One Trick Elephant

[marmar]

from Truthdig:


One Trick Elephant


Posted on Aug 16, 2007
By Marie Cocco

WASHINGTON—The corpse has a pulse. Or at least the Bush White House and congressional Republicans are counting on the predictable thump, thump, thump about taxes to resuscitate themselves.

To Republicans, the tax issue is a political pacemaker, inserted to restore normalcy in the order of things. They need to inject a steady rhythm into a world that has become a chaotic and frightening place, where none of the usual tricks—not whipping up fear of terrorism or gays or immigrants or even the now-unmentionable one—Osama bin Laden, convinces the public that they are to be trusted with governance.

In the past few weeks, we have heard the president oppose an increase in the tobacco tax to pay for health insurance for needy children. He has opposed an increase in the gasoline tax—a temporary one—to pay for highway and bridge repairs. No cause is sufficiently worthy—not getting kids to a doctor or preventing another deadly rush-hour collapse of any one of our thousands of aging creaking bridges—that it might be paid for by asking for some small sacrifice.

This is the Bush character. He has so far spent half a trillion dollars on the war in Iraq without blinking, and without seeking a temporary war tax or any other way to pay for it except through deficits and a mounting debt.

Now comes the push to cut corporate income tax rates. It is billed as a job-saving measure. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070816_one_trick_elephant/

[Stuckinthebush]

1. When a Democrat is president

That person needs to say,

"We must raise taxes on corporate profits, tobacco, and the wealthiest in our nation to pay for the mountain of irresponsible debt that the last president and his GOP congress foisted on the American people. I am saddened that we must dig out of a mountain of debt that the last administration and his enablers placed upon our nation, but as adults, we must act responsibly. We will do all in our power to minimize the pain of this burden on the working and middle class families. We will insist that those who benefited most from eight years of public windfall pay the most to restore this nation's fiscal health. You will hear critics bemoan this necessary measure as a path that will hurt the public. This is not true. The path that will hurt the public the most is to continue the same foolish fiscal policies this nation has endured for the past eight years. Responsibility is hard at times. I am confident that most Americans wish to be responsible and will support this decision. This administration's priority is to return the United States of America its strength, its pride, and its reputation in the world that were so cavalierly sold to the highest bidder during the last eight years."