Newt Gingrich Tortures Fox News Viewers, New York Times Tortures Readers, Michelle Bachmann Gets Even Crazier but Paul Krugman Gets It Exactly Right . . .

And Other News That Needs Comments

The Washington Post reports on the progress of the “unconventional” (read “losing”) Presidential campaign of Newt Gingrich and notes that

Gingrich’s public schedule last week included no campaign events but featured at least six media appearances: three on talk radio and three on Fox, the cable network where he has appeared on air some 800 times (emphasis added) over the past decade as a paid analyst.

Now The Dismal Political Economist has no great sympathy for those who view Fox News (the Official News Station of the Republican Party) but subjecting them to 800 sessions of Mr. Gingrich is just so  wrong.  Even worse, since Mr. Gingrich was voted “Most Likely to Quit the 2012 Presidential Race Before the New Hampshire Primary” by his high school classmates, Fox News viewers will soon see his return to that august network.

The Dismal Political Economist commented earlier about the lack of professional journalism at the New York Times.  Now we have the following headline from the Times

2 Republicans Open Door to Increases in Revenue

Which certainly sounds encouraging on settling the debt ceiling and deficit issue.  But wait, that is not what one Republican in the story is saying at all.

One of the senators, John Cornyn of Texas, said he would consider eliminating some tax breaks and corporate subsidies in the context of changes in the tax code, provided there was not an overall increase in taxes.

“I think it’s clear that the Republicans are opposed to any tax hikes, particularly during a fragile economic recovery,” Mr. Cornyn said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Now, do we believe tax reform is necessary? I would say absolutely.”

But he insisted that any changes in taxes be “revenue neutral,” meaning that the government would not take in any more money from individuals or businesses than it does now.

Yes, that is right, any change must be revenue neutral, so the headline term “Increases in Revenue” is just plain false. (You do understand the concept of “revenue neutral” don’t you New York Times?) So what we have another step forward for the Times on its race to the bottom.  Why can’t they just report the news?

 

Just when you think Michelle Bachmann’s flight from reality has reached the end of the highway she takes theoff-ramp to Crazytown (ok, she's been down that road before, she knows the way).  Campaigning in New Hampshire Ms. Bachmann supported eliminating income taxes for one year as a way to stimulate the economy.  She conveniently did not address the fact that such a policy would be a massive benefit for the wealthiest of Americans and would not benefit the 47% of citizens who do not pay income taxes, (and for whom she wants to raise taxes).

 As for the impact on the deficit, Ms. Bachmann explained that under the Laugher (nee' Laffer) Curve theory, with a zero tax rate the economy would grow so much that the increased tax revenue would more than balance the budget.  When asked how a zero tax rate would produce any revenues at all she said that doesn’t matter, and that the deficit was Obama’s fault anyway. (ok she didn’t say all that, but she probably thought it).

Sometimes Analysis and Explanations of Economic Issues requires long, detailed, obtuse and dense discussions.  Sometimes it does not, and Paul Krugman of the New York Times is among the best at explaining things in a clear, concise manner.  Here he is  on the issue of tax breaks for large corporations.

In fact, that idle cash has become a major conservative talking point, with right-wingers claiming that businesses are failing to invest because of political uncertainty. That’s almost surely false: the evidence strongly says that the real reason businesses are sitting on cash is lack of consumer demand. In any case, if corporations already have plenty of cash they’re not using, why would giving them a tax break that adds to this pile of cash do anything to accelerate recovery?

The Dismal Political Economist can only add a chart from Mr. Krugman that shows this in vivid detail, nothing more, that says it all.

A Politico story on South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley captured the real news in that state’s politics, as opposed to the previously cited NYT “feel good” story on the Governor.  That real news story is the conflict between a highly conservative Republican state legislature which overrode Haley vetoes and a highly conservative Republican Governor. There are policy differences and personality conflicts within the Conservative structure, and it is important to understand them.

 Ms. Haley is a significant improvement over her predecessor, Republican Governor Mark (“I said I was hiking the Appalachian Trail when I was really in Argentina with my girlfriend”) Sanford, but then it would be hard not to be, wouldn’t it.