{"id":10215,"date":"2011-12-26T10:49:40","date_gmt":"2011-12-26T15:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?p=10215"},"modified":"2012-12-26T16:07:48","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T21:07:48","slug":"the-worst-economic-policies-of-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/12\/26\/the-worst-economic-policies-of-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"The Worst Economic Policies Of 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Article:<\/strong> The 10 Craziest Economic Policies of 2011<\/a><\/em> by Travis Waldron, Tanya Somanader and Pat Garofalo at Think Progress.<\/p>\n

The Text:<\/strong>The economy continued to struggle through 2011, with persistently high unemployment, a foreclosure crisis that kept on burning, and banks behaving badly in a whole host of ways. And there were plenty of ideas from economists, lawmakers, and pundits about what to do about it. But some ideas were, shall we say, more\u2026unique than others.<\/p>\n

Here are ThinkProgress\u2019 nominations, in no particular order, for the ten craziest economic ideas of the last twelve months. Think we missed a good one? Let us know in the comments below:<\/p>\n

Florida State Rep. Proposes Ending Ban On Dwarf Tossing To Create Jobs:<\/strong> In October, Florida state Rep. Ritch Workman (R) filed a bill to end the state\u2019s ban on dwarf tossing \u2014 the practice of \u201claunching little people for the amusement of an audience.\u201d Workman may not condone throwing little people across his lawn, but he introduced the bill because he wanted to remove a \u201cBig Brother law\u201d that would create jobs: \u201cWell, there is nothing immoral or illegal about that activity,\u201d Workman said. \u201cAll we really did by passing that law was take away some employment from some little people.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New Jersey Gives MTV\u2019s \u2018Jersey Shore\u2019 A Film Credit Worth $420,000:<\/strong> Despite Gov. Chris Christie\u2019s (R) unapologetic hatred for the MTV series Jersey Shore, the state Economic Development Authority awarded the series $420,000 in taxpayer funds to pay for the show\u2019s production costs. Not only does the credit fail to create virtually any long-term, stable jobs, the EDA offered the credit without even considering the show\u2019s content. The Jersey Shore cast, however, did succeed in producing rare a agreement among Democrats and Republicans to veto the credit, a veto Christie happily delivered.<\/p>\n

Kentucky Provides Tax Credit To Build Theme Park Modeled After Noah\u2019s Ark:<\/strong> In May, Kentucky gave a Bible-themed amusement park \u2014 replete with a model Noah\u2019s Ark and Tower of Babel \u2014 a $43 million tax break, even as the state was cutting social services. In August, the state went even farther, giving the Ark Encounter theme park a 75 percent property tax discount for the next three decades (the tax break, it turns out, will last 10,580 days longer than the Great Flood itself). The justification for the tax breaks? Ark Park officials say it\u2019ll create 900 jobs \u2014 based on a study Ark Park officials did themselves and never showed state officials.<\/p>\n

Virgina Bill Provides Tax Credit For Blasting Cremated Remains Into Space:<\/strong> A Virginia state representative proposed a bill that \u201cwould provide a state tax credit of up to $8,000 to those who agree to have their cremated remains loaded onto a rocket and blasted into space,\u201d in an attempt to bolster Virginia\u2019s nascent space industry. There\u2019s just one catch: Virginia\u2019s lone spaceport doesn\u2019t actually offer space burials. The bill is scheduled to be debated in January.<\/p>\n

Newt Gingrich Proposes Jobs Plan For Poor Kids To Be Janitors:<\/strong> The idea factory that is Newt Gingrich produced a gem of a jobs plan this year when he called for firing all school janitors and replacing them with poor students. Believing child labor laws are \u201ctragic\u201d and \u201cstupid,\u201d the presidential candidate repeatedly touted the idea, asking \u201cWhat if they became assistant janitor and their jobs were to mop the floor and clean the bathroom?\u201d The tireless child labor advocate did finally concede that some jobs weren\u2019t necessarily suited for children: \u201cKids shouldn\u2019t work in coals mines; kids shouldn\u2019t work in heavy industry.\u201d Instead, he thought these children might do better as \u201capprenti\u201d to business mogul Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Alaska Rep. Proposes A Tax Deduction For Donations Of Wild Game Meat:<\/strong> A bipartisan group of representatives led by Rep. Don Young (R-AK) proposed a bill this year that would have given a tax break to anyone who donated wild game meat. After introducing the bill, Young, who once refused an award from the Humane Society, predicted it would have strong bipartisan support, only to see it shot down in committee. In a year where Republican talking points centered around closing tax loopholes, it turned out there wasn\u2019t much love for a bill that would have given people money for shooting Bambi.<\/p>\n

The GOP Presidential Candidates\u2019 Tax Plans \u2014 From 9-9-9 To The Tax Break For No One:<\/strong> One plan either came from a video game or off of a pizza box and its author, former pizza magnate Herman Cain, said it could fix just about anything. Mitt Romney\u2019s plan centers on a middle-class tax cut that doesn\u2019t cut taxes for most of the middle-class. Two of the plans \u2014 from Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Speaker Newt Gingrich \u2014 are supposed to be flat and simple, but aren\u2019t actually either. Several of the plans propose tax breaks for the wealthy that are so huge it takes absurdly long charts to accurately characterize them. And they all blow humongous holes in the budget. 2011, it would seem, is the year for comically bad tax plans from those campaigning for the highest office in the land.<\/p>\n

House Republicans Call For Blocking Job Killing Python Regulations:<\/strong> Reacting to a proposed Interior Department rule that would have limited trade in the sort of exotic snakes that are causing significant problems in Florida, House Republicans claimed that such regulations were job killers. \u201cThe effect of this regulatory action on small businesses could be devastating,\u201d the House GOP claimed. As Politico put it when writing up the GOP\u2019s response, \u201csnakes alive!\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldbugs Return Across The Country:<\/strong> Goldbuggery \u2014 the belief that the U.S. should go back to using the gold standard \u2014 made a strong return to the country in the last year, from Georgia lawmakers proposing a bill that would force taxpayers to make state transactions in only gold and silver to Utah legalizing the use of gold and silver coins for just about anything. And Republicans piled on, deriding the U.S. dollar as \u201cfiat currency\u201d and attending goldbug conferences. Nevermind that most mainstream economists agree that linking the U.S. currency to a rock that comes out of the ground never actually worked and would have disastrous consequences if embraced again.<\/p>\n

South Carolina Offers Tax-Free Weekend To Buy Guns:<\/strong> Amidst continued teacher layoffs and surging violence, South Carolina lawmakers thought it\u2019d be wise to keep in place a sales-tax-free weekend for gun purchases. Created several years ago, the tax-free weekend for guns costs the state $250,000 in revenue each weekend it\u2019s in place. The effort prompted one Democratic state senator to convey a message he heard from his constituents: \u201cHave ya\u2019ll lost your mind? Why would we want to give people a tax break to buy guns? Crime\u2019s going up. What are we we doing? We\u2019re providing tax breaks for people to buy guns.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Article: The 10 Craziest Economic Policies of 2011 by Travis Waldron, Tanya Somanader and Pat Garofalo at Think Progress. The Text:The economy continued to struggle through 2011, with persistently high unemployment, a foreclosure crisis that kept on burning, and banks behaving badly in a whole host of ways. And there were plenty of ideas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Worst Economic Policies Of 2011<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Travis Waldron, Tanya Somanader and Pat Garofalo of Think Progress analyze the worst economic policies of 2011.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/12\/26\/the-worst-economic-policies-of-2011\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Worst Economic Policies Of 2011\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Travis Waldron, Tanya Somanader and Pat Garofalo of Think 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