. Everyone would go where he goes. Think about it, posting on a site that the President avoids, love him or hate him, is meaningless.

    jcurtis (404a37)

  40. Trump has 32.4 million followers. Katy Perry has 100 million. That’s from out of nearly one billion Twitter accounts.

    nk (dbc370)

  41. My go-to meal at my go-to Tex-Mex joint, the dish the waitstaff knows to turn in when they see me walk through the door, is a grilled platter with chicken & beef fajitas — plus three big Gulf shrimp, butterflied, stuffed with habanero chili peppers and jack cheese, wrapped in bacon, and deep-fried. Done right (as my friend Carmen, the owner, always does for me), the bacon is perfectly crisped to the point of chewiness, not brittleness; the shrimp perfectly steamed within it; and the melted cheese melds them together, with the pepper giving a perfect kick in the aftertaste. “Tierra y mar” it’s called.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  42. Think about it, posting on a site that the President avoids, love him or hate him, is meaningless.

    Trump is too busy golfing and watching Fox and Friends to read everything posted on Twitter.

    Dave (445e97)

  43. @ Dave, who wrote just above:

    Trump is too busy golfing and watching Fox and Friends to read everything posted on Twitter.

    That’s intriguing and seems likely true to me. I read his tweets as reprinted here and elsewhere, but I don’t “follow” him on Twitter in either the software or conventional senses of that word, so I ask those who do:

    Has he indeed diminished the volume of re-tweeting of offensive crap (I’m thinking of the boorish photo of Cruz’ wife) since Election Day? Or does that just get less publicity elsewhere now?

    The re-tweeting suggests to me that at some point, he either had someone or something acting as his aggregator and filter, or was looking at incoming twitter stuff himself. No?

    I’ve utterly despised the very concept of Twitter since the moment I first read about it. It truncates meaningful communication and rewards only barbed wit or snark or attacks. It’s for stand-up comics who turn into shouting match competitors, and they were boring even as comics for the most part. It is designed to recognize and promote the shallow and coarse, and in that, it has succeeded. I despise it more daily; I will never use it; I will never have a kind word to say of or for it; and I think it is socially and politically dangerous — which is not at all to say that I want to see it regulated or banned, but that I want to see it shunned, as I do and recommend.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  44. What I know of Twitter, I concede, is through its secondary effects, for I am utterly convinced that prolonged and will self-exposure to Twitter is the mental health equivalent to the oncological effects of smoking three packs of unfiltered Camels daily while cleaning one’s countertops with washcloths soaked in benzene.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  45. *willing self-exposure, mea culpa.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  46. Here’s a list
    http://friendorfollow.com/twitter/most-followers/
    Trump is at position 21, just ahead of the New York Times and CNN, but below CNN Breaking News and well below Obama, who is third with 96 million followers.

    Why anyone wants to know what Justin Bieber or almost anyone else in the top 20 tweets is beyond me. I guess I’m just a middle-aged white guy who doesn’t get it.

    kishnevi (704a68)

  47. I think that’s the Laffer curve.

    They’re obviously related. Also is the fact that no matter what the supposed rates are, the rich seem to pay a steady 25-30%.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  48. I’ve utterly despised the very concept of Twitter since the moment I first read about it.

    Communicating by bumper sticker.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  49. What I know of Twitter, I concede, is through its secondary effects, for I am utterly convinced that prolonged and will self-exposure to Twitter is the mental health equivalent to the oncological effects of smoking three packs of unfiltered Camels daily while cleaning one’s countertops with washcloths soaked in benzene.

    I don’t read it very often, but I think if you follow reasonable/intelligent people, there is no reason it necessarily has to be toxic.

    “Brevity is the soul of wit” and it can be an interesting “fly on the wall” experience when news-/opinion-makers have a public discussion.

    Of course, the noise level is hopeless if one isn’t very selective.

    Dave (445e97)

  50. It truncates meaningful communication and rewards only barbed wit or snark or attacks.

    It ain’t for the gassier guzzlers; less is more:

    http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/print/2004/10/volkswagen_think_small.jpg

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  51. it’s pretty obvious i guess

    sleazy harvardtrash ted wants to preserve and enhance california’s prerogative to brutally tax-rape its citizenry so california’s people companies and jobs keep flowing to texas

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  52. Trump winks at China’s suppression of freedom of the press and freedom of speech

    For twenty years, every US president since Bill Clinton has persuaded the Chinese Premier to take questions from the press after their joint press statements.

    Until today.

    The Great Negotiator apparently couldn’t extract this symbolic concession to liberty and human rights from his dictator buddy, Xi.

    Trump has previously promised to end freedom of the press in the United States, and called the press’s freedom “to write whatever they want” “frankly disgusting”.

    Dave (445e97)

  53. hasn’t failmerica ridden the “symbolic concession” wave pretty much as far as it’s gonna take her?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  54. Former Goldbrick Sacks says per on your head is good for you…Trump agrees he likes it.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/09/gary-cohn-trickle-down-is-good-for-the-economy.html

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  55. pee on your head..

