The Shoe Factor
If I may return to the question of John McCain’s $520 Salvatore Ferragamo Pregiato Moccasins imported from Italy, I want to say that I think the fact that McCain is an extremely wealthy man is more legitimately relevant to the campaign than a lot of liberals seem willing to credit. If it turned out that back in his State Senate days Barack Obama passed some laws that massively increased the value of a parcel of land he owned, people would report on that story. Or if John McCain was a major stockholder in a defense contracting firm and used his clout on the Armed Services Committee to steer contracts in their direction, people would consider that a relevant factor. And if a governor somewhere were dipping into the state treasury and transferring the money into personal accounts, people would care.
So when you look at something like the distributive impact of Barack Obama’s tax plans versus the distributive impact of John McCain’s tax plans, it doesn’t strike me as ludicrous to say that people ought to spend some time pondering the fact that McCain is a member of the small minority of people who would have higher after tax income under his plan than under Obama’s:
On the merits, of course, bad policy is bad policy irrespective of who proposes it. Repealing the estate tax would be a bad idea even if John McCain had no kids, and even if the McCain family didn’t own eleven houses. But still, self-dealing holds a special role in conventional political discussions, and it’s not for nothing that McCain makes a big deal out of the ideas of honor and sacrifice as campaign themes.
38 Responses to “The Shoe Factor”
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July 31st, 2008 at 9:12 am
Currently, the federal inheritance tax exemption is 2 million dollars. Less then 5% of estates exceed this amount. Thus, eliminating this tax completely would only give a tax break to less then 5% of the population. Talk about tax cuts for the rich!
July 31st, 2008 at 9:21 am
You have a good point, Yglesias, but you muddy it up with the shoe business. The shoes have nothing to do with 11 homes. I know people that make $100,000 a year that own shoes in that price range. They’re doing well for themselves but they’re certainly not rich.
Perhaps it should be “The 11 Homes in # States After Marrying an Heiress” factor. The heiress angle is, afterall, a legitimate line of attack on Senators that served in Vietnam.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:22 am
If you compare the backgrounds of Senator Obama and Senator McCain, it’s is clear that John McCain is the real elitist in the race.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/its-time-to-start-calling-john-mccain-an-elitist/
July 31st, 2008 at 9:28 am
Your argument here seems like a bit of a non-starter politically. I don’t think anyone will believe that McCain is proposing his tax structure because he wants to benefit personally financially from it, especially if they aren’t at the present moment willing to naturally believe that he wants to benefit politically from the sleazy tactics of his campaign team.
On the other hand, they might believe that he is proposing his tax structure because, being very wealthy, he is completely out of touch with the lives of the average American. That seems like a better argument for Democrats to hang their hat on. And my guess is that they are already trying to make that argument, shoes or no shoes.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:29 am
I’m pretty sure the Senate salary alone is sufficient to put them well into the “small minority of people who would have higher after tax income under [McCain's] plan than under Obama’s.” I also think that thanks to Cindy’s pre-nup, most of their additional income is actually hers (and taxed as such).
So I’m not sure making this about McCain’s personal income is a great idea. Now, asking about his family, friends, associates, political supporters … that might be a little more promising.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:37 am
Cheney’s shotgun, Condi and John McCain’s shoes, badly forged uranium documents, Scalia & Alito, fascism, the GOP loves everything Italian except Mario Cuomo.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:43 am
Basically all politicians are rich, so it’s hard to make much hay out of it.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:51 am
Right:
You miss the point. It’s not about the Senate being rich per se. It’s about campaigning on the fact that McCain preaches honor and sacrifice yet McCain’s only sacrifice was the time spent at the Hanoi Hilton, and he doesn’t have any honor anymore.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:03 am
I’ll say it again – it isn’t the $520, it’s that it’s for *loafers*.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:03 am
Can someone provide the cite for Matt’s graph here? I’d like to use it in an argument. Thanks in advance!
July 31st, 2008 at 10:09 am
Not a fan of the monkstrap. Like Bill Frist, I prefer Allen Edmonds. . .
