Pressed Over And Over, Holtz-Eakin Unable To Explain How McCain Will Pay For Tax Cuts
Pressed Over And Over, Holtz-Eakin Unable To Explain How McCain Will Pay For Tax Cuts
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, host Joe Scarborough pressed Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, on McCain’s infamous flip-flop on the Bush tax cuts. Scarborough noted that McCain’s current position is “that we couldn’t afford tax cuts in 2001 because of deficits, but we can afford them now.” “Can we afford to extend George W. Bush’s tax cuts?” he asked.
Holtz-Eakin filibustered, claiming that “McCain has a plan to bring the budget into balance by 2013.” After Scarborough repeated his question five times, Holtz-Eakin finally relented, saying, “Yes.” Scarborough then pointed out the absurdity of McCain’s changing position from 2001 to 2008:
SCARBOROUGH: You’re saying we can afford, just a yes or no, we can afford to extend George W. Bush’s tax cuts?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Yes.
SCARBOROUGH: Ok. But in 2001, when Sen. McCain voted against George Bush’s tax cuts, he said we couldn’t afford it because it would create a deficit. In 2001, we had a 155 billion dollar surplus. This year, in 2008, when he now supports the tax cuts, as you know, we are moving towards a 300 billion dollar deficit. How can we afford tax cuts in 2008 with 300 billion dollar deficit that John McCain said we couldn’t afford in 2001 when we had 155 billion dollar surplus?
Beyond a blanket promise to “control spending,” Holtz-Eakin could not explain how McCain’s budget could afford the tax cuts. Watch it:
The reason Holtz-Eakin refused to explain how McCain would “balance the budget” while extending and enhancing the Bush tax cuts is simple: He can’t do it.
McCain has claimed that he can pay for his massive tax cuts by either cutting $100 billion a year in earmarks or $100 billion in overall spending. But the Washington Post’s Fact Checker calls this “voodoo economics” worthy of four Pinocchios:
An analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund has determined that McCain’s fiscal proposals “would create deficits as deep as 5.7% of GDP by the end of a two term presidency — the highest federal budget deficit in 25 years.”
Transcript:
SCARBOROUGH: This is what he said in 2001, “I cannot in good conscience support a tx cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief.” And then of course, a few days ago, we had somebody else from the McCain campaign, Carly Fiorina, repeat what John McCain has said, that we have to have those tax cuts now. That we couldn’t afford tax cuts in 2001 because of deficits, but we can afford them now. Do you think that we can really afford tax cuts in 2008?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: John McCain has a plan to bring the budget into balance by 2013 by doing what he wanted to do back in 2001, which is control spending. Be a little careful with America’s money, I mean we’re spending hand over fist. It — I’m an economist, I can’t even count how much money’s been spent in the past 8 years. So…
SCARBOROUGH: So, can we afford the tax cuts now?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Ah, look, we’ve got an economy that’s raising about 19 percent of America’s income in federal taxes. Americans don’t need the federal government taking more of their taxes, they need to be able to go out, have a vacation, send the kid to college, take care of the necessities at home.
SCARBOROUGH: Can we afford to extend George W. Bush’s tax cuts?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: We’ve got a tax system right now, the top rate’s 35 percent. We’ve got dividends and capital gains that are 15. We can..
SCARBOROUGH: No no, I’m asking the question, a yes or a no, can we afford to extend…
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Oh yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: …George W. Bush’s tax cuts.
HOLTZ-EAKIN: This is all about how much you spend. When you do this in your life, if you spend the money, you might put it on a credit card, but you’re going to pay some points. So, it’s how much you spend. You know, John McCain’s got a great record of using the taxpayer’s money wisely.
SCARBOROUGH: Ok.
HOLTZ-EAKIN: So that’s what we need to do.
SCARBOROUGH: You’re saying we can afford, just a yes or no, we can afford to extend George W. Bush’s tax cuts?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Yes.
SCARBOROUGH: Ok. But in 2001, when Sen. McCain voted against George Bush’s tax cuts, he said we couldn’t afford it because it would create a deficit. In 2001, we had a 155 billion dollar surplus. This year, in 2008, when he now supports the tax cuts, as you know, we are moving towards a 300 billion dollar deficit. How can we afford tax cuts in 2008 with 300 billion dollar deficit that John McCain said we couldn’t afford in 2001 when we had 155 billion dollar surplus?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: It look — the guy’s a pretty good forecaster, right? He ran in 2000 on a tax cut that put the middle class first in line, protected Social Security and had strict spending controls. What did we see? Social Security wasn’t protected, no control on spending, so, you know, let’s do it right the next time. He’s committed to taking care of important problems and that means having the economy grow, letting people have a job and bringing the budget to balance.
