by Jason Johnson, Politic365 Chief Political Correspondent
Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan: New Economics or New World Order?
Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and presidential candidate Herman Cain has scored big over the last few weeks with his 9-9-9 plan for changing the U.S. tax structure. Whether you like it, hate it or can barely understand it, all the talking heads are trying to figure out where he came up with his simplistic and catchy plan for re-booting the American tax system.
The most obvious theory (pointed out to me by one of my students at Hiram College) is that the Cain campaign got the 9-9-9 concept from the $9.99 #1 “New Value Meal” on the Godfather’s pizza menu. That’s seems a bit too simple though. Over at the Huffingtonpost, reporter Amanda Terkel has another theory: the Cain campaign got the 9-9-9 concept from the SimCity video game. Apparently a few major gaming types out there have pointed out that in SimCity the tax rate was a simple 9-9-9 plan for corporate, personal and sales taxes which apparently made it easier for the game’s developers to work on other projects like city infrastructure and making natural disasters appear out of nowhere. SimCity game creators swear they had nothing to do with the Cain campaign – and his staff isn’t talking.
But Terkel’s theory is as good as any. Let’s be honest though, the best theory on the inspiration for Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan comes from Michelle “Church Lady” Bachmann during last Tuesday’s debate. Could it beeeeeee ……. SATAN????
Black History Month on the Cheap – British Style
October is Black History month in England (Who Knew?); but all is not right in the island nation recovering from a summer of riots and strict government austerity measures. According to London’s Voice magazine, government cut backs have severely scaled back many of the standard activities and programs across the nation during Black history month. African Drum ensembles and plays are being replaced with simple reading programs. Month long activities are being scaled back to Saturday afternoon programs in public libraries.
These cuts first made headlines last year as “Africa Day” in London was completely defunded in favor of, believe it or not, “USA Day”, a celebration of the United States intended to attract American tourists to the city for the annual London NFL game. However, in the aftermath of a summer full of riots, many of which at least started within mostly poor and minority areas in major cities across the U.K., the idea of cutting funding that engages and acknowledges the nation’s diverse past, present and future, seems like a particularly foolish idea. But, maybe London’s conservative Mayor Boris Johnson got something out of his slash and burn anti-multiculturalism tactics – the NFL wants to add more U.K. games in the coming year. I guess to the British figure it’s more fun to ship some Blacks over from the U.S. that you can send home after 3 hours than acknowledge the needs and culture of Black folks who already live there.
Occupy my Inbox
Last night I was a guest on the Young Black Professionals Blogtalk radio program to discuss the 2012 race for the Republican nomination, my new book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell and the massive social uprisings across the United States collectively known as “Occupy (Enter your city/cubicle desk/couch/bed/toilet/bus seat/Starbucks/ here).”
I plan on attending some of the marches and protests during Occupy D.C. this weekend and will report and tweet back from what I see on the ground. Regardless of your politics, we’re seeing the beginning of a long and very angry struggle to re-direct American attention back towards the plight of the poor, the downtrodden and the 99% of people in this country who haven’t been the beneficiaries of the economic policies from Washington since the Clinton days. In particular, I’m on the lookout for faces of color in the crowd, since press coverage of the movement as well as much of the rhetoric has been decidedly White and de-racialized – something that the excellent racialicious.com blog has been pointing out for a couple of weeks now.
If you’re planning on attending the March this weekend we’d love to hear from you at Politic365. Shoot your thoughts and pics to my email at DrJasonPolitics@gmail.com or tweet me @DrJasonJohnson. After this weekend, we want to have a fuller and more diverse picture of what is really happening across the city and what this movement means. Your feedback will be a great part of that canvas.
