TPM’s Greg Sargent inadvertently blurts out the truth:
Now that the Dem primary is officially over, it’s safe for the Obama campaign to let economics adviser Austan Goolsbee (remember NAFTA-gate?) start publicly making the case for Obama’s economic policies.
And so, today on a conference call today with reporters, Goolsbee was front and center as a chief surrogate for Obama, who’s battling it out with John McCain today over their competing economic plans. (Emphases added.)
Thanks for asking, Greg! I do remember the NAFTA flap, and how Team Obama claimed Goolsbee was “basically a volunteer,” not the senior, key or chief economic adviser he had been portrayed as before he let the Canadians know that Obama was just pandering to protectionist sentiment among the bitter, clingy folks in Ohio. It looks like the Obama spin on Goolsbee was as two-faced as Obama’s trade rhetoric.
I wonder who else Obama has disappeared only temporarily…
Ironically, Austan is back just in time to be asked about his spirited defense of the subprime lending practices that Obama has been railing against out on the campaign trail. The media will ask him about it, won’t they?
(h/t Memeorandum.)
Update: Insta-lanche!
I am hoping someone asks him about this:
Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#tax-relief
That just seems like a really bad idea to me.
[…] Protein Wisdom – The return of Austan Goolsbee, International Man of Mystery [Karl] […]
B Moe, that plan is a thing of beauty. I love how our tin-foil wearing friends are so upset over fisa … yet are, by association, all for allowing the government to determine how much we owe ’em.
B Moe,
IIRC, HotAir did something on ti a while back; it’s not good.
How much would it cost to implement such a program at the IRS?
Is the 1040EZ too much for people?
What? This isn’t interesting enough for Ed Brill?
Talk about your International Man of Mystery.
Obama is beginning to warrant a PW interview.
This is just another distraction. Look over there!!11!!!
Y’all just had to taunt Ed Brill, didn’t ya…
Why has Brill not been arrested yet. Is he a democrat in congress?
Well, the obvious, logical conclusion is that Goolsbee was promoted from “some volunteer dude” to “chief surrogate of Obama” just recently. Obviously, if he had been a close confidant of Obama, he would’ve ended up under a bus (e.g. grandma, pastor.)
More good news from the Obamessiah:
I’m sure taxing the oil companies is gonna bring the gas prices right down. How stupid are these people (glancing in Nishi, Thor, and Sashal’s direction) who fall for this stuff? How do they think these tax revenues are gonna go to help anyone? Who doesn’t understand that it is the POOREST who benefit most if the price of gas goes down? There’s an economic stimulus plan with some legs to it.
I dunno … Ed’s starting to grow on me. And, unlike some of our other spambots, he uses capital letters.
Somehow I doubt that Goolsbee came up with ‘windfall profits’ tax as a solution to high gas prices. At a guess he’s probably dressed out in a ballgag right about now, else he’d either be screaming ‘NO’ or puking up his dinner.
– On the high gas prices front, the Gov. is scoring a windfall in taxes. Shhhhhh – who said that.
– Treasury Sect. Paulson said today he “expects to take effective steps soon to bolster the falling US dollar”. Maybe hes going to threaten to raise oil import taxes. That would be brilliant if you’re trying to reduce costs and bolster the dollar. I think these idiots are trying to kill us.
According to Obama, a tax cut given to gas purchasers would result in oil companies raising their prices, while a tax raise on oil companies would not.
That is change that works for me.
– Of course Maybee. when have you ever seen an oil producer pass a tax increase to the customer?
Well, now that Obama lays it all out like that …
You know what would really work? Nationalizing big oil. All those profits turn into revenue. Imagine what we could do with our schools …
Ohh, I’m just tingly all over. That Obama vibrator is good stuff. Oh, oh … OBAMA.
I gotta go smoke now.
One can only hope that some of this information “trickles down” to the average voter who gets their news from the papers and TV. Or, doesn’t actually get any real news if you’d prefer to put it that way.
This may be difficult to understand, Carin, but the IRS already receives this information and has for the last 50 years or so. It’s part of the banks tax filing, so they can pay their taxes. Get it? No need for you to go all black helicopter or nothing, the info has been collected for a five decades or more.
So, the IRS knows about my deductions already? Why file at all? They could just send me a check/bill, depending.
Um, is Barry suggesting that this plan of his to fuck up the oil companies would help NOW or maybe in a year, after the oil companies figure out how to hide their profits, or is he going to have the military attack the oil companies right after he’s elected to murder a few evil accountants and lawyers?
He is a goddamn imbecile. I mean, this shit would get laughed at by every student in a decent Econ 101 class…but he would be so EARNEST.
What a fucking idiot.
