This page was last updated on December 3, 2010.
Some turkeys to appreciate on Thanksgiving; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; November 27, 2010.
As you read this opinion column, keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the Times. In addition to being an entertainer/pundit, Mr. Prose is a part-time reporter covering political stories. Ask yourself this. When a pundit gives his political opinions in one part of the paper, can he be trusted to report politics objectively elsewhere in the paper? After all, would a person whose opinion is 1+1 equals 3 report 1+1 really equals 2? Does he have a “Chinese wall” in his head to keep his opinions from bleeding into his reporting? (You may recall NPR claimed it fired Juan Williams for doing exactly what Mr. Prose does.) If it can get worse than that, Mr. Prose has made name-calling and personal attacks a foundation of his columns. If pushed, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Prose would try to excuse his writing by claiming he’s paid to be controversial and stir debate. The problem is, you don’t need to get into name-calling and personal attacks to accomplish those goals.
You can find the archive of my Prose column critiques here.
Regarding the comment about Bristol Palin, what did she ever do to Mr. Prose? Did Miss Palin reject Mr. Prose’s Facebook friend request?
Mr. Prose wrote, “Speaking of idiots, we’re thankful that we’re smart enough not to be a Teabagger. Otherwise, we’d love ‘anti-government’ millionaires whose policies are dangerous, mean-spirited, selfish and impossible (See: Reduce deficit while cutting taxes.) Ah, but they’re patriots. Just give them a second and they’ll be the first ones to tell you.” Note Mr. Prose didn’t identify his “‘anti-government’ millionaires” or their alleged “dangerous, mean-spirited, [and] selfish” “policies.” Doing so would have meant starting a debate Mr. Prose knows he would lose. That’s why folks like Mr. Prose prefer drive-by accusations and innuendo.
As for his comment that “reduc[ing the] deficit while cutting taxes” is “impossible,” perhaps Mr. Prose shouldn’t throw around words like “idiots” so easily. There is plenty of proof cutting tax RATES increases tax revenue because reduced rates result in greater economic output subject to taxation. For example, 50% of an 8” pie is only 32% of a 10” pie. Before the current recession began to kick in, tax revenue peaked at $2.6 trillion in 2007, an increase of $577 billion (29%) since 2001. This was all after the tax RATE cuts of 2001 and 2003 necessitated by recession. After the RATE cuts had a chance to kick in, deficits were reduced each year from $413 billion in 2004 to $161 billion in 2007. So much for “reduc[ing the] deficit while cutting taxes” being “impossible.”
For at least the last 50 years the problem has been spending. In 2000 the tax burden reached its peak of 33% of income and was 31% as recently as 2007. Because the economy is down, the tax burden as of April 9, 2010, was 27%. That sounds like more than enough to me. If Mr. Prose wants to pay more taxes himself, there is no law stopping him.
Finally, perhaps the “smart enough” Mr. Prose can explain to us how raising taxes (overhead) on anyone helps a struggling economy and 9.8% unemployment.
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