BOLD added by me
maybe Gingrich’s plan for “job creation” is the one that Laffer touted earlier this year in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, in which he suggested that “enterprise zones” be created in inner-cities, establishing a bunch of mini-Saipans within the United States where all of the labor practices we’ve come to know and enjoy would be suspended: no payroll taxes (and big giveaways to corporations whether they headquartered in the “zone” or not), no minimum wage, no union organization, and no “codes, regulations, restrictions and requirements” that “unjustifiably impede economic growth” (or, in other words, no codes, regulations, restrictions or requirements that keep laborers alive). Profits earned by those who don’t have to live in these laissez-faire hellscapes would be taxed at a discount, of course.
Republican Gingrich out of Virginia primary election
Sam Youngman for Reuters - Leading Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has failed to meet the requirements to be in the presidential primary election in Virginia, where he resides, the state’s Republican Party said.
THE LONG MARCH OF NEWT GINGRICH
On this day in 1996, Newt Gingrich, then the U.S. House Speaker, admitted to violating House ethics rules.
From the PBS Video Vault this week, FRONTLINE is bringing you excerpts from their 1996 biography, The Long March of Newt Gingrich.
Watch part two, part three, part four and part five now.
(via pbsthisdayinhistory)
“Newt Gingrich, in 1997, proposed the death penalty for marijuana — for possession of marijuana above a certain quantity of marijuana,” Johnson explained. “And yet, he is among 100 million Americans who’ve smoked marijuana.”
If current tax policy stays in place — and the Bush-era tax cuts are retained — Gingrich’s plan would add about $850 billion to the deficit in 2015 alone, according to the report. If the current tax law remains in place — and the Bush cuts expire after next year — the jump in the deficit for 2015 would be $1.3 trillion.
When he decided to run for president, Gingrich “disentangled himself from most of the firms,” she writes. But some of his business dealings continue to raise eyebrows in Washington, she says, including up to $1.8 million Gingrich received as a consulting fee from the mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Gingrich said he was acting as a “historian” for Freddie Mac — not a lobbyist.
“He argues that what he did was give them advice,” she tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “He also says he warned them that their business model was flawed. There is no secondary source that has been willing to confirm that. But the fact is, he was hired to help them promote their agenda. So I think this has become a big problem for him out on the campaign trail. And his opponents are going to say, ‘How are we supposed to press the arguments about Fannie and Freddie in next fall’s election if our standard-bearer was on their payroll?’ “
Newt Gingrich, Alternative History Author
the more successful they’ve been in intercepting and stopping bad guys, the less proof there is that we’re in danger. And therefore the better they’ve done in making sure there isn’t an attack the easier it is to say ‘Well, there was never going to be an attack anyway’