This may be difficult to understand, Carin, but the IRS already receives this information and has for the last 50 years or so. It’s part of the banks tax filing, so they can pay their taxes. Get it? No need for you to go all black helicopter or nothing, the info has been collected for a five decades or more.
We have used domestic surveillance to protect ourselves in time of war even longer than that, you okay with that then?
I want you to think about what kind of appeal process you might be facing if you happen to disagree with the governments assessment, Goodman, assuming you pay taxes in the first place.
White Goodman / timmah / timb / caric jocksniffer / IJS dropped by yesterday to moon everyone. Speaking of, caric’s most recent visit was comical in its inanity.
JD,
White Goodman is a multiple personality troll, but not the ones you mentioned. That being said, I mentioned at his last comments that if he keeps up the sock-puppetry, I will ask Jeff G if I can out him. Perhaps White Goodman will become the permanent handle, but he should pick one and stick to it.
Instalanche!
The new “Hi, Bob” party rules will require everybody to take a bong hit every time Obama uses any form of the word “distraction.”
I remember one guy, over at Bill Quick’s, I think. Young Goodman Brown, he didn’t have anything to say also, but he did say a lot!
shouldn’t the first question be about NAFTA?
Forgive for the ignorance but who is the Ed Brill and OnHere’s ? The only Ed Brill I now is a tech guy that used to be on ZDnet
“shouldn’t the first question be about NAFTA?”
No. The first question should be “What kind of preferential rate treatment did Senator Obama receive on the mortgages on his mansion? Senator Obama took a mortgage interest deduction of $57,838 against mortgages totalling $1,570,000. That implies an interest rate on a 30 year mortgage of 3.7% with a loan to value ratio of 97%.
What did Senator Obama do for the lender to justify such generosity? That’s about half what anyone would pay on a mortgage with that kind of LTV – if they could find a lender that would go 97% on that large a mortgage. Tell us, Mr. Goolsbee, what service did the Senator perform in order to receive that kind of treeament?
RAH,
We seem to be getting splogged out of Russia. When our host’s family health situation is cleared up, I intend to remind him to look into it. In the meantime, we are pretending Ed is real.
#33: The first question should be “What kind of preferential rate treatment did Senator Obama receive on the mortgages on his mansion?”… That implies an interest rate on a 30 year mortgage of 3.7% with a loan to value ratio of 97%.
Do we know what kind of mortgage it is? What are the alternative explanations for this rate?
I ask because if your assumptions and calculations are correct this could be a blockbuster issue. Please pursue it.
This Obama guy reminds me more and more of a snake oil salesman.
The problem is, there appears to be a surfeit of people who are just DYING for snake oil.
So many of my friends (and for the most part, they are not proggs) HATE George Bush. But when I pin them down (by asking “why?’), they become tongue tied.
Some of the amswers I get:
“He is evil”
“He is the worst president in our history”.
This is the worst economy since the great depression (this one REALLY pisses me off).
“He is just too stupid, and his daddy bought his degrees.” When I point out that Al Gore’s father couldn’t buy “The Mouthbreather” passing grades, their brains appear to freeze, and they say: “Well, I don’t know. I just hate Bush because I KNOW he is too stupid to wipe his own butt”.
Now that’s what Obama would call “logic”.
The drive bys have done an outstanding job of filling people’s heads with horse manure. Not one of the people that I have talked to about Bush can give even a half rational explanation of why they think Bush is the Devil, and why they hate him so much. They just DO, rationality be damned.
Oh. Did I dream this, or did I see that Keith Uberknucklehead is going to ne brought to NBC news?
I’m hoping I just dreamt that.
This may be difficult to understand, Carin, but the IRS already receives this information and has for the last 50 years or so. It’s part of the banks tax filing, so they can pay their taxes. Get it? No need for you to go all black helicopter or nothing, the info has been collected for a five decades or more.
And, it is because of the immense amount of TRUST that we all put in the government that makes it a good plan? Why not just eliminate that last little step, right?
You know what would be an even better idea? If somehow the IRS could get our money w/o us even knowing how much they are taking.
Ohhh… imagine the “secret tip line” they could set up so citizens could let them know if someone appears to be earning more than they officially should! Imagine the secret audits! Just imagine what life would be like in the new O!
dysutopia!Karl,
Ed is that tech guy, is quite real and is likely unaware of his PW presence. It seems our bot has a glitch in it’s template and/or fixation on him with a side of PW love. “a foton” is to Ed Brill as thor is to Karl. Or something like that. I wonder who his candidate is.
Mc!
Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans:
The plan is reminiscent of the Danish tax system in the 80s – when I left. You had a tax form and you had to fill it out to basically confirm what the authorities already knew. There was no direct and obvious way to compute what you owed: they billed you. If you owed, you were charged your tax plus 8% interest, if they owed you you got your refund plus 5%.
