Why the G.O.P. Candidates Don’t Do Substance

[applegrove]

Why the G.O.P. Candidates Don’t Do Substance

By John Cassidy at the New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/why-the-g-o-p-candidates-dont-do-substance

"SNIP............

Rather than focussing on topics like these, the ten candidates spent much of their time attacking CNBC’s moderators (my colleague Amy Davidson has more on this) and competing with each other over who could offer Americans the lowest tax rates. In response to a question about whether he was running a “comic book” campaign, Donald Trump said, “We’re reducing taxes to fifteen per cent.” Ben Carson mentioned the same figure. Rand Paul said that he would offer the zero option for payroll taxes: abolishing the contribution that workers make.

Did any of the candidates detail how they would pay for their huge tax giveaways? Of course not. Relying on the discredited arguments of supply-side economics, a few of them did say that reductions in tax rates would produce a much higher rate of economic growth, which would boost tax revenues. Carson talked vaguely about eliminating some tax deductions. Carly Fiorina said that she would reduce the mammoth U.S. tax code to three pages. Ted Cruz said that his plan would allow people to file their tax returns on a postcard.


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The first problem the candidates face is that the field is still too crowded. Like Wall Street analysts (and media commentators), they therefore have an incentive to adopt extreme positions, because outliers get noticed. Thus, on the eve of last night’s debate, Ted Cruz, channelling Herman Cain from four years ago, unveiled a plan for a flat tax of ten per cent on personal income. Perhaps recognizing the fact that there is a limit to what anybody, even a diehard Tea Party supporter, will believe, Cruz didn’t claim that this proposal would balance the budget. Instead, he cited a study from the Tax Foundation, a Washington-based research organization, and claimed that it would cost less than a trillion dollars.

The second problem the Republicans have—and this will become even more acute as the election approaches—is that, by many measures, the U.S. economy is doing pretty well. In the past five years, the unemployment rate has been cut in half, and about twelve million new jobs have been created. G.D.P. has been growing at a steady, if unspectacular, rate for more than six years. House prices and stock prices have rebounded strongly from the Great Recession.




.............SNIP"

[jberryhill]

1. I'm pretty sure Ben Carson does some kind of substance

Probably a prescription one of some kind.

[applegrove]

3. I know eh?

[MineralMan]

2. Substance, no. Substances?

That's another matter for many.