Posted on 10/24/2011 9:41:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Call this post “the good, the bad, and the ugly” for Rick Perry today to start off a new week for his campaign. He clearly wanted to start with a boost, and had fiscal-conservative icon Steve Forbes on Fox News yesterday with an endorsement of the Texas governor, tied to the upcoming release of Perry’s economic recovery plan based on the Flat Tax that Forbes himself championed in the 1990s:
On Tuesday, Rick Perry will unveil his economic plan which includes measures to drastically reform the tax code and lower the corporate tax rate. It will also, he says, provide generous exemptions for adults and for children. Unlike Herman Cains 9-9-9 Plan, however, Perrys plan will not include a sales tax. Forbes asserts that this small but significant difference, coupled with the governors firm leadership, are reasons why he is endorsing Perrys candidacy.
Unfortunately, the Austin Statesman hit the newsstands yesterday before Forbes’ appearance with an attempt to dent Perry’s record of fiscal success in Texas, although they have to reach back to the 1990s for the story:
Over his eight years as Texas’ farmer-in-chief, Perry oversaw a loan guarantee program with so many defaults that the state had to stop guaranteeing bank loans to startups in agribusiness and eventually bailed out the program with taxpayer money.
The state auditor panned Perry’s claims of creating jobs and criticized Perry and his fellow board members at the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority for not following their own lending guidelines.
In some instances, the auditor said, Perry and the authority guaranteed loans to applicants with a negative net worth or too much debt. Citing growing debts, the auditor finally suggested that state officials consider dismantling the program.
Even as the first alarms were sounded, Perry defended the program, saying no taxpayer money was at risk, blaming others and claiming he had fixed it.
There is something vaguely familiar about the end result:
By 2009, her successor, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, also a Republican, asked the Legislature to pay off the loan guarantees with a $14.7 million appropriation. The finance authority could no longer afford the $541,000 to cover the annual interest on the bad debts, almost all of which dated back to Perry’s tenure.
“It’s bad,” Staples told the American-Statesman at the time. “Unfortunately, taxpayers are on the hook for something that happened as long ago as 1987.”
In effect, Perry, as governor, signed his own government bailout when he approved the 2009 appropriations bill.
In the end, loans that Perry approved had a default rate of nearly 30%. That overwhelmed the revenue generated by the good loans and created a sinkhole that taxpayers ended up filling in the end. The amount of money lost was far less significant than the one loan to Solyndra by the federal government in 2009, and nothing in the Statesman’s report suggests that the guarantees were issued to benefit political cronies, as was the case with more than one of the green-tech subsidies issued by the Obama administration. However, the loan guarantees ended up costing Texas taxpayers, for the similar purpose of government-subsidized job creation — only this time in agriculture rather than alternative energy.
On top of that, Perry seems to have forgotten a lesson learned in the 2010 gubernatorial elections. The once-promising campaign of Perry’s Tea Party challenger, Deborah Medina, imploded when she flirted with 9/11 Trutherism. In an interview with the usually soft-news outlet Parade Magazine, Perry sounds as if he wants to flirt with the Birthers this time around:
Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?
I have no reason to think otherwise.Thats not a definitive, Yes, I believe he
Well, I dont have a definitive answer, because hes never seen my birth certificate.But youve seen his.
I dont know. Have I?You dont believe whats been released?
I dont know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.And?
That came up.
And he said?
He doesnt think its real.And you said?
I dont have any idea. It doesnt matter. Hes the President of the United States. Hes elected. Its a distractive issue.
Yikes. Did Perry see just how well this issue worked out for Trump back in May? It’s bad enough to have self-absorbed celebrity candidates offer this kind of nonsense during a Republican primary that should be focusing on Obama’s disastrous economic policies. Now we’ll have to endure another round of conspiracy theories that make Obama look like a victim and Republicans look like nutcases. If Perry couldn’t see that trouble coming and know to avoid it with a “Yes, he was born in Hawaii, and his economic policies were born in the offices of the SEIU,” then I’m pretty sure the Flat Tax and the Forbes endorsement isn’t going to help him much.
