Wanker Of The Day

Andrew Cassel of the Inquirer gets the award (a nod of respect to Atrios for stealing his category name).

In his column today, Cassel tries to make the case for repealing the home interest mortgage deduction (can't find a link yet - thanks, Inky!). He first quotes people who know infinitely more on this than he does, including a man named Alan Harris in Bucks County, who is a CPA:

"I don't know where in the world the advisory panel lives in (referring to the Bushco bunch that said this is a good idea), but where I live...they would bury the middle class. We would have foreclosures galore!"

Well said, Mr. Harris.

Cassel twists information with his supposition in ridiculous fashion, including this example.

"Most Americans get little or no government help paying for their houses, outside of programs such as Section 8 for the very poor. But those with incomes above six figures receive tax benefits that can average $7,000 to $8,000 a year."

He also quotes some bunch of idiots in Washington called the Tax Policy Center (why is it that organizations where people such as these belong are ironically called "think tanks"?) that states "eighty two percent of the tax savings from deductible mortgage interest goes to people on the top fifth of the income ladder."

OK, enough. Here are some facts.

We don't make six figures combined in this household, and we certainly aren't on "the top fifth of the income ladder," and last year, we declared about 10 grand in mortgage interest and home equity-related deductions on our tax return. We've whittled that down a bit, but that's still a hell of a lot more than what these "experts" are talking about.

I called Fitzpatrick, Specter and Santorum and told them to keep their hands off the home mortgage interest deduction. Period.

Alan Harris is right. Mess around with this, and anyone "on the bubble" goes belly up. And I can't account for what would follow in that awful event.

Update 10/23: I still can't find a link to Cassel's column, though the link for the column he wrote today appears on the site. What's the matter; is the Inquirer afraid to admit it when one of their esteemed Ivy League journos writes a piece of refuse?