They are LYING about the tax cuts and here is why:

[wjittermoss]

The Bush administration mantra is "the tax cuts are working" and are responsible for the rebound in the economy. That is simply not the case. What is driving any rebound in this economy is LOW INTEREST RATES. Greenspan is keeping them low as a favor to the Bushites.

If you don't believe me just ask the heads of about 10 middle income families what has meant more to them over the past 18 months, the tax cuts or the lower interest rates? What caused new home owners to purchase their home or others to sell and buy up? It was NOT LOWER TAXES because most people don't even see that in their pay checks. Their decisions were based on LOW INTEREST rates which have caused many to refinance or take out home equity loan. That's the money, along with credit card cash advances that is being spent, not the imaginary money from tax cuts. Why can't people understand this and why do the Dems allow Bush to get away with saying this without being challenged? I haven't heard on Dem say this to a pundit who is praising Bush tax cuts.

AND why do Dems allow the Republicans to keep saying over and over that Kerry will "raise taxes?" Stopping further tax cuts in NOT "raising taxes." We will never be able to regain the Congress or the WH as long as we don't repsond to the propaganda in a meaninful way. I would like to see the Dems out on the campaign trail giving lessons to town hall meetings about what is really going on in this economy. There are economists who know this but they are never called on by the media.

[tom_paine]

1. I know, with Dean gone...

...Kerry seems to be reverting to cautious ways.

Like he learned NOTHING from the last 15 years.

I pray I am wrong and I will support him with all my efforts and $$$, but it is quite distressing to see the Busheviks once again have a mostly clear field to spread their lies without challenge.

[papau]

3. I sadly agree - Kerry is either busy raising money, or his staff and he

have forgotten why he absorbed the Dean message.

Damn he had better grow a political spine and keep it visible.

[sangh0]

7. That's just BS

Yesterday, Kerry accused Bush* of using 9/11 and first responders for politics. He got the firefighter's union to issue statements denouncing Bush* and that was covered by all major news outlets including network TV news. While in Florida, he raised the ElectionTheft2000 issue.

You are confusing mouth with spine. Kerry doesn't have Dean's mouth, but he lacks nothing when it comes to spine. Unlike Dean, Kerry has gotten the mainstream media to pay some attention to issues like AWOL and Bush*'s use of 9/11 for political purposes.

[papau]

10. I stand corrected - sort of - I did see - on ABC - the above - but they

did not make CBS (or I missed it) or NBC (granted NBC is now a second Fox)

The Florida theft issue got no national play that I saw.

But you are correct - I should have noted that breaking through the right wing control of the media is not going to be easy.

[montanacowboy]

2. And in the NYT today

it said 21,000 jobs were created last month..... hear me folks?\

2 1 , 0 0 0


un frickin believable

[NewJeffCT]

4. Bush will hail 21,000 as a great step

and nobody in the media will challenge him... 21,000 jobs created means a NET LOSS of between 130,000 and 150,000 jobs for the month!

[papau]

5. After revising down Dec by 8000 and Jan by 15000, Feb created 21000

I do love math.

:-)

[democratreformed]

6. Has anyone done their tax returns yet?

I did my daughter's yesterday. I can see no tax cuts based on her taxes. The zeroes in the tax table stop at $5 now instead of further.

Is it just my imagination that last year, the zero tax due went farther up the income scale?

[nickinSTL]

9. Tax cuts?

I agree.

I've done my federal taxes, and if there have been cuts, I don't find them.

Last year I got a small refund, this year I owe.

'Course that's probably partially due to the extra money I made by taking a 2nd job partway through the tax year, but still...

I'll be impressed with the economy when there are JOBS.

[dawn]

15. I didn't see a tax cut last year, didn't see one this year.

I did notice that the marriage penalty has been eliminated, which is something Kerry would continue to do.

I think these "tax cuts for the middle class" just don't exist.

And I really don't care that extremely wealthy people will have to pay the same taxes as they did before Bush*'s cuts. Please, get over it.

[dawg]

16. The marriage penalty has not been eliminated ...

Changes have been made only to the standard deduction and the lower brackets. Don't let anyone get away with saying that Bush eliminated the marriage penalty, 'cause he didn't.

[lovedems]

8. Because I think the American people in general don't understand the

tax codes and how they are truly affected. According to the author of "Perfectly Legal" most congress people don't fully understand the tax codes.

I think people are suckers for the term "raise taxes". My dad is not stupid in general but he said he won't vote for a democrat because they want to raise his taxes. That is all he hears.

I agree Kerry could find a way to explain this in simple terms but I also think many people hear "he is going to raise your taxes" and then stop listening. They don't need to nor do they want to hear anymore.

Then you have the people like my husband and I. He has been unemployed for 7 months so the low interest rates don't affect us at all because we are not in a postion to afford anything new that requires a loan!

[rman]

11. "All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America rise...

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America rise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation."
- President Thomas Jefferson, 1787


and slightly more specific:

"By a continuous process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method, they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some. The process engages all of the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner that not one man in a million can diagnose." ("Economic Consequences of the Peace")
- Writer Maynard Keynes, 1920

[lovedems]

13. Stated much more eloquently then I could ever dream of! n/t

[ignatius]

12. Low interest rates and HOME Equity loans, ie, second mortgages.

and refinancings(because of the low rates.) People are taking out cash on the perceived equity in their homes. Some are then going back into debt vis a vis the credit cards and auto loans which they just paid off.

If the "equity" of their home goes down, they are in big trouble.
Just as government is in debt out the wazoo, so are most people.

As my dad used to say, you can't borrow your way out of debt.

[swinney]

14. Greenspan protects Republicans here is proof

He increased Interest Rates 13 times on Clinton-Gore.

He has kept them at rock bottom for Four years of Bush.

Most on Clinton-Gore were in election years!!Huh! Fishy.

There was no great inflationary problem to justify them.

[BillZBubb]

17. You forgot deficit spending

Low interest rates are one part of it, but remember Shrub and the Repugs are borrowing and spending an increasing portion of GDP. All of that increased red ink shows up as "economic growth".

Since the tax cuts are the reason for the deficit, they actually do contribute to this phony growth. But, the Repugs are lying through their teeth when they claim the tax cuts have spurred entreprenurial growth.

Bush* s the most economically dangerous pResident we've ever had. If he gets elected this time, we are in for a serious financial crisis in the not too distant future. It might even be too late for a Democrat to prevent that.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Absolutely true.

Interest rates have dipped down to the 4.5% range again and buying and selling a house and refinancing are up again. But what do you do when you don't have a disposable rental in this economy? The well will run dry eventually.