SCARBOROUGH: But again, you can understand why it’d be confusing to Americans that John McCain said we can’t afford tax cuts in 2001 because of the deficit and then the deficit’s about 400 billion dollars worse eight years later, and he says, well forget what I said in 2001, now we can support it.
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Oh no, I think that if they had just given him the controls in 2001, we’d be fine. But the American people didn’t. Now they have a chance to give it to a man who will fufill his pledges to the American people, will take care of their business and will, you know, keep the economy going and have a balanced budget at the end of it.
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Trickle-down fairy will leave us with billions to pay for these tax cuts…YAY!
June 20th, 2008 at 8:02 pmDoug Holtz-Eakin MUST be working for Obama. It’s the only explanation for making McSame look even worse than he manages to do on his own.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:03 pmI am Brian Fellows!
June 20th, 2008 at 8:03 pmEarlier this month, the campaign of John McCain continued its game of “he loves me, he loves me not” with the federal budget deficit. His chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin pledged McCain would implement a balanced budget “by the end of his first term.” Of course, that was a reversal of Holtz-Eakin’s proclaimed target in April of 2017. And needless to say, that represented an abandonment of McCain’s February promise to end the red ink by 2012.
For the details, see:
June 20th, 2008 at 8:04 pm“McCain Reverses Position on Balancing the Budget. Again.”
The troll infestation bad this season. Is there room for yet another fly (roybatty) on the swatter?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:13 pmHoltz-Eakin Unable To Explain How McCain Will Pay For Tax Cuts
- - If he has to, McCain will go from couch to couch and recliner to recliner, to find all the spare change he can to pay for the tax cuts.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:14 pmWell, (grimmace) if we eliminate taxes totally, the growth in the economy will make up the difference. Besides, private industry can always do what the government does, only better, because they’re motivated by profit.
So, if we privatize fire and police, and I think we’ve got a good start already with Blackwater (grimmace), then we can privatize the schools. The money parents save on taxes can pay for their kid’s tuition.
And we have a great country here (grimmace) a great country. With great people. The most generous people in the world. We don’t need taxes. (grimmace) We don’t.
Look, we’ve had a volunteer army for years now, and it’s the best army in the world. We can do the same with taxes. Just let people voluntarily pay out of the goodness of their heart.
No one should be forced to pay taxes. (grimmace)
Now, it’s been said, only two things are certain in life: death and taxes. (grimmace)
If you vote for me, I’ll make sure that there’s only one thing certain in life, and that’s death. (grimmace)
[off mike: that didn’t come out right, did it.]
(grimmace)
/McPain
June 20th, 2008 at 8:14 pmLet’s face it John McCain, a fool, likes surrounding himself with fools A trait I am sure he picked up from that guy he is nothing like GWB. When you are average or below in intelligence it is most likely you’ll be a proponent of the last person you talked to.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:15 pmJohn McCain has no idea what he’s talking about or what his positions ultimately mean for the country or the economy. He is just making this stuff up as he goes along and he’s relying on people like Phil Graham, Carli Fiarina, and Charlie Black to tell him what his positions are. Therefor anyone who thinks McCain can solve our financial problems is fooling himself. What he will do is finish what George Bush started and cause a second DEPRESSION. This second DEPRESSION will be the cause of the complete colaspe of the United States as we know it for good. Think about what’s going on right now; Extremely high gas prices, higher food prices, floods in the bread basket states costing the economy millions of dollars in lost food, productivity, etc.
If you add another moron President to the economic woes we already face that’s the end of this country. Then think about a country going into a DEPRESSION with 90 percent of it’s military forces stationed overseas in a never ending war. Without the funds to pay for a war not to mention a war of convience, that’s spells disaster and the biggest military colaspe in history. I’d rather pull our troops out and use the money to try to avoid a complete economic colaspe.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:16 pmOy…taken down by the likes of Joe Scarborough.
That had to hurt…
June 20th, 2008 at 8:18 pmI don’t get it…my cousins in Canada pay 15% more in taxes then we do but get full coverage single payer, subsidized education (average tutition $6500.00 per year), great social programs etc….all for 15%. Has any one over hear considered adding up our expenses that are not covered by our taxes????? We are getting ripped off all under the umbrella of liberalism!!!! Why is it, other industrialized nations don’t have our social, economic problems?????
When will someone ask these questions at the next debate????
