Nothing to fear but nonsense itself
At his White House press conference this morning, the president was asked about GDP figures due to be released and whether he’s concerned that they’ll point to an official recession. After responding with some talk about drilling ANWR, Bush added:
“[I]f you want to send a good signal during these uncertain times, is make the tax cuts permanent, is to let people — send the signal that people are going to be able to keep their money. And I think that will help the psychology of the country.”
He repeated the line a few minutes later:
“I would hope that those who worry about recession, slowdown, whatever you want to call it, make the tax cuts permanent as a way of helping to address this issue — because if you’re somebody out there trying to plan your future and you’re worried about the future and you think your taxes are going to go up, it’s going to cause different behavioral patterns.”
This apparently may have gone out as some kind of GOP strategy memo. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) recently said the same thing.
“[Tax cuts were] the right medicine for an ailing economy and the results were clear. By lowering taxes, the federal government spurred economic development and actually collected more in tax revenue. […]
“I believe some of the uneasiness taxpayers feel today about the economy is driven by concerns they are going to be hit with huge tax increases when the tax cuts expire.”
I have no idea what these people are talking about. Or, more likely, these people have no idea what they’re talking about.
To hear Bush tell it, the economic anxiety Americans feel right now is somehow related to tax cuts that expire in 2011 — tax cuts that primarily don’t help the middle class or low-income families anyway.
In all seriousness, how many people who are worried about their families’ finances right now are going to say, “I’ve been really worried, but now that I know my tax rate will remain the same in 2011 as it is 2010, I’m feeling better again”? That, in essence, is what the president argued with a straight face this morning. The answer for economic angst now is maintenance of existing tax cuts three years from now.
Ben at TP recently offered a competing explanation for economic anxiety.
[M]aybe American negative attitudes toward the economy stem from the housing and credit crises, job losses, rising unemployment, a volatile stock market, high gas prices, high family debt, flat wages, increasing budget deficits, a weak dollar, and rising health care costs — not to mention the effects of the $12 billion per month war in Iraq that is being bankrolled largely on borrowed funds.
Could that have more to do with explaining why Americans are so upset with the economy? Nah. It must have something to do with expectations for tax rates in 2011. After all, as Bush insisted this morning, those three-years-away rates “cause different behavioral patterns.”
That makes a lot more sense. Thank goodness the president and his congressional allies are so in touch with concerns and fears facing American families.
Nothing like arguing for policies that will further devalue the dollar. Hell, let’s jack the debt up so high that the dollar is backed by the same gravitational forces as a black hole!
The illegitimate Bush regime is a bigger threat to the average American than Al-queda (”the base”) could ever be. Bush and the goose-stepping Republican Party have tried to destroy our Constitution, bankrupt our Federal Treasury with absurd tax cuts for the ruling class and engage us in endless wars of aggression against the people of the third world, whose resources we have been stealing for generations…
Ya know what scares me about taxes? The AMT. THAT is going to potentially hit me in a big way.
Everything that can possibly be done to obliterate the middle class is being done. Sure, worry about those 2011 taxes for the uber wealthy and continue to screw those who are middle class until there is no middle class.
Mission Accomplished!
How can anyone listen to Bush and consider one word he says without an eye roll and possibly throwing something heavy at their television set?
Just exterminate us now. That is what it seems their intent is anyway.
Rarely has the question been asked: Is our children learning?
Exactly right. And that’s exactly what they want. They see the Gilded Age as a good thing.
You are missing the point completely. The rich really care about the tax law changes.
IT IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
If you are really rich then you are worried that your kids are going to kill you in 2010 to save on estate taxes.
If I were rich, I would feel a lot better know my kids won’t be killing me in a few years.
Hm. I wonder what Bush means when he says “people”. I’ve a very strong feeling that W. doesn’t really know anyone who earns less than $500,000 per year, owns numerous properties in several states and regularly vacations in Europe. In fact, he may be unaware that “folks” in this nation are capable of earning far, far less and living on the breadline. Not in America! America is Number One! Damn freak.
Can we pinpoint the moment that the GOP went from being “the party of ideas” to being the “party of idea?” In the mind of a conservative, there seems to be no economic problem that can’t be solved by tax cuts.
So why all the whining about “irresponsible borrowers” who took out loans they couldn’t afford? Bush’s minions have done that hand over fist for seven years.
Sounds a lot like the Virtues of Selfishness. Ayn Rand’s ghost would be proud! -Kevo
Far be it from me to defend Rand or Objectivism, but Kevo you do give W way too much credit. While he and his cronies are surely selfish, stubborn and unsentimental enough to fit the bill, they have none of Roark’s artistic integrity or even the intellectual curiousity of the protagonist in Anthem.
They are lying about the tax cuts increasing revenue. We’ve lost ground and not made it up.