There are several problems with the Flat Tax that need to be addressed.
It does not broaden the tax base thus leaving the current system of payers and payees in play for future political exploitation.
It maintains the current focus on taxing income instead of consumption thus punishing the producers at the expense of the users.
It leaves in place the current ability for trust funds and the massively wealthy to avoid paying any tax by structuring their payouts in forms other then income.
It does nothing to tap the underground off the books economy.
So while the Flat Tax is a massive improvement over the current system, it is merely rebuilding the existing tax code on the same corrupt, flawed foundation.
Of the two, Cain’s 9-9-9 is the better plan.
Sounds like a hefty endorsement. I think that the national press clubs have been clubbing for Perry.
Might be coming to late to help his campaign, however. We shall see.
Well... on the bright side, at least this is one less endorsement for Romney...
Well of course, why would Steve Forbes not endorse someone who uses his own proposed tax plan?
Rick Perry also got the endorsement of Whoraldo Rivera.
Forbes also endorsed Juan McCain.
Hate to burst a bubble, but we have FReepers who analyze the BC and say without doubt it is a created document. Does not reflect what an Obama BC would be like. It’s obvious.
Perry did great here. He was asked if he had seen the real BC and answered he doesn’t know if he has or not...he can’t tell, therefore he won’t say...then goes on to quote Donald Trump to say it isn’t real, which is Trump’s opinion after having his experts examine it.
If I were in Perry’s place, I would have said and done the exact same thing.
Yawn....
Endorsements don’t mean squat to people who think for themselves.
True in the sense that no endorsement is ever going to sway my vote. But I do find it interesting that a pro-ILLEGAL alien Whoraldo Rivera endorsed pro-ILLEGAL alien Texas governor Rick Perry. Peas in a pod.
Two of my favorite politicians (Palin and Hunter) endorsed a guy I voted against in the last congressional election. I voted the way I chose, no harm no foul and my guy won.
These guys need to read the Constitution......especially Article II. “born in the USA” is NOT the eligibility requirement.
Why do we even listen to these fools?????? Why didn’t Perry correct the interviewer on the question and restate it in Constitutional terms? They’re skirting the issue at best.
I would have said..” Simple birth in the USA is not the Constitutional eligibility requirement. When you figure out what the requirement is and the answer to Obama’s eligibility get back to me and I’ll let you know if you are right. Vetting candidates is YOUR job.........
Both the interviewer and Perry in effect provided Obama with cover in Obama’s lack of Constitutional standing to hold the office of President......just another reason I won’t vote for Perry. A weasel with no ‘nads.
I favor a national sales tax on new goods that are priced at under $10,000 as a direct replacement for the Sixteenth Amendment. Scrap the IRS and fire all their employees.
A national sales tax gets money from everyone. It also puts the tax in front of everyone. All the time. Every day. It is in your face and any proposed change to increase the tax would be big news.
No more personal or corporate income taxes.
I like the flat tax, so I am glad to see Perry pushing it and think it might give him a little boost to have Steve Forbes endorse him.
On the other hand, if Perry goes birther he is finished. Nothing will snuff out what remains of his candidacy faster than throwing in with a bunch of loopy birther conspiracy theorists. He was asked the question so I suppose he can at least say he didn’t bring it up, but now he is going to be dogged by it and any association with birthers is a campaign killer.
I'm tired of being told by the Beltway Blue Bloods who to vote for and who is qualified to be President.
I don't need Karl Rove, Steve Forbes, Charles Krauthammer and Brit Hume telling me a man like Herman Cain can't be President of the United States of America.
GO HERMAN!
Forbes tried to run for President in the past. He’s a smart guy but doesn’t fit the mold of an elected official - he does not have the personality for it.
He is in part among those behind Perry’s latest tax policy proposals.
Little prospect that he would work with Perry’s team to help formulate the policy and then not endorse Perry.
Maybe he is at minimum hoping for a major appointment from a Perry POTUS down the road.
So Forbes is a supporter on non law abiding illegals just like Perry then?
I can't imagine it either. :)
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