Right-Wing Media Hype Pawlenty's Economic Plan -- Which Experts Call "A Joke"

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He matches McCain's 10 percent reduction in corporate income taxes -- and ups the ante another 10 percent. And he's just getting started. The capital gains tax -- gone. The estate tax -- gone. On top of that, individual rates would be flattened into two brackets: 10 percent on $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for married couples. Anything, and everything, above that would be taxed at 25 percent.

I haven't seen an estimate yet of how much these cuts would cost. I'm sure one will be forthcoming in days, if not hours. More importantly, I didn't hear one from Pawlenty himself.

He simply offered the same old mythical claptrap: "Once we unleash the creative energy of America's businesses, families, and individuals, as we did in the '80s and '90s, a booming job market will reduce demand for government assistance. And rising incomes will increase federal revenues."

"Five-percent economic growth over 10 years would generate $3.8 trillion dollars in new tax revenues," he said. "With that, we would reduce projected deficits by 40 percent."

And the remaining 60 percent would be eliminated through ... what? Entitlement cuts? Troop drawdowns? 

Of course not!

Pawlenty favors -- you guessed it -- a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.

This, from a candidate who promised "to level with the American people. To look them in the eye. And tell them the truth."

I can hardly get over the sting of Pawlenty's hard truths: more and deeper tax cuts, no painful budget cuts, and the sunlit uplands of 5 percent annual growth. Please--spare me more of such hard truths! I surrender! [U.S. News and World Report, 6/7/11]

CAP: Pawlenty's Plan Is "Patently Ridiculous." From a June 7 post on MSNBC.com:

The Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress today denounce Tim Pawlenty's economic plan as "patently ridiculous," saying there is absolutely no way the former Minnesota governor's plans would cure the country's economic woes.

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Both Linden and Ettlinger say Pawlenty's remedies are inadequeate [sic], because his revenue projections overestimate how much the economy can grow. Pawlenty projected that the economy, under his leadership, would be able to by 5%. But during the economic expansions of 1983-1987 and 1996-1999, the economy never grew above 5% annually -- let alone over 10 years.

"Historically, it's never happened," Ettinger said. "But if pigs had wings, they'd fly. If we had 20% economic growth a year, we'd be done with the deficit in six weeks." [MSNBC.com, 6/7/11]