When Bill Clinton raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% revenue went up and continued to grow. When Boy George II cut the top income tax rate to 36% revenue went down and has not recovered.
Kind of tells you where the effective rate would be doesn’t it.
The Republican’ts PROMISED they would not increase the debt by these tax cuts, which is why they expire in 2010. Seems their promises to America mean nothing.
As for causing uncertainty, if they’d stop arguing over making the cuts permanent the American people would have certainty. We’d know what the rates will be in 2011. It’s the Republican’ts and Boy George II who are confusing things.
I am worried about alot of things. I am afraid that my Adjustable Rate Mortgage is going to be unaffordable when it recasts this year and I won’t have enough equity to refinance. I am worried about the high cost of gas. I am worried that food prices seem higher every time I go to the store. I am worried I will get sick and my job doesn’t offer me a health plan. I am worried that we have angered the rest of the world with our aweful foreign policy that they will never forgive us. I do not worry one little bit about tax breaks being permanent. What are these idiots talking about? Why do the republicans squeeze the issue of tax cuts being permanent into everything they talk about? I don’t remember my life getting better when these tax breaks came around in the first place. Clearly these people are not acting in the best interests of our country when they do this. Tax breaks mean nothing when you are worried about your health and losing your house and not being able to afford food and gas. My goddamned electric bill is $300. It costs $60 to fill up with gas. I can’t afford car insurance in California because it costs $3000/year. I have no health insurance because it costs $450/ month. What the hell do I give a piss about rich guys getting tax breaks?
I thought this question was interesting:
“A lot of money”? The president requested $29 million more for his “Biofuels Initiative” for 2008 ($179 million total for 2008). $29 million is about what we spend on imported oil every 34 minutes. His budget for the entire program is what we spend on imported oil every 3.5 hours, and what we spend in Iraq every 10 hours.
So the president is full of shit when he says we spend “a lot of money” on renewable alternatives to oil. And note how he does not even begin to answer the question asked (about peak oil) at all.
Sources of data
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mcrimus1A.htm
http://www.ethanolrfa.org/objects/documents/955/er250.pdf
Oh noes! Whatever will I do if my tax rate shoots up in 2011 to the same rate it was in 2000??
If seven years of Bushonomics have made the nation so shaky that it can only survive by sucking on tax cuts like SCUBA gear, then we might as well drown.
There is no economics but psycho-economics, and georgebush is its prophet.
Avast! ‘Tis Codpiece Bush, the Jolly Rogerer and he only has a few months to finish making America perfect 4eva .. for its corporate pals.
All of the crap that went down as a part of The War Against Terra (Motto: “Do exactly as we say and nobody gets hurt”) was just a prelude to the crazy shit you’ll hear from 1600 Penn. Ave before 2009. Want to keep your house? Let us pass this bill that gives mortgage companies a zillion dollar bail out. Want to eat? You’ll have to agree that food producers can’t be sued even if they put plutonium in your Twinkies and laugh while they’re doing it. Want cheaper gas? Let us peel Alaska like a grape!
Want to keep your house? Buy one that you can afford.
“I believe some of the uneasiness taxpayers feel today about the economy is driven by concerns they are going to be hit with huge tax increases when the tax cuts expire.”
What a crock of horseshit….I am so tired of this nonsense from Republicans…maybe I’m completely ignorant, but are business owners REALLY concerned about what their taxes are going to be 10 YEARS FROM NOW???
With the cost of borrowing money as low as it is, when is this Republican nonsense of businesses being crushed by high taxes going to end? No doubt, no one likes paying taxes, but if you’re a business looking to expand, is it really the case that you are unable to do so because your taxes are too high?
Finally…I got laid off from my job last week and I can ASSURE both the Shrub and Sen Graham that NO ONE at my office..NO ONE was concerned about the tax cuts expiring…their concerns are about losing their jobs either to off-shoring or to the general decline in the economy.
Republicans said when we had a surplus, that tax cuts were needed …now, with a deficit, tax cuts are again the answer….what next, will tax cuts cure cancer?
I’ve said it before: Why is it that the same people who insist that “Freedom Isn’t Free” are so violently opposed to paying their freakin’ taxes?
Tax cuts, the vilification of gays and Muslims, flag pins, and the Bible are the simple tools these redneck grifters use to pry every last cent from the middle class. The only thing worse than Bush’s snake oil tax-cut routine is knowing that there are people out there that buy this crap. There is no difference between the tax cut fantasy and the trickery that sank the mortgage industry.
“Folks, step right up! You sir, you look like a smart fellow! How’d you like to turn one dollar into two? Sound impossible? Well, just as sure as you’re born, Doctor G.W. Bushington’s Tax Cut Elixir and Scalp Massage Tonic Oil will scientifically turn one dollar into three…four…even five dollars in your pocket!”