The nocturnal emissions of Grover Norquist and Steve Forbes have become more than mere fantasy.
Dana Milbank, America's greatest living reporter, has a story about how Paul Bremer has enacted a 15% flat tax celiing on individual and corporate taxes.
I'm stunned. I literally choked on my coffee when I read this. Russia appears to be our model for success here. We're taking a socialist country, dumping everyone off the welfare rolls, privatizing everything, and then enacting a harshly regressive tax code?
I'm no expert on Iraq, but this sounds like a recipe for massive civil unrest.
Sperling provides the money quote:
Looking back at the failed attempt by presidential candidate Forbes to rally U.S. public support behind the flat tax, Gene Sperling, a senior Clinton economic adviser who is with the Council on Foreign Relations, said wryly, "If Steve Forbes does a bus tour [of Iraq] to promote it, I hope they have adequate security."