My understanding is that nowadays, the Danish tax authorities now know. Everything. You get a bill. That’s it.
So, in a Baracky administration, we can expect people to be promoted from unpaid volunteer to senior policy advisor. I still want to know if they were lying to the Americans, or the Canadians, about their position on NAFTA.
I do not know why, but this issue is the kind that drives me crazy. The media is going to simply allow the Baracky campaign to overtly and aggressively lie about Senor Goolsbee. Unpaid volunteer or chief economic spokesman? I guess it depends on how much they are lying.
The automated tax filing is not smart. In addition to what has already been pointed out here it will also likely be prone to error, and the people will then be put in an uncomfortable position of having to prove that error. Unless you think the government is going to adopt a system where the IRS assumes it is in error in each such case, which seems doubtful.
It also seems another step down the road to having the government do all the “hard” work for you. It is your money, so having to do a little work to calculate what the correct IRS cut is should be seen in the same light as having to manage your health/family, or your career/education, or your possessions, that is something that is in your best interests to take a personal interest in.
We were once faced with the onerous task of proving to the State of Michigan that we HAD paid our taxes. They didn’t believe me (I got many threatening letters) until I faxed a copy of the cancelled check.
Regardless, the idea that the IRS sending us complete forms will be “cheaper” for the taxpayer is bullshit. Well be paying for the behemouth departments that support the new system … while the private sector will lose jobs. No one HAS to pay to have their taxes done … it’s a choice. But, with Obama, we will ALL pay … at a government efficiency level.
Liberal policies are always like this. The private sector will suffer, and government will grow bigger.
Best of all, Carin, it is a marvelous feed-back loop, such that as the Gov. grows, so too grow the union dues coffers…growing in turn the bank accounts of the political party that supports them…growing Gov…growing union coffers…etc. ad infinitum
Speaking of spending and Obama, I liked (“liked”) the way he said yesterday that McCain, who claims to be against government spending, wants to spend money on tax cuts for oil companies.
Well, MayBee, since he views their “windfall” profits as ill-begotten, it only makes sense that he sees those dollars as the rightful property of the government.
No one HAS to pay to have their taxes done … it’s a choice. But, with Obama, we will ALL pay … at a government efficiency level.
Exactly.
Generally, the things the government doesn’t know about are deductions for the taxpayer. It may save people tax preparation cost (although can’t you deduct that even now?), but it may cost people in missed deductions. As everyone else has said, you’d still have to verify everything.
I also wonder about the incentive for people who take in cash to get the little pre-filled form and see the government doesn’t know about it. It seems that mentally, it would make it easier to convince yourself not to claim that income.
This idea is interesting in a running for class president sort of way, but I imagine the start up costs to be enormous without it actually saving people tax dollars.
Well, MayBee, since he views their “windfall†profits as ill-begotten, it only makes sense that he sees those dollars as the rightful property of the government.
I wonder if the companies can sue him for his constant implication that they are price gouging.
They are criminally price-gouging, and the punitive windfall profits plan is sure to lower the cost of gasoline.
Everybody, raise your hands! How many people think that any revenue from a “windfall profits tax” will be used in any manner, shape or form to lower energy prices for us poor slobs?
crickets
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller …
Oh maaaan, and now this:
http://tinyurl.com/3llf2m
Holtz-Eakin said it was impossible to evaluate Obama’s claim that his spending plans are paid for by his tax hikes since he refuses to provide specifics, such as how high he would raise capital gains taxes.
THE OBAMASSIAH DOESN’T NEED TO PROVIDE SPECIFICS.
He just is. So it is written. So it is done.
OOps.
I knew it was you, Maybee.
shhh, Carin. I was trying to hide from JD.
He just is. So it is written. So it is done.
Pharaohbama.
I knew MayBee had sugartits.
It is a distraction to expect that Baracky actually give specifics on his plan.
He just is. So it is written. So it is done.
Pharaohbama.
The lord’s ways are mysterious. It is not for us to try to understand. If O! tried to ‘splain, it would be as if he were speaking in tongues.
O!
I wonder if Obama noticed that the moment the oceans stopped rising, the rivers of the Midwest started.
Speaking of the Lord’s ways, that is.
He’s Obamaclaus, no need to question where the gifts come from, they just appear under the government tree! The only cost is a couple of cookies and a glass of milk. “You better watch out…”
Yup and he’s making a list of those who are isolated, uninvolved, bitter, clingy, armed, theromstats at 72, driving big-assed pickups and hatin’ on all the brown people.
Lumps of coal are coming your way…
1) Do not taunt happy fun Brill.
2) Yeah, the IRS can’t audit itself, can’t give the same answer twice in a row on its help lines… and they’re going to take on everyone in the country’s income taxes.
Yeah. Pull the other one.