Lost in the Fog
NYT editorial
As they debated at the Reagan library Wednesday night, the Republican presidential candidates seemed lost in a separate, frivolous galaxy from the sobering economic reality that President Obama was trying to confront. A public desperate for ideas about economic revival heard an astonishing argument about whether Social Security is a hoax, along with a fight about which states were more effective in luring low-wage jobs from other states.
The Republican Party has already demonstrated its lack of interest in rebuilding the economy, preferring instead to use stagnation as a club to dismantle President Obama’s agenda and damage his chances for re-election. Much of that was on display at the debate, where Representative Michele Bachmann wrongly insisted that health care reform was a principal reason for high unemployment. Other candidates blamed the minimum wage, or corporate taxes (widely evaded through loopholes) or unspecified “federal regulations” and bureaucrats.
If only the American entrepreneur could be free from a crushing burden of taxes and regulations, jobs would flow, bemoaned Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. He did not mention that federal income taxes are near a historic low and taxes on investment gains are even lower. He boasted of having “created” a million jobs in Texas in the last decade, leading to a ridiculous quarrel with two former governors, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah, over who had a better record of job creation.
(More here.)
As they debated at the Reagan library Wednesday night, the Republican presidential candidates seemed lost in a separate, frivolous galaxy from the sobering economic reality that President Obama was trying to confront. A public desperate for ideas about economic revival heard an astonishing argument about whether Social Security is a hoax, along with a fight about which states were more effective in luring low-wage jobs from other states.
The Republican Party has already demonstrated its lack of interest in rebuilding the economy, preferring instead to use stagnation as a club to dismantle President Obama’s agenda and damage his chances for re-election. Much of that was on display at the debate, where Representative Michele Bachmann wrongly insisted that health care reform was a principal reason for high unemployment. Other candidates blamed the minimum wage, or corporate taxes (widely evaded through loopholes) or unspecified “federal regulations” and bureaucrats.
If only the American entrepreneur could be free from a crushing burden of taxes and regulations, jobs would flow, bemoaned Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. He did not mention that federal income taxes are near a historic low and taxes on investment gains are even lower. He boasted of having “created” a million jobs in Texas in the last decade, leading to a ridiculous quarrel with two former governors, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah, over who had a better record of job creation.
(More here.)
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