June 20th, 2008 at 8:18 pmOkay, I’ll bite. Ummmm, because other industrialized nations don’t spend as much on weapons and warfare as the rest of the world combined?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:24 pmroybatty Says:
June 20th, 2008 at 8:26 pmDidn’t HArrison Ford take care of you on that rooftop, Replicant?
roybatty Says:
They will be dealt with.
Is that a threat, troll?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:28 pmIf the US stop buying oil from Canada, then its economy will collapse.
I thought your whole argument was that without oil our economy would collapse?
P.S. Do you really think that CHINA wouldn’t buy that oil? They certainly have enough $ to buy our new shiny debt…
June 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pmYou’re sounding off “stalinist, fascist” threats in claiming progressives need to be “dealt with.”
June 20th, 2008 at 8:31 pmroybatty Says:
On a less serious note, why do you trolls come here and spout nonsense when you’ve seen “things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I’ve watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those … moments will be lost in time, like tears…in the rain. Time to die.”
Time to drift away replicant- you’re becoming boring.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:35 pmSensasionalist projection as best, ratty. Obama holds a 15-point lead over McCain. Americans are fed up with your “sway the masses” policies that keep them in the red. Obama has a plan, and McCain has more of the same — G.W. Bush’s third term.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:36 pmRoybatty, who financed Hitler?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:38 pmOr in other words, that a leftist can understand, why do you want government to control everything -RB
You want corporations, the people you work for to control the government and your job? How, exactly, is the people, who want to take back their government, having the government run everything?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:42 pmWe’re onto to you and your ilk, roybatty. Taking nothing for granted and staying onto your tactics, Obama will become the next president. Our country will experience recovery thereafter.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pmroybatty,
Please crack a book — you’re embarrassing yourself.
What are you going to do to we leftists? Should I be frightened?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pmHitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot….all leftists. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you leftists before we get to that point. -roybatty
Really? Reverend Hagee claims that Hitler was doing Gods work..Are you saying Hagee is a leftist?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:44 pmI don’t want government” to “control” everything. I want “government” to regulate corporations, even if it means executing a couple of them every now and then, just to keep the rabble honest.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:44 pmGotta problem widdat, cully?
And if Hitler was a leftist why didnt he imprison the conservatives???
June 20th, 2008 at 8:46 pmroybatty Says:
On a more serious note, why do you leftist actively want to be slaves? Do you non-sentients even understand your ideology, or are you so brain damaged that you are incapable of rational, independent though.
Or in other words, that a leftist can understand, why do you want government to control everything?
In other words, that a wingnut can understand, why do you want corporations to control everything?
Poor mindless, brainless, deluded, puppet, Bush and his cronies are laughing at your mindless attempts to justify their ideology while they screw you over with their economic policies…
June 20th, 2008 at 8:46 pmroybatty = Trahan
Dipshit extraordinaire. **yawn**
June 20th, 2008 at 8:47 pmYou are incapable of rational thought. You idiots sound like you just got out of a Cambodian re-education camp.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
There’s a devastating critique for you my friends. Just devastating. I am so ashamed, so humbled by the insightfulness of this single, brilliant comment that is must needs retire from the field in deshabille, victim of my own soignee affectations…
June 20th, 2008 at 8:48 pmroybatty Says:
On to you question, I believe there will be a civil war, and then you will be dealt with, if not sooner.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Details, Trahan. Are your “Latin Kings” going to kneecap us, or just bore us to death?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:49 pmI’m a liberal, all of you are leftists/Stalinists.
Funny, I am a moderate and have was born in America and have never been to Russian or cared for Stalin or Lenin or Hitler or Mao.
But, please, dont let me stop your blindfolded game of pin your belief on others.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:49 pmroybatty Says:
June 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Take a look at Obama’s campaign webpage, and you’ll find a detailed and well presented plan — a thoughtful plan to finally move into the 21st century.
Collectively pooling the best ideas for moving forward makes for a better society, where oppressive rodents like yourself, experienced in unwavering loyalty, are rightfully marginalized. The way our founders intended.
By the way, ad-hominem attacks aren’t a 2-for-1 bargain. You have to prove your contentions, in addition to hurling your accusations.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:49 pmGFY, Trajan.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:51 pmYupp, thats Trajan.
Trajan wasnt it a guy named Pinchot that started the first progressive party?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pmYou’d still be loyal to Dubya, roybatty, if he took a dump on your face and smeared it with his asscheeks.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pmDebate the point about more and more government. -=Batty=-
Government has grown by some 35% and discretionary spending is up, buku, under the current admin.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:54 pmI can’t wait to hear you squirm, batty. November’s coming, little troll.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:54 pmThe “Rightsays”,
“Canadians can afford all these social programs because the US purchases 100s of billions of dollars of oil and natural gas from them annually. If the US stop buying oil from Canada, then its economy will collapse.”
