Friday, November 06, 2009

Another Ma$$hole Politician

Steve Pagliuca is running for Ted Kennedy's vacant Senate seat in Massachusetts.

He's a former venture capitalist (Bain Capital) but better known as part-owner of the Boston Celtics - part of the braintrust that has brought that franchise back to life.



But don't let those gleaming bullet points on his resume fool you.

I just had to hear a most nauseating radio ad of his:

I grew up working class...

I understand how important jobs are to the middle class...

I want to regulate Wall Street...

As a business man, I know how to create jobs...

And I want to raise the captial gains tax...

Hah! Good luck combining those last two!

Of course, raising taxes on entrepreneurs and the wealthy, who happen to be THE engine of productive job growth....that's a most curious way to go about *creating jobs*.

Also, note the supreme irony of a venture capitalist, who, after making HIS fortune, wants to now raise taxes on capital; he essentially wants to close the door of opportunity that he walked through to the rest of us. That's very thoughtful of you, Steve.

In the Globe today:

Pagliuca claims the budget can be balanced in three to five years without new taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year. That, he asserts, is achievable by reducing unemployment to 4.5 percent, cutting the defense budget by $69 billion, letting the top income tax rate revert from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, and increasing the capital gains tax from 15 to 20 percent.

This sounds like a thoughtful plan, but in large part, Pagliuca is simply using rosy assumptions to wish away thorny realities.

Hmmmm....you mean all we have to do is *reduce unemployment to 4.5%*, to a level far below the historical norm???

What an ingenius plan, Steve!

This in Massachusetts, the most educated state in the nation, this is what passes for *business savvy*.

God help us, please.

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