If you visit HermanCain.com, Kent Short, an American butcher, has some glowing words for his candidate of choice. "When they asked him a question, he was just very up front and honest and says, 'I can't give you an answer because I don't know what all the facts are. And that's what we're doin' wrong.' People were giving answers without facts. And as soon as I heard him say that, I said, this is the only guy who's got any sense in the whole thing."
Herman Cain won the Florida Straw Poll with this message.
He begins with a subtle dig at his fellow candidate speakers by asking, "whose teleprompters are these? I'm not using them." It's true. He has lots of experience as a motivational speaker and radio talk show host.
"It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goals, the tragedy lies in having no goals to reach for. It is not a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity to have no dreams." an unattributed quote from Benjamin E. Mays, who was President of Morehouse College when Cain graduated from there with a B.S. in 1967.
He lists the crises that America faces and offers the good news that we can solve these crises by identifying and hitting the target called "fix it", a reference to his days as a ballistic analyst "working for the Department of the Navy." This is not to be confused with Cain serving in the Navy. He did not.
When he states his bold solution to fix the economy, the audience chants in unison: "9-9-9." But for the independent voter, what exactly is 9-9-9?
Throw out all of the current tax code. Impose a 9 percent business flat tax, a 9 percent personal income tax, and a 9 percent national sales tax. It would be revenue neutral. It replaces all corporate and personal income taxes, capital gains, estate taxes, payroll tax. It provides certainty to the engine of economic growth: the business sector.
Energy: "America is going to dig here, drill here, and explore here first…we have the resources to become energy independent."
Restructuring Social Security: "Seniors don't worry. You won't be affected. Near retirement seniors. You don't have to worry. Because a personal retirement accounts option for younger workers will allow us over time to take care of those where promises were made." Younger workers would have an option to establish their own accounts.
National Security: "Peace through strength and clarity." We would "clearly identify who our friends are, clearly identify who our enemies are, and stop giving money to the enemies." When it comes to defense, he wouldn't look for what to cut but what to enhance. "If we are not in it to win it, we will not be in it."
The Founding Fathers: "'When any form of government becomes destructive of those ideals' (all men are created equal with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness 'it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.' We've got some altering and abolishing to do." Here he cites not the Constitution, which he would have to swear to protect and defend, but the Declaration of Independence, a document to spell out our grievances against King George III.
He ends with an appeal to "help me to push that shining city on a hill back to the top of the hill. Vote Cain in 2012."
9-9-9 Analysis:
On 09/30/11, the Christian Science Monitor took a look at 9-9-9 in Herman Cain's '999 plan': long overdue tax reform or job killer?" Some highlights:
9 Percent National Sales Tax
Rich Lowrie, Cain’s senior economic advisor claims it would shift the tax burden from production to consumption, allowing exporters to pay less tax on goods they produce and impose a 9% tax on imported goods.
Possible implications of the national sales tax included a negative impact on consumer demand and the possibility of retailers cheating by offering a lower price for wink, wink cash purchases.
9 Percent Corporate Tax
The possible implication of eliminating the business deduction for labor but not investment was favoring heavy industry over the service sector, such as Cain's former business: Godfather's Pizza.
Overall Tax Burden
Using an economic measure called "marginal propensity to consume" (necessary to evaluate the impact of a national sales tax), the article estimated that those who earned:
$20,000 would pay 17 percent vs. the current 12.8 percent.
$55,000 would pay 17.95 percent vs. the current 16.9 percent.
$300,000 would pay 16.3 percent vs. the 27.97 percent.
When asked about this disparity and the regressive nature of sales tax by Chris Wallace on the 10/02/11 Fox News Sunday, Cain responded with a figure for a $50,000 income earner that worked out in his favor according to his plan but without taking into account deductions allowed under the current tax code. Perhaps he should have stuck to "I can't give you an answer because I don't know what all the facts are."
Another concern voiced in the article was the impact shifting to a consumption tax would have on senior citizens who would face the new 9% sales tax on the way to a 30% national sales "fair tax" (a total shift away from income taxation) while the payroll tax supporting Social Security was eliminated.
For criteria on deciding whether independent voters should consider this "fair share" or "class warfare" see Barack Obama's Balanced Approach: Fair Share or Class Warfare?
Impact on Deficit
Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics Mark Zandi opines that the 9-9-9 plan is revenue neutral at the current rate of federal income: 15% of GDP.
The country currently spends 24% of GDP. The last time the budget was balanced was at 19.5% of GDP with $496 billion more in revenue than it collects today.
For more independent voter's perspective on the path to a balanced budget, see Balanced Budget Amendment
Poor People
On the 10/09/11 edition of Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer asked Cain about the provision that exempted used goods from the 9 percent national sales tax (I couldn't find this on hermaincain.com).
Schieffer: "Aren't poor people also going to get to pay a tax on food and a tax on medicine?"
Cain: "You give poor people more opportunity to stretch their dollar and leverage their income based upon their decision whether to buy new or used goods."
I can't help it but the option of poor people buying used food brought to mind a variation on a famous quote by Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV, often falsely attributed to Marie Antoinette.
"Let them eat _ _ _ _. "
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