• President 2012,  Rick Perry

    President 2012: Rick Perry Proposes 20 Percent Flat Tax

    October 24, 2011 /


    A little too little and a little too late to help Texas Governor Rick Perry’s campaign for the Presidency.

    Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry unveiled a sweeping economic agenda Monday, highlighted by a plan to level a voluntary 20 percent “flat tax” on all taxpayers who will accept it in place of what they’re paying now.

    The plan, outlined in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column a day before the Texas governor was set to announce it in South Carolina, also calls for capping federal spending at 18 percent of the country’s GDP while allowing younger earners to privatize their Social Security accounts — a controversial proposal that echoes President George W. Bush’s failed 2005 attempt to overhaul the retirement program.

    But the most significant feature of Perry’s plan is his call for a flat tax rate of 20 percent. Taxpayers who don’t want to pay a 20 percent flat income tax, he said, can keep their current rate.Current marginal income tax rates range from 10 percent to 35 percent, depending on taxpayers’ income.

    Perry offers several proposals that appear designed to sweeten the offer — and to counter criticism that the flat tax is regressive, taking a proportionally bigger bite from smaller incomes. His plan would preserve popular deductions for mortgage interest and donations to charity for households earning less than $500,000 a year. It would increase the standard deduction to $12,500.

    But Perry would eliminate other tax breaks. He argues that a streamed-down tax code (so simple, he says taxpayers can file on a postcard), along with spending cuts and entitlement changes, will stimulate the economy.

    Perry’s proposal really won’t matter since he is carrying so much other baggage. Down in the polls, I really do not see how Perry can regain any type of momentum in the race for 2012 – even a Steve Forbes-like flat tax proposal.

  • Occupy Protests,  Occupy Wall Street,  Polling

    Poll Watch: 32% Have Favorable View of Occupy Wall Street

    October 24, 2011 /

    Protesters and members of Occupy Wall Street wait for the start of the march, during an annual demonstration calling for a stop to police brutality in New York October 22, 2011

    According to the latest CNN Poll.

    Although most Americans don’t trust Wall Street, that hasn’t translated into full support –or understanding– of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Despite large majorities who think that Wall Street bankers are greedy, overpaid and dishonest, four in ten don’t have an opinion about the weeks-long protests, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll released Monday.

    Among those who have an opinion, the public is split on how they feel about Occupy Wall Street. Thirty-two percent of Americans say they have a favorable view of the movement that has spread from Wall Street to Chicago, and that even cropped up at the most recent CNN presidential debate in Las Vegas. Twenty-nine percent of the nation says they have an unfavorable view of Occupy Wall Street.

    But opinions are clear about Wall Street itself. Eight in ten say Wall Street bankers are greedy, 77% say they’re overpaid, and two-thirds say Wall Street bankers are dishonest, a number that has gone up by a third in roughly two decades.

    Over time, opinions about the financial center of the U.S. have gotten worse. In the 1990s, only 30% of the country said they had no trust at all in Wall Street to do what is best for the economy, 24 percentage points lower than now.

    Pretty much what I would expect. Most Americans are too caught up in their own lives to involve themselves in a protest movement in which there are NO clear goals or objectives.

    Although this “occupation” may last a while, eventually it will just flame out with NO real impact. What will have an impact will be the Presidential race for 2012 which starts in the first week of the New Year with the Iowa GOP Caucuses.

    The entire poll is here (pdf).

  • Barack Obama,  Los Angeles,  President 2012

    President 2012 Obama Jam: Another Fundraising Day and Another Obama Traffic Jam for Los Angeles

    October 24, 2011 /

    About three plus hours to go but here is the latest about street closures for this afternoon and tomorrow.

    President arrives at 4:45pm at LAX

    • Usually he is helicoptered to the VA from where the motorcade departs
    • He will motorcade across the Westside to  sometime between 5pm and 6pm to two seperate events in Hancock Park – Santa Monica, Sunset, Olympic, Pico, Wilshire are all subject to rolling closures
    • He usually stays at the Beverly Hilton.  So sometime around 9-10pm he’ll probably head back from Hancock Park

    Metro has not provided bus advisories yet – but they will release as the afternoon continues.

    Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus is alerting riders to delays on routes 1, 2, 3, 8, and 12.

    We’re still figuring out the Burbank portion of the trip – but we have received word the actual Tonight Show taping will be at 9am at NBC Studios near Olive and Alameda.  That means Obama will be on the move sometime between 8am and 9am from possibly the Beverly Hilton to Burbank.
    Obama is scheduled to leave for San Francisco at noon from LAX.

    Good luck out there.

    I will be leaving from downtown Los Angeles around 5 PM.

    Oh Joy!

  • Polling,  President 2012

    President 2012 Poll Watch: 62% of Americans Would Scrap the Electoral College

    October 24, 2011 /

    According to the latest Gallup Poll.

    Nearly 11 years after the 2000 presidential election brought the idiosyncrasies of the United States’ Electoral College into full view, 62% of Americans say they would amend the U.S. Constitution to replace that system for electing presidents with a popular vote system. Barely a third, 35%, say they would keep the Electoral College.

    This majority is probably not sufficient for Congress to amend the Constitution though. And, even if the Congress did, I would doubt that three quarters of the states would ratify the amendment.

    A popular vote system for the Presidency give a disproportionate amount of weight to large states and urban communities where there is more population. This inequity is what the Founders wished to avoid and why they chose the Electoral College in the first place.

    With 62% of Americans today in favor of abolishing the Electoral College, Americans show relatively little attachment to this unique invention of the country’s Founding Fathers. The system was devised as a compromise between those who wanted Congress to select the president and those who favored election by the people, and it has resulted in a highly state-based approach to presidential campaigning.

    Those who advocate abolishing the Electoral College often do so on the basis that the system puts undue emphasis on a small number of swing states. Whether Americans as a whole are concerned about that byproduct is unclear. However, they broadly agree that the country should adopt a system in which the popular vote prevails. While Republicans are less supportive of this than Democrats, 11 years after the 2000 election politicized the issue, the majority of Republicans once again favor the change.

    Also, remember, a large majority of Americans favored Prohibition and look what that Constitutional Amendment (18th) did to the United States.

  • Twitter

    @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-10-24

    October 24, 2011 /

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