July 31st, 2008 at 10:10 am
Among you hoi polloi, “loafers” may be a symbol of “old man shoes,” but among those of us with a more patrician background, the wearing of loafers demonstrates that we would never do anything so working-class as to bend down to tie our shoes.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:12 am
Jeff S — the figure is from a Tax Policy Center document that Matt referred to yesterday — it’s at http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411741_updated_candidates.pdf
July 31st, 2008 at 10:14 am
SLC said… Currently, the federal inheritance tax exemption is 2 million dollars.
Next year it rises to a $3.5 million exemption, and that’s per individual. So for a married couple the exemption is actually $4 million today and $7 million next year.
FYI, in 2010 there is no estate tax and then, the way it’s currently written, the law sunsets and it goes back to $1 million. Nobody believes that will happen. Obama has proposed keeping the $3.5 million exemption.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:15 am
Muchas gracias, bdbd!
July 31st, 2008 at 10:29 am
1) Obama’s stupidshit advisors are making a MAJOR STRATEGIC BLUNDER. McCain is throwing out a barrage of attack ads and Obama is responding with a limpwristed response.
2) Consider McCain’s attacks on Obama for not “fixing the gasoline crisis” by drilling for oil offshore.
3) Why in the HELL didn’t Obama’s campaign respond with an ad pointing out that America’s problem with imported oil dates back to the 1970s, that McCain has been a US Senator for MOST of that period, and that McCain has NOT done a single fucking thing in those 3 DECADES to fix America’s energy problem. Because McCain is a whore for Republican wealthy donors.
4) Follow up by pointing out what McCain’s REPUBLICAN Senate peers complain about — that McCain is a flashy flyboy gloryhound who “parachutes in” at the last minute and grabs credit for successes– and dodges accountability for failures.
5) McCain was one of the Keating Five directly responsible for intimidating federal regulators and bringing on the Savings and Loan crisis circa
1990 — which required hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to fix. So, after that experience, what did McCain do later to prevent the Enron fiasco and the current subprime debacle –which will also soak the taxpayer?
NOT a single damm thing.
6) Most of our $10 Trillion federal debt was run up on McCain’s watch by his Republican Presidents. What did he do to prevent it? NOTHING.
7) McCain’s alleged strength is actually his greatest weakness. He claims to represent experience and leadership.
But his decades of service as a US SEnator means he is DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the major disasters befalling this country’s citizens.
The chickens are coming home to roost — and they are all McCain’s.
If Obama is too fucking stupid to realize that — and to shout it from the mountaintops — then he is not qualified to be President.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:02 am
Re Don Williams
Boy, it’s good to have Mr. Williams back in the saddle. His ravings and rants have been much missed on this blog. But his latest rant above is somewhat surprising as he doesn’t blame Hiam Saban for all the problems he mentions. Must be getting soft in his old age.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:09 am
Re SLC’s comment “Must be getting soft in his old age.”
———-
You’re telling us more about your sex life than we really need to know, SLC.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Matthew,
Where does that ridiculous chart come from? Did you just make it up?
July 31st, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Don Williams is right. Obama is going to lose this election because neither he nor anybody else has the guts to tackle the real issues, either about McCain and his bullshit “war hero” status, or anything else.
Obama babbles about Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iran, making him just as much a hawk as Bush and McCain. When the Iran war starts, Obama will be forced to support it, thus failing to differentiate himself from McCain, while McCain, trading on his “war hero” status, gets a ten point bounce and wins the election. Why? Because Obama couldn’t widen his lead over McCain to where it should be – fifteen to twenty points or more. Why? Because Obama didn’t have the guts to attack McCain where it would hurt.
Obama is going to slash his wrists the day after the election when he realizes how stupid he’s been.
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Although I like McCain, I think that he shows poor judgement in wearing Italian shoes when there are shoes being manufactured by US workers, such as select styles of Allen Edmonds, made in Port Washington, Wisconsin.
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