With Romney's hilarious gaff-challenging Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet-he has set himself up as an easy target. This guy throws around $10,000 bets the way a kid throws around quarters at an arcade-or me for that matter.
When you consider that $10,000 is over 20% of the U.S. median income it is no measly sum for today's American. For further comparison the poverty level is exactly $10,000 as well.
Certainly Romney has set himself up as an easy target now. Even Rick Perry was able to come back on him with the observation that it's no small amount for most Iowans. Only problem is that Perry didn't come up with that retort until 36 hours after the debate was over.
Gingrich who compared to these slow-witted ones is like a kid in a candy store shooting fish in a barrel. Think about it-we have had so many in this GOP primary who the word ignoramus is much too kind. In Newt at least you have a guy who has knowledge, can think on his feet, can put a sentence together. He's no George W. Bush. Or Herman Cain. Or Rick Perry.
So he was all ready to hit it out of the park when after the debate Romney started razzing him about $1.6 million in "historian fees" from Freddie Mac:
“Mr. Romney demanded that Mr. Gingrich return the $1.8 million in consulting fees he had received from Freddie Mac; Mr. Gingrich, a former House speaker, cast aside a vow not to attack his opponents and responded that Mr. Romney should ‘give back all the money he earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain.’
Then Newt added this nice flourish for good measure: But I'll bet him $10-not $10,000-he won't do it."
Part of Romney's problem I think is that he tries to be a regular guy and that's what got him into trouble on Saturday night. He thought challenging Perry to a friendly wager was a regular guy thing to do. Trouble is a regular guy bets $10 like Newt understands not $10,000. It takes a long time for today's regular guy to see $10,000. Romney is sort of like George Bush the First-Herbert Walker Bush-in that he's not a regular guy but tries to be. Romney was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has no clue that his experience is not shared by any more than about 1% of 1% of Americans.
For all this Newt in truth has shown little sympathy to the regular guy. While his attack on Romney about Bain is dangerously close to "class warfare"-conservatives aren't supposed to give a hoot about the little people who get downsized by a Bain Capital-on Saturday he also attacked Romney's tax plan as being too good too middle class Americans. Newt's current flat tax has gotten more scrutiny with his precipitous rise on the polls. It's a flat tax with a $12,000 deductible for the poor.
It would also eliminate all taxes on capital gains, dividends, and interest. Romney's plan-which he hasn't given much detail of yet-would be targeted he says on cutting middle class investment taxes.
Comparing the two at least Romney does target the middle class-though cutting capital gains taxes for them is not the best way to cut their tax base. The best way is to do what Warren Mosler for example has suggested-cutting the entire payroll tax. I love that idea though I'd also like-at the state level to see most consumption taxes cut, this of course is the opposite of where the debate has been recently, like Cain who wanted to raise sales taxes by creating a new national sales tax.
For Mosler's plan please see http://moslereconomics.com/2008/09/29/time-for-a-payroll-tax-holiday/
Gingrich's plan would also outrageously raise the deficit. Projections show a rise of almost $1 trillion in 2015 alone-currently the entire deficit is about $1 trillion. As noted in previous posts, deficits only matter when a Democrat is President.
Gingrich has also said some very uncharitable things about the 99 percent, for instance in saying his advice to them would be to take a shower then get a job. In fact if you look at substance Romney is less sympathetic even than Romney is to the concerns of most Americans.
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