“This is the truth. Take that Regressives!”
MY FRIEND….THE ALBERTA TAR SANDS DIDN’T GET GOING UNTILL OIL WAS $60 A BARREL. WHEN MR.BUSH TOOK OVER AS PRESIDENT OIL WAS $36 A BARREL. THAT GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF WHEN WE STARTED SEEING MONEY FROM THE TAR SANDS. THEREFORE, HOW DID WE PAY FOR ALL OUR PROGRAMS PRIOR TO THE OIL RUSH????
June 20th, 2008 at 8:54 pmYou hate freedom - bottom line. -Batty
No, you do. Cause I said so, no prove you dont.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:55 pmBattyBoy:
The Department of HomeFatherLand Security is the largest government institution ever created. That must mean that Rethuglicans want more and more government control, right?
You keep saying this word fascist, but it does not mean what you think it means.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:56 pmSorry, all.
roybatty is as “informed” as Trahan, but is a much better speller.
My bad.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:56 pmno = now
June 20th, 2008 at 8:56 pmIs there a full moon? What mental hospital just let some patients escape? Is it the soltice that’s affecting their brains? OR is the internal pressure of their heads pushing against their brains distorting their thinking while they subconsciously hope for their heads to explode to relieve their misery?
Inquiring minds want to know. Does the Shadow know? Does nutty roy have a clue?
June 20th, 2008 at 8:59 pmroybatty Says:
If the Stalinists in academia and in the DNC told you abortion was wrong - you non-sentients would buy it.
You hate freedom - bottom line.
Funny how our trolls are now suggesting that they are independent thinkers and anything but Republicans…independents and Libertarians seem to be popular these days…
Your rhetoric suggests that YOU are the one taking in talking points from the right…that Stalinists = academia talking point is SO YESTERDAY…Go to North Korea = America, love it or leave it talking point…You hate freedom = “Why do you hate freedom?” talking point…
I give you credit though, at least you didn’t plagarize word for word those talking points…Bravo!
June 20th, 2008 at 9:00 pmAll you can rail about is “evil” corporations who have no control over us. -batty
I dont think I have ever said corporations are evil but with their lobbying they are exerting control over you.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:04 pmwithout regulation, corporations have proven in the past that they’ll place profits over the welfare of those who buy their products. Look at the salmonella outbreaks…all a result of the anti-regulatory ethos in Washington today. But hey, if you want your family to become sick eating tainted spinach or get hurt by products that haven’t been sufficiently regulated, well I guess the corporations have finally won you over.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:09 pmYeah, you meanie Marxists shouldn’t be making the McBush bootlicker get on television and say stupid-ass things and lie.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:16 pmWhenever the budget deficit (or future defict) is mentioned, it is seldom said whether or not they are including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ask twenty people and you get ten ‘yes’ and ten ‘no’. It’s like $160 billion every year is no biggie. The Stiglitz-Bilmes study has the true costs at about $3 TRILLION now!
June 20th, 2008 at 9:24 pmbattyroy,
June 20th, 2008 at 9:27 pmCall, write, or e-mail the American Nazi Party and ask them if Hitler was a leftist. They will strongly, proudly say that he was a strong, true conservative. Ask them if Barack Obama is like Hitler—they will take your head off!
Address what I say, not what I do not say. You are a poor guesser.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:44 pmroybatty Says:
the fascist leftists here and in the general stalinist blogosphere have no problem turning the US into a N. Korean prison camp.
They will be dealt with.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
And this has exactly what to do with McCain’s plans to extend Bush’s tax cuts, a plan he obviously has no f–king idea how to pay for?
June 20th, 2008 at 9:56 pmHow can we afford tax cuts in 2008 with 300 billion dollar deficit that John McCain said we couldn’t afford in 2001 when we had 155 billion dollar surplus?
Republicans in general don’t give a damn about paying for what they want, tax cuts, wars, prisons etc. And McCain will say anything to get elected.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
June 20th, 2008 at 10:03 pmBriseadh na Faire #8 — Hah! I saw each and every [almost] on-cue McCootie(grimmace) unfortunately.
Thanks for the chuckle. (grimmace)
June 20th, 2008 at 10:16 pmA capitalist society can not last more than 300 years because wealth rises to the top. The middle class will be destroyed and there will be only the haves and the havenots. We are seeing it now. Government is run by the haves and to hell with everyone else. It doesn’t matter what party D or R, they don’t care. I can see a revolution coming soon.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:19 pmThese pseudo-conservatives think their independent thinkers because Sean Hannity told them so.
