Head-scratchers from the GOP debate
Go Deeper.
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I'm not saying they're right; I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm just saying "prove it" to candidates that cited certain things in yesterday's GOP debate:
* "And make sure you do something about legal reform, so that our legal system doesn't -- it's 2.2% of our GDP now, is spent on all these frivolous lawsuits." -- Rudy Giuliani (A properly constructed sentence might have made the point more clear, of course).
It's possible this comes from a U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, something the WSJ tackled in a column in April
* "It's always the poor people -- those who are on retired incomes -- that suffer the most." -- Ron Paul. Huh?
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* "It ends the underground economy that right now makes it so that folks like us end up paying taxes, but drug dealers don't; illegals don't; prostitutes and pimps, they don't. But we do." -- Mike Huckabee on his "fair tax" plan. In this context, to end the underground economy he cited, one would have to believe that it will end drug dealing and prostitution. How will that happen?
* "There will be no tax increase under my administration." -- Numerous candidates. OK, this is a bit of a lawn dart. The president can veto legislation that includes an increase in taxes, but cannot guarantee any such thing. The question was not asked correctly. And it ignores the concept of a balanced budget.
* "I did not increase taxes in Massachusetts. I lowered taxes." -- Mitt Romney. PolitiFact.com has the other side of the story. But beyond that, what does it mean to cut taxes any more, candidates, especially in a state that relies on the property tax as much as Massachusetts, where taxes increase as property increases? Sure the tax rate may not change -- and by the way, in Massachusetts, the property tax limiting Prop 2 1/2 law takes a lot of this out of the governor's hands -- but Aunt Martha's taxes still go up. Additionally, the conservative CATO Institute noted, "If you consider the massive costs to taxpayers that his universal health care plan will inflict once he’s left office, Romney’s tenure is clearly not a triumph of small-government activism.”
There's also that "fee thing."
* "50,000 people make their living off E-Bay," -- John McCain. I've seen this claim here and there and, like I said, I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying it's wrong. But 50,000 people make their living off E-Bay? That's their job? Or does that include people who make a living writing books and holding weekend seminars -- for a fee, of course -- on how to make a living off E*Bay. Oh, and the spammers who phish using phony E*Bay messages. Are they included? (And will they pay the fair tax?)
* "The average family in America is $9,000 a year richer because we have the ability to sell products around the world." -- Mitt Romney. Please tell me he didn't take our total exports and divide them by the number of "average families" in America.
