Actually, the title of this post should probably read, “The Good, Good, Good, Bad, and the Ugly.”

That’s because Herman Cain’s 9–9‑9 tax plan has low tax rates, it eliminates double taxation, and it wipes out loopholes, and those are three very big and very good things.

The bad part, as I explain here, is that Cain would let politicians impose a national sales tax at the same time as an income tax.

And the ugly part is that he also would let them impose a value-added tax as well, as I discuss here.

I pontificate on all these issues in the latest Coffee and Markets podcast, which you can listen to by clicking here.

In closing, I will admit that it’s been very frustrating to deal with Cain’s plan. Supporters of Cain accuse me of being too critical and opponents of Cain accuse me of being too nice.

Normally, I don’t like being in the middle of the road, but that seems to be the only logical place to be since 9–9‑9 has some really good features and some really bad features.