Sean Hannity tells them, “drill for more oil” and they nod and follow orders, “let’s drill for more oil!”.
A bunch of brain washed dopes.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:44 pmhere’s something that liberals and progressives can enjoy and roybatty can’t. enjoy :)
sorry roy :(
good luck.
*
June 20th, 2008 at 10:44 pmThat’s easy. Our grandchildren will pay for it. They aren’t old enough to vote yet, my friends.
McConomics 101
June 20th, 2008 at 11:46 pmI remember this past winter, listening to one of those muttonheads from a wingnut foundation on NPR. Annoying as he was, he let out a nugget. According to him(a Club for Growth type) the best return on a tax cut from 1980 on is forty percent. In other words all this blather about cuts stimulating growth enlarging tax base is a crock and they know it. Club for Growth and by extension the GOP has a simple formula, cut taxes no matter what and sooner or later government will shrink. Once the cut is made the money is gone.
June 21st, 2008 at 12:19 amGood point moondancer. The people of New Orleans understand how this works.
Link:Republican Government 101
June 21st, 2008 at 12:27 amroybatty, what’s up. You seem just like my kind of freak…
June 21st, 2008 at 12:32 amDid anyone else catch the implications that the budget will be balanced by 2013?
Paving the way for reelection in 2012, maybe, by saying he needs one more year to balance the budget as promised?
June 21st, 2008 at 2:26 pmTax cut McCain and telecom immunity Reid. Please don’t ask me who is more full of s–t.
June 21st, 2008 at 3:12 pmCan’t McCain fix the budget with a magic wand? That seems to be our best hope.
June 21st, 2008 at 7:02 pmWe are getting ripped off all under the umbrella of liberalism!!!! What’s that all about, NOLIESPLEASE?
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 amRight now, the biggest way to control spending is to end the Iraq War.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:21 pmHey NOLIESPLEASE, I can think of one reason why socialism “works” in Canada and other countries, and why we would be committing economic suicide here in the U.S. if we adopted their economic models and policies.
In 2006, Canada spent approx. 1.2% of GDP on defense ($15.2B)…compared with the U.S.’s 3.8% ($511.1B), which is the highest in the world — both as a percentage of GDP and in absolute terms. Basically, the U.S. subsidizes the world’s security. You might suggest we spend less on military….then I would say, Bill Clinton tried that, collecting on the “peace dividend,” but then, whoops, 9/11 happened…that’s after the the first WTC bombing, the Cole, the Kobar Towers (guess those weren’t clear enough warnings of the gathering storm), and also after implementing the infamous “wall” between law enforcement and the military, which according to the 9/11 Commission, was a serious contributor to our security and intelligence failings.
Another point you might consider is the amount of that vile, evil stuff called OIL that Canada exports, which they have no qualms about drilling for and which, at the moment, is driving quite a nice rally in their economy and their currency, relative to the dollar.
And by the way, “only 15% more?” That’s not the whole story….those top marginal tax rates in Canada kick in at much lower levels. The top federal tax rate of about 29% kicks in at about $120k and then the top provincial tax rates on top of that, which do vary, but approximates 15% and kick in generally below $100k.
Sound economic policy is comprised of low taxes, low spending, and low regulation. Individuals should be responsible for themselves. The government’s job is to provide infrastructure and security…really, that’s about it. It is not the government’s job to socially engineer some sort of preferred outcome through taxes and re-distribution. Look at what last year’s hike in minimum wage has contributed to — unemployment in the 16-24 age bracket was the hardest hit in the recent unemployment report…right about the sweet spot for minimum wage employees.
Bottom line is that if you tax something more, you get less of it. Taxes cannot be looked at in a vacuum….taxation has an impact on incentives, plain and simple. See Larry Lindsey’s WSJ opinion piece on Friday.
Think People! And do a little homework before spouting off.
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:56 pmI don’t agree with Scarborough a lot, but he’s not the complete tool that Limbaugh or Hannity are. Pretty funny when the conservative candidate gets his worst bruising from conservative newsmen.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 amMoondancer,
So should I assume that you’re in agreement with the idea that we should lower taxes and decrease spending accordingly? Or is it your solution to just keep raising taxes so that we can continue to increase the size of government? Which is it….because there’s really no middle ground on this. I will say that at least the Donks are honest about things….raise taxes, expand government. The RINO’s in Congress have tried (and failed) to have it both ways….GWB’s 1st term included.
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm