William Saletan goes ga-ga for John Kerry (which would hold more water with me if he hadn’t slavered over Gore back in the day), while Dean snipes at Graham, calling him a “lower-tier candidate.” True enough, but Dean has to be careful – he’s already garnered something of a reputation as Mean Dr. Dean, and coming out for the death penalty won’t help. Rounding out the top tier (I can say it, even if Dean can’t), John Edwards calls for middle-class tax cuts, to be paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy. A smart move, in keeping with the populist track Edwards has staked out, even if I think a payroll tax cut makes much more sense.
Category: Inequality
When you give a banquet, invite the poor (Luke 14:13)
“I have to ask though, why do Republicans hate the word of God?,” queries Mega of Triptych Cryptic as he points the way to some biblical passages apparently not included in Dubya’s daily bible study. Not on this list but equally valid in appraising the Bushies’ selective Christianity: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25) Now there’s one you don’t hear very often from the likes of The 700 Club.
When the Sun Never Sets.
“The Rove-Bush goal is to return government to its size before the New Deal, leaving the individual more exposed to corporate power than at any other time since the 1920s.” Jack Beatty of The Atlantic Monthly examines Rove’s long-term strategy for the Dubya tax cut, and how it’s cleverly designed to help the GOP in 2004 and 2008. Grim stuff. In a related story, Michael Kinsley offers his take on the dividend debacle: “The recently enacted tax bill is such a shocking and brazen gift for the wealthy that it is hard to describe in anything short of…cartoon-Marxist terms.”
Credit Denied.
Despite growing GOP support in the Senate, Tom De Lay refuses to consider an increased low-income child tax credit in the House unless it includes more schwag for the filthy rich, such as an estate tax repeal. Speaking of which, new analyses of the Dubya debacle suggest that the middle class will end up footing the bill while the wealthy frolic. So much for “trickle-down.”
Cash Advance.
As it turns out, Dubya’s profligate ways have forced Congress to increase the federal debt limit (so as to avoid a government default) in the very week they mull over his (now Voinovich-friendly) tax giveaway for the rich. Coincidence? I think not.
Capital Gains, National Losses.
The House and Senate GOP agree on a compromise bill that cuts the tax rates on dividends to 15%. (Don’t worry, Mr. Burns – the wealthy also get their fix in the form of a capital gains rate cut to 15%.) But, problems for the dividend debacle remain…particularly in that the $383 billion package goes over the $350 billion cap established by GOP moderate George Voinovich. Can the Dems mount a last stand?
Read Their Lips.
With the Dubya dividend debacle virtually a done deal, the Democratic field rethinks their election strategies in lieu of the Bush tax cuts. Given the inroads Dubya’s making into Dem territory (well, at least according to Fox News), hopefully Kerry, Edwards, Dean & co. will realize the only way to play it is straight – the tax cuts are a horrible idea and they need to be repealed.
A Sucker Born Every Minute.
The President and his cabinet take the Dubya dividend debacle dog-and-pony show on the road. But be careful if they come to your town – as per usual when Dubya and the economy are mentioned in the same sentence, you may just find yourself working overtime. Update: Proving once again the power of the Big Lie, Dubya accuses tax cut critics of “class warfare.” And in a joint statement, Montgomery Burns, Scrooge McDuck, and the Monopoly Guy asked, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Feed the Rich, or else.
What do we want? Tax breaks for the rich! When do we want ’em? Now! Brushing up on his cheerleader skills in Arkansas (as a not-so-veiled threat to Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln), Dubya demands that Congress speed up passage of his fatcat cut. But so far, the all stick and no carrot tactics of the Bushies are only continuing to tick off GOP moderates like Olympia Snowe.
The Other Shoe Drops.
As it turns out, the new GOP-spawned hybrid tax bill mentioned yesterday offers even more to the wealthy (and less to the poor) than Dubya’s dividend debacle. Why am I not surprised? If the Republicans keep prostrating themselves before the filthy rich like this, that giant sucking sound you hear will be the GOP moderates defecting en masse a la James Jeffords, who’s now comfortably ensconced in the Democratic leadership.