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Great Campaign Fodder: Hundreds of Economists Oppose Obama’s Tax Plans

H/T: TaxProf ...

By: Martin Knight (Diary)  |  October 13th, 2008 at 11:34 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The economy is the number one issue on voters’ minds, and it looks like it’s going to remain that way considering the daily barrage of bad news from Wall Street. In other words, John McCain simply cannot duck his head down on the issue and hope it goes away by Election Day – he has to address it.

An ad highlighting this is a good way to start. I believe it will play well (from the McCain campaign’s perspective) with undecideds all over the nation.

Hundreds of economists (including Nobel Prize winners Gary Becker, James Buchanan, Robert Mundell, Edward Prescott, and Vernon Smith) have signed letters opposing Barack Obama’s economic and tax plans (here, here, and here)…

Running a concurrent series of ads touting McCain’s own tax plan and detailing how they would help the average working American would be an even more effective use of the $160 million the campaign and the RNC have on hand for the final push.

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  • simpson316

    I seem to also recall seeing several other economists saying that they agree with the letter but would not sign it because it would appear to be a political endorsement – something they are not willing to do.

    That list could easily double.

  • gamecock

    economic vision with the gloom and doom of Obama.

    I think the America on the move oil drilling is crucial and they are emphasizing that too.

    Obama is speaking of limits on America. He sounds like Jimmy Carter.

    • Strelnikov

      http://econ4obama.blogspot.com/

      The above link will take you to a leftist site – the first hit on Google if you type in “Obama Economists” – claiming that 2/3 of economists support the Big Brobama. They have a comment “dissing” the letter by the anti-Obama economists.

      But who cares? Most economists are college profs, and we know the majority is left-wing.

      Given that Paul Krugman, now a Nobel winner, and known liar (he was reprimanded by the New York Times for “fact-checking errors” (i.e. lies)and was properly hounded for his lies by Donald Luskin of National Review’s “Krugman Truth Squad” (q.v.)), also supports Big Brobama, having the support of economists does not impress me.

      Modern economics, especially the leftist type, mistakenly reduces human behavior to numbers and believes the numbers mean something specific.

      Economics is not a science: it may claim because it uses mathematics that it is a science, but like psychology, it is not a science, precisely because its results are not always repeatable and 100 %predictable.

      And this is so because economics deals with human behavior, which is not scientific nor mathematically predictable. Obviously!

      • Martin_A_Knight

        Two – Steiglitz and Krugman.

        McCain seems to have five.