Paul Beaty/AP
Tim Pawlenty speaking at the University of Chicago on Tuesday.
Republican Tim Pawlenty proposed a brand new economic policy today based upon the Internets. While giving a speech in Chicago, the former Minnesota governor touted a little thing he likes to call the “Google Test.”
Basically, if you can Google it, then the government should cut it.
"We can start by applying what I call 'The Google Test.' If you can find a good or service on the Internet, then the federal government probably doesn't need to be doing it," said Pawlenty. “The post office, the government printing office, Amtrak, Fannie and Freddie, were all built for a time in our country when the private sector did not adequately provide those products. That's no longer the case."
Mother Jones offered up a short list of good and services that would get killed if Pawlenty had his way: the military, police, fire departments, hospitals, schools, prisons, diplomats and food inspectors.
The list could go on and on...
Pawlenty also wants to cut the business tax rate and wipe out the capital gains tax, interest income tax, dividend tax and the estate tax.
Leave a Comment:
So.. if we can google Pawlenty.. does that mean we can cut him, too?
Aren't those things from the MJ list very close to being privatized anyway?
whats next to out law poor people he should get his head out of his butt unless he likes it when he waggles his ears
So what's Blackwater's new domain name anyway? Leave terrorist hunting to the private sector and cut seal team six.
This is the grazy silly season of politics. I can not believe that this Republican candidate expects sensible Americans to fall for this nonsense. I will vote for President Obama because there is know other serious alternative. He is capable and smart enough to handle this difficult time in history. The Republican candidates will not be able to defeat Him and I say thank God.
hmmmmm
I can Google the former Minnesota governor, the former Massachusetts governor, the former Alaska governor, the former Speaker, a current Representative from Minnesota, etc. Can we cut them? Please?
Lawrence, you were wrong in the Pawlenty segment when you characterized Clinton's tax increase as the largest in American history -- unless you put air quotes around "largest." That was the GOP mantra, but, as usual with that math- and context-challenged party, it's false, based on very superficial non-adjusted numbers. The Reagan tax increase in 1982, which he had to do when confronted with the fact that his previous tax cuts were unworkable, was bigger in both inflation-adjusted dollars and in terms of percent of GDP. Bush Sr.'s tax hike near the end of his term, the one that got him in so much trouble after his "read my lips" nonsense, was also pretty hefty. If you go further back in history, FDR's wartime tax hike was a good bit higher than Clinton's. Look it up at FactCheck.org, among other sources.
One of the major points of Pawlenty's tax plan is to eliminate capital gains and dividend taxes. Given the fact that billionaires' income is mostly from these two sources and they currently pay about 16-17% in income taxes, their new rate under Pawlenty's plan would be less than 2%.
Also, hedge fund managers, who regularly earn over a billion dollars a year in fees and through a loophole now only pay the 15% capital gains tax rate would pay 0% under Pawlenty's plan. Let me repeat that: these hedge fund managers should be paying $350 million in taxes per year would pay nothing under Pawlenty's plan. Note that the Republicans have fought tooth and nail to keep this loophole in place.
I think that hedge fund loophole is called carried interest.
Lawrence, your statement that Canadian taxes are higher than American taxes is almost as false as the Republican lies that tax cuts increase revenue. While a very simplistic comparison seems to show that Canadian taxes are higher than American taxes, that is comparing apples to oranges. The proper comparison is 'how much would Americans pay to get the benefits that Canadians get from taxes", and the answer is that Americans would pay at least 5 times as much as Canadians pay in taxes for Americans to get the same benefits..
The most obvious one is that Canadian taxes cover the health costs of all Canadians while Americans pay insurance+deductibles+copays over and above what they pay in taxes, while Canadians pay for health costs in their taxes. That item alone means that Americans pay 3 times what Canadians pay in taxes, but that is not the only benefit which Canadians receive from the taxes they pay.
Canadian parents or guardians receive $100 per month per child under 18 called Family Allowance...paid to Canadian parents from Canadian taxes.
Canada Pension is like your Social Security, but over and above Canada Pension, all Canadians who are 65 and over get Old Age Security Pension (about $550 a month) paid for through the taxes that Canadians pay.
When you consider Family Allowance and Old Age Security Pension (which don't have an American equivalent), as well as all health costs for all Canadians, all three paid back to, or for Canadians out of tax revenue, then you realize that Canadian taxes are a real bargain compared to what little Americans get for the taxes they pay.
EPA should not be regulating carbon emissions. ??
Are you saying we dont need to regulate emissions and let companies create as much pollution as they want?