Defining new limits to Butt Stupid

George Rebane

[This is actually a little memo to a cultural anthropologist in the distant future who may dig out my scribble about the early 21st century from some ancient server or its contents, on a yet to be discovered medium, stored in a deep cave on some distant moon or planet.  That future civilization should know that by the hundreds of millions we really did live and attempt to survive under such governance.]

This afternoon on Fox News Cavuto there was an interview with Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC).  The segment made clear that the man’s belief system and understanding of human action is beyond recovery by reasonable argument, and perhaps beyond recovery by any means known to civilization.

For openers, standing apart from many of his fellow Democrats, he neither understood nor agreed that the revocation of the Bush tax cuts would have any significant impact on our economy.  To him those tax cuts are immaterial and just allow the rich to pocket more of their ill-earned profits and squirrel them away in fallow “Swiss bank accounts”.  These same people do nothing to invest in America and in enterprises that create jobs.  Job creation actually results from giving tiny tax cuts to 60 million Americans, per Obama’s plan, who then go out there and create jobs by spending the marginal pittances that government deigns to leave them.

The 47% of Americans who pay no federal income tax don’t do so because “they don’t make enough income” to pay taxes.  People who “make less than $20K a year” shouldn’t have to pay taxes, and that’s why the 47% are free from federal income tax.  Cavuto had no luck trying to convince him that almost half the working age population of the United States did NOT earn $20K or less a year.  Clyborn stuck to his guns.

The interview - with Clyburn denigrating people who make money, invest, and create jobs - continued in this fashion for about ten minutes with Cavuto calm but a bit incredulous, along with his audience no doubt.  I think it is good to parade these butt stupid legislators in front of a national audience on a regular basis.  Else we would lose sight of what an imbecilic body Congress has become, and begin searching for solutions to the country’s problems in all the wrong places.  The question, of course, naturally arises as to what kinds of constituencies exist out there to regularly send legislators like Clyburn to Washington and to their state capitols.

Comments

[Russ Steele]

George,

You wrote: "The question, of course, naturally arises as to what kinds of constituencies exist out there to regularly send legislators like Clyburn to Washington and to their state capitols."

The answer: A whole lot of butt stupid people who make all their voting decision on liberal main stream TV sound bites. No thinking allowed!

[Account Deleted]

I had the show on DVR and just finished watching it not an hour before reading this post. The good Congressman did have the honesty to admit that the cuts to the budget were just a slight downward nudge in the steep upward ramp of Fed govt spending. He defended his choice of the word "cut" by stating that since a small decline in the increase was considered a cut in Washington when he got there, that would be his definition as well. The most telling was his assertion that tax cuts for the Walmart crowd would help increase jobs, but if the wealthy got a cut, they would just put the money in their portfolio. So he thinks the wealthy have a folder at home and shove cash into it. He also assumed Romney to be guilty of some crime because some of his money is in the Cayman Islands. He had no proof of any sort that Romney had done anything wrong but continued to imply evil doing because his money was offshore. When Cavuto offered the argument that if folks would have to pay higher rates on risked capital, then they might not risk the capital at all. Clyburn could only offer a pathetic "We'll see". Yes, sir - we WILL see!

[Paul Emery]

Bush tax cuts created jobs? What are you talking about!

[billy T]

hmmm. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/cbo-taxes-will-shoot-more-30-percent-over-next-2-years

[billy T]

Is Congressman Butt Stupid 3.0 the same Congressman who was worried that military aircraft on a Pacific Island would make the island list and topple over like an Italian cruise ship? No, I think that dude (Congressman Butt Stupid 2.0) was from Philly. I get them all confused. They all sound alike. At least Maxine Walters dresses different than the other Congressmen Butt Stupids, which makes it easier to differentiate her from the other Congresspersons Butt Stupid. Maybe Congressman West from Florida can add Congressman Butt Stupid 3.0 to the list of Pelosi types who should get the hell out of here. Hopefully all the Congresspersons Butt Stupids might read todays tiny CBO report http://www.businessinsider.com/the-5-scariest-debt-and-unemployment-charts-from-the-cbo-report-2012-1s

[billy T]

ok, now I feel Butt Stupid. try it again http://www.businessinsider.com/the-5-scariest-debt-and-unemployment-charts-from-the-cbo-report-2012-1

[George Rebane]

However anyone wants to cut it, repealing tax cuts which have been in force for a decade and have become part of the country's tax landscape will be a pure and simple tax increase which everyone from Art Laffer to the CBO says will stymie the economy and contribute to the govt's taking a greater share of the GDP as billyT's links point out.

[Douglas Keachie]

In a global market place tax cuts will not create jobs here, and in fact as George has correctly pointed out, once the robotic factories are built, and domestic robots become available, the tax cuts won't create much in the way of jobs anywhere. As I said elsewhere, it's going to be a very goofy world while this all gets sorted out.

[Douglas Keachie]

Here's another person for your BS Club: Rep. Allen West Tries To Walk Back Telling Obama To ‘Get The Hell Out’: ‘I Did Not Refer To Any Person Leaving’

By Tanya Somanader on Jan 31, 2012 at 10:36 am

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) once again sparked controversy with a demagogic speech in Florida this past weekend where he demanded that liberals and President Obama “get the hell out of the United States of America.” Now, West is engaged in a rapid backpedal, appearing both on CNN and Fox this morning to insist that what he said is not actually what he said.

On CNN, West demanded that a skeptical host Soledad O’Brien view the entire speech an realize that “he was simply trying to draw attention to the decline of a country” at the hands of people who hold values that are “not in concert with our constitutional republic.” “And if you can’t understand that,” he added, “please come down to South Florida, you and I can read the Federalist Papers.” Later on Fox and Friends, West told host Steve Doocy, “I did not refer to any person leaving”:

WEST: The other thing is that I did not refer to any person leaving. If you go back and read the transcript of the message that I gave, it was about equality of achievement, it was about economic dependence, it was about enslaving the American entrepreneur’s will and spirit. That message needs to leave this country. And that was what I was referring to. And I think that anyone that sat back and looked at the entirety of that 12 minute, 45 second speech would understand that we’re talking about a contrast of visions of this country.

[George Rebane]

DougK 1001am - But all jobs are not 'global jobs'. Many (most?) that require personal services and maintenance of in-place systems are jobs that will be created by entrepreneurs that hire people who don't have to be techies. And being crass capitalists, they will appropriately put risk and reward into the equation before they decide to invest. For them taxes will figure high on whether to commit or not.

[Douglas Keachie]

I do know that 80 million boomers may require "personal services and maintenance of in-place systems."

[Dixon Cruickshank]

Wonder what happened the last time Capital gains taxes were reduced to the present rate - anybody wanna guess what the Gov take was - up or down?

[Douglas Keachie]

"they will appropriately put risk and reward into the equation before they decide to invest."

and when it is all said and done, they will go with their gut anyway, at least 50% of the time, regardless of the numbers. Capitalism is not a completely rational system.

An investor in a 1 chance in 10 of being a hit movie was asked why he would take such a risk. "I build shopping centers. I've built 101 shopping centers. I'm bored to death with shopping ceneters. I need a little excitement in what left of my life."

A true story from way back when.

[George Rebane]

DougK 412pm - point well made. But what goes into into the mix of a "not completely rational system" is still the perceived odds and level of profit. As Kahneman (q.v.) points out, our brain then does some interesting things in its System 1 vs System 2 thought processes.