Wall Street Journal Features Newt Gingrich Opinion Piece to Promote Anti-Romney Candidate – Impact is Just the Opposite

How Stupid do Gingrich and the WSJ Editors Think Voters Are?  - See Answer at End

The editors of the Wall Street Journal do not like Mitt Romney.  Mr. Romney should be a natural for the Journal but he has refused to say his health care mandate in Massachusetts was a mistake.  Instead he says he is against Mr. Obama adopting the Massachusetts plan for the nation, and that each state should do their own plan.  This bit of nonsensical reasoning is too much for even the Journal to tolerate from a pro-business Republican.

In a last gasp effort to save the dying candidacy of Newt Gingrich the Journal has turned over its editorial page column to the former House Speaker.  Mr. Gingrich tries to invoke Ronald Reagan, what he does instead is invoke laughter.  Here are some of the priceless gems of Mr. Gingrich.

But Reagan enacted historic income tax rate cuts, regulatory reforms and spending controls. The recession officially ended in November 1982, and in the following two and a half years the unemployment rate dropped 3.6 percentage points, more than eight million Americans went to work at new jobs, and the longest period of economic growth in American history commenced.

Uh, no.  Taxes were cut in 1981, but were raised with the blessing of Mr. Reagan in 1982 and the longest, strongest period of economic growth took place after Mr. Clinton raised taxes on wealthy people in 1993. Too bad Mr. Gingrich is not a Historian or he would know this.

First, we must reduce the federal business tax rate to 12.5%, eliminate the capital gains tax as a double tax on capital income, and eliminate the estate tax. We must allow immediate expensing (writing off the costs in one year) for investment in capital equipment so American workers can continue to be the most productive in the world, using the latest and most advanced technology.

Uh, sorry Mr. Gingrich, there is no “federal business tax”, there is a corporate income tax but as a man of “big ideas” you really cannot be expected to know details like that, can you?  As for immediate expensing, that is part of the Obama program that was enacted at the end of 2010, but then you were probably too busy planning moon colonies at that time to notice.

On the personal income side, I propose an optional 15% flat tax, allowing those American taxpayers who prefer it to file their returns on a postcard. This will save close to half a trillion dollars annually in tax-compliance costs.

These tax reforms are not designed to be revenue-neutral, but to maximize job creation, wages and economic growth. We will balance the budget with the revenues from such growth and spending cuts

So let’s see, massive tax cut for the rich from the top marginal rate of 35% to 15%, along with the elimination of capital gains taxes and we balance the budget.  Even Bush economists have long ago accepted the reality that tax cuts do not pay for themselves.  But reality is not the long suit of Mr. Gingrich.  As for spending cuts.

My economic plan includes sweeping entitlement reforms that would altogether cut federal spending in half over the long run, entirely solving the nation's entitlement and fiscal crisis.

Hm, that would mean the end of all social programs, huge decreases in defense spending, Medicare and Social Security.  Of course, like every other budget cutter Mr. Gingrich fails to identify a single program he would cut.  The conclusion is this.

These policies will ignite another record-smashing, and world-leading, 25-year economic boom, restoring the American Dream and rebuilding the America we love.

What, not a 24 year boom or a 26 year boom?  Exactly a 25 year boom!  Well that will show Mr. Clinton and Mr. Obama, won't it. 

So in the end, anyone who carefully reads what Mr. Gingrich has to say will come away with the conclusion that this delusional politician should never, ever hold elected office ever again.  For anyone to conclude otherwise must mean, as the Wall Street Journal must feel, that the American voter is really, really stupid.  Well, the voters can be fooled some of the time, but sorry WSJ and Mr. Gingrich, they are no where close to being that stupid.

On the positive side though, one can be certain that unlike the newsletters that Mr. Gingrich authored and now has said he didn’t author, there can be no question that this piece was indeed written by Mr. Gingrich.  No ghost writing hack, no matter how bad, could have penned these words, it is pure, unadulterated Newt Gingrich.  And that’s a good thing, for the world to see what Mr. Gingrich really is about.