Stupidest Man Alive Nomination: Larry Kudlow

One would think that National Review would want to maintain a smidgeon of a reputation, and hence at least edit Larry Kudlow for his biggest howlers. But no.

Eschaton reader js informs Atrios of the stupidity:

Eschaton: Fixing the Internets: Larry Kudlow:

Uncapping the payroll tax reveals still another cultural misstep by Sen. Obama. He apparently has a difficult time understanding that nowadays, a veteran fireman or a veteran cop, married to a veteran schoolteacher, will make well over $100,000. In fact, they can make close to $200,000. Yet Obama still wants to go ahead and tax both the first and last payroll dollar of this group at a very high marginal tax rate by uncapping the Social Security (FICA) tax.

The FICA cap is an individual cap, unaffected by income earned/payroll taxes paid by your spouse.

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

Comments

[howard]

while we're at it, can we ask kudlow to produce for us one example of this household, where a veteran fireman and a veteran teacher are bringing in a household income of $200K? i'd love to see just one single example....

[capitalistimperialistpig]

You seem to be assuming Kudlow's relevant fault here is stupidity. I think it's more likely dishonesty.

Not that he is not dumb.

[sluggo]

Not to mention that in several states, Ohio included, the teachers and firemen are in public pension systems that opted out of Social Security and, thus, pay no payroll taxes at all.

[Darryl]

I imagine it must be worth creating and maintaining a blog just for these very "gotcha" moments. Nice Zinger...

[RKKA]

Brad, NR's reputation is not at the slightest risk. Lies like that are exactly what NR pays Kudlow for. Lies like that are exactly what NR's readers buy NR for. The only solution is to deprive NR's readers and advertisers of power. This will be hard, since they have lots of money, and we live in a plutocracy. What is worse, Bush has succeeded in kicking the failure of the Afghan and Iraq wars far enough down the road that it will fall to his successor. In the event that successor is a Democrat, a Doltschlosslegende is under intensive development, which will provide plenty of hateful venom to spew at Democrats for the next forty years.

I have to conclude that NR, and the plutocracy they represent, are thoroughly entrenched and unassailable in their position of power, from which they bleed the rest of us dry.

[pgl]

"can we ask kudlow to produce for us one example of this household, where a veteran fireman and a veteran teacher are bringing in a household income of $200K?" Good point but as one Angrybear reader noted, the cap per person for 2008 is $102,000. So Kudlow is not even aware of what the current law is. Yep - an excellent nominee for Stupidest Man Alive!

[pgl]

"can we ask kudlow to produce for us one example of this household, where a veteran fireman and a veteran teacher are bringing in a household income of $200K?" Good point but as one Angrybear reader noted, the cap per person for 2008 is $102,000. So Kudlow is not even aware of what the current law is. Yep - an excellent nominee for Stupidest Man Alive!

[AndrewBW]

I've always objected to naming Donald Luskin as The World's Stupidest Man as long as Kudlow is still around. I think Kudlow outpaced the competition for that crown a long long time ago.

[bill]

Take the cap off of Social Security contributions and the loose, but meaningful connection between contributions and benefits is broken. Then I guarantee that within 20 years someone will be "ending welfare as we know it". Social Security is good and progressive. We tinker with it at our own peril.

[Bruce Webb]

n: "it is possible if the couple put all their investment assets in high yield bonds and preferreds and did not defer much. most probably would not do this".

Non-wage income is not subject to FICA.

Which is why cap increase proposals are so insidious, they ding the professional class while leaving the investor class unscathed. Professors and high end social administrators or managers of non-profits are generally not in a position where they compensation packages can be restructured to look like returns on capital and hence FICA immune. Unlike say CEO's or entertainers who can and in the case of a cap increase simply will adjust the balance between actual wage compensation and a share in investment returns.

A cap increase might as well be labeled 'The Tax Lawyer and Big Four Accounting Firm Full Employment Act of 2009'.

[Bruce Webb]

RKKA: "Brad, NR's reputation is not at the slightest risk. Lies like that are exactly what NR pays Kudlow for."

Exactly right. Center left economists generally have been head faked. They run into these Right economists in the faculty room and at conferences, they may even have forced them to rigorously defend that dissertation before becoming a junior colleague, they know they know better so why the public nonsense?

Well it is the difference between a law professor and a trial lawyer, between a professor of epidemiology and an expert witness for the asbestos industry. Professors are paid to seek to produce truth. Trial lawyers and experts are paid to produce truthiness. Kudlow and Luskin are in the truthiness business.

Really successful salesmen do not have to be particularly intelligent, they don't even have to be necessarily informed about the product. The are expected to make the sale to the target audience. Trying to draw the line among NRO readership between the dupes, the willing dupes, and the outright cynics is on the whole a waste of time, as is pointing out the inanity of the reporting. People working in the Ministry of Propaganda don't necessarily need to believe their work product, in fact it is probably better they don't, if you don't fully understand the reality you may not be able to elide it. What counts is the effectiveness of the message.

[Nordic Mousse]

"Doltschlosslegende"

Hehe! I like that version. Is it new?

[Emma Anne]

Howard: "while we're at it, can we ask kudlow to produce for us one example of this household, where a veteran fireman and a veteran teacher are bringing in a household income of $200K? i'd love to see just one single example...."

And remember it all has to be earned income. Income from investments doesn't count toward social security.

[RW]

"Doltschlosslegende" (sic)

No, dolchstosslegende isn't new, it is just the full statement with "myth" (legend) appended to "stabbed in the back" (literally "dagger stab legend").

[RW]

PS: Those who haven't read Kevin Baker's article, "Stabbed in the back! The past and future of a right-wing myth" (available at http://harpers.org/StabbedInTheBack.html ) really should; it's a classic.

[tt]

Bruce, you are unfair to the court system.

If Kudlow tried this as an expert in front of a jury, he would be mercilessly cross-examined. The jury knows much better than NR readers how much teachers and firefighters are really paid. Mr. Kudlow, how many firefighters do you know who take home $100,000 a year? Name them?

[VennData]

The only thing this gotcha will getcha is, after the GOP media machine reviews all the hoopla, will be a new marketing campaign: "End the Business Social Security Matching Marriage Penalty."

[barry]

Why can't we just say that poor Larry is a victim of years of drug abuse who seems to have forgotten what happened to FICA in 1983.

[Bruce Webb]

tt one it is a metaphor. Two you are assuming the prosecutor is actually fully briefed. Three you are mixing up the roles of Congressmen at a hearing and a jury exposed to the judge's controlling instructions. On this topic you rarely have the kinds of controls you suggest.

[martin]

Larry Kudlow has long been known to be the Doug Feith of economics. (Even before there was a Doug Feith) And in an LK bio bit I was unaware of from Wikipedia

"Then he was chief economist and senior managing director of Bear, Stearns & Company. He was fired in 1995 after his out-of-control drug use resulted in him missing an important client presentation. He also served as an economic counsel to A.B. Laffer & Associates, which is the San Diego, California, company of Arthur Laffer, a major supply-side economist and purported creator of the Laffer curve, an economic theory tying low taxation levels to increased government revenues."

A supply-side guy to the core it would appear.

[barry]

In 1988, in the Wall Street Urinal, "Cocaine" Larry predicted:

1) lower budget deficits

2) a much higher dollar

all due to the full effects of 'supply side' economics kicking in.

Let's see, "Cocaine" Larry was the Chief Economist of the OMB during the largest tax hike in the history of the known Universe (still to this day).

I guess being a Cokehead means never having to say you are sorry.