URGENT NOTICE! BEWARE OF THE ADVISORS OF GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

…The conservative's Hoover Institute Tower on the Stanford Campus

From conservative think-tanks, universities, and Murdoch’s, Wall Street Journal, all these advisors have some strange ideas.

If you think as I do, that the almost 20 conservatives that are vying for the GOP presidential nomination have no real new ideas for their approach to governing, then I’m here to tell you, we are both very wrong!

Yes, I am saying that this large group of wannabees have a host of ideas (some new) for their Republican policy proposals.

But, it is important that you don’t get too excited too soon.  The reason being, that I didn’t say they were “good ideas”.  If fact, some might say that these are some of the goofiest ideas for any public official to actually offer out loud.

So, here are just a few of what I am talking about:

1.     First there’s a an advisor for both Jeb Bush and Dr. Ben Carson, that has been around for years, Mr. Art Laffer.  Art is best known for his old “Laffer Curve” idea.  This is where he proposed a curve where the more you cut taxes, the more it creates economic growth that will bring in that much more revenue.  I think this is what Ronald Reagan originally proposed as “Trickle Down” economics in the 1980’s…..and we all know how well that worked out.  Laffer is a right-wing economist who has been preaching bizarre economic policies for decades.  In 2010, he even suggested suspending all US taxes to stimulate the economy.  No one knows just what he has recommended to Jeb and Ben, but I‘m sure that once we find out, it will be a real doozy.

2.     Now Dr. Ben Carson also has another advisor.  Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University has been advising Ben Carson about the nation’s deficit.  Kotlikoff wrote an op-ed in January 2014 in which he said we shouldn't just lower the corporate income tax, we should totally eliminate it!  BTW: Larry Kudlow, a CNBC host and economics pundit, also advocated getting rid of the US Corporate tax altogether.

3.     Now the following is one of my favorite approaches.  Stephen Moore, who works for Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, is also a member of the super-conservative Heritage Foundation.  This time he is advising Republican candidates such as Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal.  His approach is to raise the taxes on the poor, and cut them on the rich.  No, I’m not kidding.  Moore would raise the 10% tax rate to 15% and lower the tax rates for the top 10% of Americans.

4.     I have written critical articles for years about the Hoover Institute, located on my beloved Stanford University Campus.  This is the famous conservative think-tank that counts amongst their many “fellows” the likes of Donald Rumsfeld, George Shultz, Edwin Meese, Victor Davis Hanson and the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher.  But this time, Mr. Tim Kane of the Hoover Institute has said that he thinks our US veterans are getting too sweet of a retirement deal.  Yep, Mr. Moore wants to cut back on what our vets receive for their offering of their lives in support of this nation.  According to TIME magazine, Mr. Moore has already met with four different GOP presidential campaigners. In March, he had asked whether military retirement was “too sweet of a deal”?  Moore would prefer to put our retired vets funds in the hands of the Wall Street centric-contribution model.  This approach would save taxpayers money, but would offer smaller returns for vets.  And just what do we think would have happened to those vets’ fund returns when Wall Street went into the dumpster in 2008?  Hopefully, this idea will go nowhere.

5.     So, just what are these conservative advisors telling Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)?  Mr. Mark Spitznagel, a Rand Paul advisor, wrote a column urging a collapse of Detroit's public budget and economic system as he thinks Detroit's budget crisis Is a good thing.  He feels, “…the good news is that such a collapse is part of the recovery process.  Given this, purging Detroit's balance sheet of the disproportionate unfunded liabilities is the best, maybe even the only, available path to renewal.”  My question is:  “How many small local Detroit companies is that approach going to throw into bankruptcy because Detroit will be refusing to pay them what they owe?”

6.     Then there is the only potential Republican presidential candidate currently under a federal indictment, the former Texas Governor, Rick Perry.  Abby McCloskey, who is working for Governor Perry, wrote a long post for the conservative American Enterprise Institute about how we can avoid another 2008 financial debacle if we don't engage in “unbridled regulation.”  Ms. McCloskey and the governor both feel that Wall Street Is overregulated.  Yes, this is the same Wall Street that with those reduced regulations in 2008, almost sent America into a Great Depression.  And it's also the Wall Street where no one went to jail.

7.     Mr. James Pethokoukis, of The American Enterprise Institute's is advising several Republican candidates.  According to Mr. Pethokoukis, “Income Inequality Is a Total Myth”.  Mr. Pethokoukis wrote a post during the high point of Occupy Wall Street in which he said “income inequality is a myth.”

8.     Last but not least, Michael R. Strain, also of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, has met with several GOP candidates.  According to Mr. Strain, “It's okay to kill people by denying them health care.”  Strain has written a blog article: “End Obamacare, And People Could Die. That's Okay.”  Strain conceded that repealing the Affordable Care Act would lead to deaths, but that “in a world of scarce resources, a slightly higher mortality rate is an acceptable price to pay for certain goals.” 

It's surprising that such extreme ideas are being promoted by the GOP advisors, and yet the nominees continue to work with these advisors.

So, there you have the kind of advice that some of the key Republican potential presidential nominees are receiving.

Kinda scary isn’t it?

Copyright G.Ater  2015