Via the LA Times, White House Doesn’t Share Outsiders’ Concerns Over Deficit. Yeah, I’d say that’s an understatement.
Category: Dubyanomics
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
It isn’t just Weaponsgate: Dubya can’t stop lying about the economy, either. And with the Dubya deficit ballooning and the states feeling the pinch, don’t expect any further candor from the White House in the months to come.
6.4 and Rising.
The Dubya dip continues, with unemployment at a nine-year high and comparisons to Herbert Hoover starting to make the rounds. Expect Bush to start touting the rise in butlers, maids, and gardeners thanks to his tax giveaway to the rich.
That explains it.
The perennial question: Is George W. Bush a liar or a moron? The answer: Yes, says Slate‘s Tim Noah.
The First Estate.
Ever beholden to their wealthy masters, the House GOP try once again to permanently eliminate the estate tax. Thankfully, this probably won’t pass the Senate, but you’d think someone on the Republican side of the House would remember the days of true conservatism and start thinking about balancing the budget, rather than granting further handouts to the filthy rich. A long shot, I know, particularly when you take a gander at the GOP economic team these days. (Ah, fun with Photoshop.)
Card-Carrying Conservatism.
While the Democratic party as a whole continues to seem as divided and stymied by the Dubya dip as they do Weaponsgate, several of the candidates lash out on their own, including John Edwards, who calls the Dubya tax cuts the “most radical and dangerous economic theory to hit our shores since Socialism.” I’d think Eugene Debs is probably turning over in his grave at the comparison.
Exterminated.
As expected, the DeLay House has attempted to kill the child credit by passing a swollen $82 billion tax cut that has little hope of passing the Senate. Apparently the House bill pays a whopping “96 percent of its benefits to middle- and upper-income taxpayers.” Said Charlie Rangel of the bill, “it was ‘one of the most cynical and hypocritical moves’ he had ever seen,” and you have to think that at this point Rangel’s seen a lot. For shame. Yet another reason why we should be embarrassed as a nation to have a guy like Tom DeLay calling the shots in Congress.
Rogue Exterminator.
Interesting…Tom De Lay has refused Dubya’s call to pass the child tax credit. “Ain’t going to happen,” replied the Exterminator. “The last time I checked, he doesn’t have a vote.” While De Lay’s recalcitrance probably helps Dubya/Rove achieve “triangulation,” I wonder if the White House will make De Lay pay…perhaps by allowing Dems to look into his abuse of Homeland Security mentioned the other day.
What would Strom do?
Found via TNR‘s Etc., Trent Lott tells us what he really thinks of helping poor children: “Although almost every Senate Republican voted for the [child tax credit], some clearly were unhappy at having to do so under what they considered public pressure from liberal groups and Democrats. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi voted for the bill, but as he did so he stuck his tongue out, put his finger in his mouth and made a gagging sound, indicating his apparent distaste for the bill.” I wonder if C-SPAN caught this – it’d make for a great campaign ad to show the families of Mississippi.
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.”