Jeb Bush’s economic plan: ‘Let the big dog eat’

[seafan]

Steve Benen caught wind of Jeb Bush's latest tone-deaf utterance this week.

(all bolding added)

Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush unveiled his tax-cut plan this week, and when making the pitch to voters, the former governor has said it’s time “to let the big dog eat.” It’s a phrase Bush is apparently quite fond of.

He told reporters on Wednesday that “let the big dog eat” is a Florida phrase, though I can report that I’m a Florida native – and I haven’t the foggiest idea what he’s talking about.

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Let’s set the record straight.

The massive Bush tax-cut plan is not hostile towards Wall Street and is not an example of populism. It’s a multi-trillion-dollar package that disproportionately benefits the very wealthy and which Bush has no idea how to pay for.

MSNBC’s Benjy Sarlin explained yesterday that Team Jeb has tried to craft a proposal that “includes something for everyone: new tax breaks for the rich, even bigger ones for corporations, a gentle poke at Wall Street and a variety of new goodies for middle-class and low-income taxpayers. “

That’s certainly true. But it’s also true that the imbalance is dramatic: the bulk of the benefits are directed to the wealthy and to corporations. As the Wall Street Journal reported, “A new analysis by the business-backed Tax Foundation shows that the biggest percentage increases in after-tax income under Mr. Bush’s tax plan would go to the top 1% of earners, people making more than about $406,000.”

The New York Times’ Josh Barro added, “On Wednesday, Jeb Bush joined Mr. Trump by issuing a tax plan that ends certain tax breaks for hedge fund managers. But aside from that detail, Mr. Bush’s plan stays very much on script for Republican tax plans: It cuts taxes for almost everyone who pays income tax, with by far the largest tax cuts at the top.”

The Bush campaign, well aware of the political realities, wants reports to present the plan in the most palatable way possible, making it seem as if the former governor is breaking with GOP orthodoxy – and his brother’s failed record – with a less-regressive proposal. Some, evidently, are falling for the misleading pitch.

The facts, however, nevertheless point in a very different direction.

In a nutshell, Jeb!'s tax "plan" throws crumbs to the masses while the bulk of the benefits flow right back to the top.


(via MSNBC)


Big dogs my @$$, Jeb Bush.


WP: Jeb Bush’s tax plan is great for Jeb Bush, September 10. 2015

WSJ: Top 1% Are Biggest Winners in Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan , September 10. 2015

Time: Jeb Bush Would Save $773,000 Under His New Tax Plan, September 11, 2015





Jay Bookman at the AJC is incredulous at what he heard:

In explaining his new tax proposals, which feature massive tax cuts for the rich and for corporate America, Jeb Bush told voters in North Carolina Wednesday that it’s time “to let the big dog eat.”

I happened to be watching live when he said it, and I was stunned at how tone deaf the statement was. While the economy has its long-term issues, I don’t believe that a shortage of food for the big dogs is among them. To the contrary, “the big dogs” have seldom been so fat and sassy.

Corporate after-tax profits — let me stress that “after-tax” part — are at an all-time high. The share of the economy ending up in the paychecks of working Americans is at or near an all-time low for the almost 70 years in which we have data. The share of our national income going to the richest 1 percent is now at levels not seen since before the Great Depression, which conversely means that the share going to the 99 percent is at its lowest point since before the Great Depression.

“We need to let the big dog eat”?

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However, the big dog’s share of the Jeb tax cuts undoubtedly go to the big dogs.

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An analysis by Bush’s own team of economists acknowledges that if scored by traditional, straight-forward accounting methods, his plan would increase the deficit by $3.4 trillion in its first decade, on top of already anticipated deficits. However, a Bush spokesman dismissed that approach as “antiquated” and “irrelevant, except to partisan liberals who think that we can tax our way to prosperity.” Instead, after accounting for all the growth that the plan is sure to generate, they estimate its true revenue impact at $1.2 trillion.

As we know, however, such trickle-down projections simply do not come true. They haven’t come true in Kansas, and they certainly didn’t come true when Jeb’s brother made very similar promises about his own tax cuts. ** It’s mumbo jumbo.

But let’s play the game for a moment. Let’s accept the lower but still substantial estimate of $1.2 trillion in reduced federal revenue. Where’s it going to come from? Jeb is already on record as proposing considerably higher military spending, so that’s off the table. In its analysis, the Bush economics team proposes instead to finance their tax cuts with unspecified “entitlement reform” — meaning significant cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.

In short, we’ll be financing tax cuts for the rich by cutting social programs, at a time in our history when the rich have never been doing better and a lot of Americans are still struggling. And why? Because “we need to let the big dog eat.”

Mr. Trump, will you kindly, or not so kindly, take out this TRASH?

[Dawson Leery]

1. Trump disagrees with Jebby as do a clear majority of Americans.

Jebby is not going to be the nominee*.

*unless he steals it.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Jeb is more dumb than his brother

he is just part of the same cheating, stealing family of BUSH
The whole family should be in jail for crimes against this country

[gratuitous]

3. The big dogs have been gorging themselves for 35 years

Does Jeb! have any timeline or estimate as to when the big dogs will have had enough, and some of that wealth will come trickling down to the rest of us at last? The big dogs claim they just want their share, but it looks like they think their share is everything and a little more besides.

[hifiguy]

4. I am reminded of this classic Warner Brothers cartoon