Reply #3: On The Bush Tax Cuts [View All]

[DrFunkenstein]

How can anyone reasonably suggest to our fellow Americans that the way to get the economy moving today is to cut taxes 8 years from now?

And as for fairness, we’re not calling for redistribution - what we want is for average, middle class Americans who work hard to be able to get ahead just like their parents did. 20 years ago, the average CEO made 42 times what the average worker made. Now it’s 531 times more. It’s out of whack. Yet 40 percent of Bush’s tax giveaway goes to that very top 1 percent. I think that’s an attack on the fundamental fairness that holds this country together.

And perhaps most outrageous if the violation of generational responsibility -- The largest cost of the Bush tax giveaway will not be born by any of us here today - it will be paid for by our children. That’s right - we’re borrowing from Social Security and Medicare to put money in some peoples’ pockets today - and sticking our children with the bill.

We need to repeat the truth again and again. The new Bush tax cuts are unfair, unaffordable and unquestionably ineffective in growing our economy -- because they come at the expense of choices we need to make now so more Americans can enjoy greater wealth and a higher quality of life later.

Because of those cuts this Administration is clinging to, there are riorities going completely ignored - all of which make a difference in the quality of our lives - education, health care, transportation, our environment.

So our task is to get our economy moving again now. To create jobs and raise incomes... to grow out of the deficit... and to meet our needs.