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  56. Meanwhile, the mysterious “academic” who served as a liaison between the Trump campaign and the Russian intelligence services during the election has simply … disappeared.

    Dave (445e97)

  57. Mifsud and the polonium umbrella brigade.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  58. meh teh dimocrats
    hijosdelaputana
    sonsabeaches!!!

    Colonel Haiku (6047c1)

  59. Squirrel served his purpose,

    narciso (d1f714)

  60. Heh. The Saudis searching for their own corruption is a rank example of Trump Projection.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  61. He beenburned but not like this before
    can’t be ‘round this kinda show no mo

    Colonel Haiku (6047c1)

  62. 52… heh… such is his respect for the dimocrat operatives with bylines. WTFU.

    Colonel Haiku (6047c1)

  63. Kernel Popcorn rubs himself pathetically with his rare talent SNORT!

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  64. Trump is like those drivers who think their car is a social bulwark where you can treat people like crap cuz you think they can’t get at you. Face to face, they are cowards. The Chinese see right though his Emperor’s costume.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  65. Nah. Trump did the right thing. He cheated the Chicoms from using him as propaganda to show that they do have freedom of the press. The only reporters allowed in would have been Chicom government stooges. The only questions they would have been allowed to ask would have been Chicom government approved. The only thing they would have been allowed would be what passed the censors.

    nk (dbc370)

  66. The only thing they would have been allowed *to publish* would be what passed the censors.

    nk (dbc370)

  67. Yes. Chicommies wurst than Trump. Deposit that nugget in the Bank.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  68. And you can take it to bank that if Trump had played along with the #FakeNewsWithEggroll, he would now be now roundly criticized by our #FakeNews for giving the Chicoms the propaganda moment.

    nk (dbc370)

  69. @Sammy:I think that’s the Laffer curve.

    The “Laffer curve” isn’t the Laffer curve. It’s the Extreme Value Theorem, from calculus.

    Tax revenue is a continuous function of tax rate. If the tax rate is zero, the tax revenue is zero. At some point (might be higher than 100% rate) the tax revenue is zero again, because people have stopped doing the thing that triggers the tax revenue. Positive tax rates cannot yield negative tax revenue (not talking about revenue – costs of collection or compliance, that indeed could be negative, but the actual raw revenue).

    The Extreme Value theorem guarantees that somewhere between those two rates, 0% and possibly greater than 100%, there lies a maximum tax revenue, and if you increase the tax rate to more than that revenue you will see a decrease in revenue. It’s a mathematical theorem that applies to everything, not just tax rates.

    When people say “Laffer curve” they leave it open to be dismissed as partisan flapdoodle. It’s not.

    Frederick (64d4e1)

  70. It’s the point of diminishing returns. Happens in just about everything.

    Rev.Hoagie® (6bbda7)

  71. @Dave:Meanwhile, the mysterious “academic” who served as a liaison between the Trump campaign and the Russian intelligence services during the election has simply … disappeared.

    You’re presenting this as established fact, when it isn’t. The woman with him wasn’t Putin’s niece, either.

    Papadopoulos wrote to colleagues on the Trump team that he “had just finished a very productive lunch with a good friend of mine… who introduced me to both Putin’s niece and the Russian ambassador,” according to court filings.

    Maybe when this academic is turned up, we’ll find “Putin’s niece” too.

    Frederick (64d4e1)

  72. The woman with him wasn’t Putin’s niece, either.

    Right, “Putin’s niece” was almost certainly a cover for an FSB hooker whose job was to gain leverage on another of Trump’s lackeys.

    Dave (445e97)

  73. Well seeing as the Russian pepperpot met with fusion before and after the sting, who knows

    narciso (c408aa)

  74. @Dave:“Putin’s niece” was almost certainly a cover for an FSB hooker

    All you would need is some evidence…

    Frederick (64d4e1)

  75. All you would need is some evidence…

    You’re right. The Russians have never, and would never, stoop to such tactics.

    The presence of an unidentified and seductive young Russian woman at the exact moment a top Trump adviser was being put in contact with a high-ranking Russian diplomat/spy offering the campaign an illegal quid pro quo must be an innocent coincidence.

    Unfortunately, Professor Mifsud is by now likely either in an FSB safe-house, or floating face down in a river somewhere, so it’s going to difficult to ask him.

    Dave (445e97)

  76. @Dave:The presence of an unidentified and seductive young Russian woman at the exact moment a top Trump adviser was being put in contact with a high-ranking Russian diplomat/spy…

    If only there were proof that this happened the way you said it did. Perhaps if we wait there will be such proof.

    Unfortunately, Professor Mifsud is by now likely either in an FSB safe-house, or floating face down in a river somewhere…

    If there were any proof that he is what you say he is and did what you claim he did, then perhaps this is a likely possibility. Perhaps if we wait there will be such proof.

    Frederick (64d4e1)


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