Dear Dirty America

Dan Rudy – Portland

     This weekend, my dear and dirty fellows, I’ve experienced a bit of an obsession over the 9-9-9 proposal that has become the cornerstone of Herman Cain’s platform.  (Anyone else notice that it smacks of a pizza sale price, or $9.99?)  I’ve written a little exposition about it on my blog yesterday, but after a sound night’s sleep thought it’d be best to take another jab on the DDA.

     Most all of us can agree that Cain’s proposed 9-9-9 plan is horribly crafted (as are all flat tax schemes, despite their simplicity).  But just how much would such a bold new simplification of the so-called IRS overseers‘ code yield?  As current recipient of the Tea Party’s succor, I would think it would mean a drastic reduction in federal income, heralding the new era of small-scale confederacy and Gadsden flaggery Partiers have been clamoring for.

     I read an interesting analysis of the plan’s yields here at PolitiFact; apparently only $360 (out of our current $2,160) billion would be cut, but the tax burden would be flipped onto the lower and middle classes.  Average domestic expenditures do not vary a lot from richest to poorest, so the sales tax imposition would pretty much cripple those in the lowest income bracket.  His views on Muslims notwithstanding, Herman Cain is less insane than he is utterly heartless.

Which is more than could be said for the people who support him…

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Dan Rudy is a short story writer and social juxtaposition currently holed up in the seamy underbelly of Portland. He keeps a blog at howrudian.blogspot.com