BENEDICT MORRIS WARNS OF IMPENDING TEMPER TANTRUM

Dick Morris (a Benedict Arnold of modern American politics if ever there was one), has come out with the following prognostication:

As her election gets closer, as it becomes more likely she's going to win, there's going to be a stock market crash. And when she wins, it's going to be Black Wednesday, because what's going to happen is that Americans will want to sell their stocks so they can get 15 percent tax, not 30 percent tax.

So, essentially what Morris is saying is that, if Clinton wins, Republicans are going to throw at temper tantrum. Hmm, there’s news.

First of all, given that the bubble-burst in the housing market is going to continue for another year or two, betting that the stock market is going to have a few significant down-turns over that time is a no-brainer. It’ll happen no matter who ultimately gets elected, and it’ll happen before they get elected.

Second, what Morris and the other authority-figure suck-ups of the right wing punditocracy consistently fail to mention is this simple fact: For most Americans, if they have any stocks at all, they are held in IRAs or 401Ks. Guess what, earnings in those vehicles are taxed as ordinary income – YOU DO NOT GET THE SPECIAL RICH-BOY CAPITAL GAINS TAX RATE!!!!!!! No, your IRA and your 401K are taxed like ordinary income (this reality is hidden in IRS Publication 590 – don’t want to rock the rich-boy boat with too many knowing just how stacked the deck already is).

Given that reality, lets look at the rest of Benedict Morris’ bleat:

Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. You know, one of the things that I think needs to be said about Hillary Clinton -- and I want to say it now -- is that if she is elected president, one of the first things she's going to do is either double the capital gains tax, so it's 30 percent, not 15, or repeal it entirely so it's ordinary income taxed at 40, because that will be the new rate.

As her election gets closer, as it becomes more likely she's going to win, there's going to be a stock market crash. And when she wins, it's going to be Black Wednesday, because what's going to happen is that Americans will want to sell their stocks so they can get 15 percent tax, not 30 percent tax.

The investments most of us have – in IRAs and 401Ks – are already taxed as, to quote the IRS, "ordinary income," Morris’ dire predictions are ludicrous. Anyone who believes in the American ideal of a level playing field (a fundamentally liberal position, by the way) should welcome such a policy correction. No need for any of us to withdraw our retirement accounts, the taxes won’t change for us. Only for the rich-boys who currently run the country like their own little frat house. Their self-serving threats of an impending temper tantrum are just silly.

So there you are.