Monday, August 2, 2010

Three Republicans break ranks on Bush tax cuts

WHAT IN THE WORLD is going on here? It's not often that Republicans break ranks from their talking points oracles. But it is happening, folks, in the debate over exending the Bush tax cuts that have already siphoned more than $2.5 trillion (that's with a "tr") from the treasury with 52 pct. of the benefits going to the richest 5 pct. of our hard-working board room taxpayers.

Let's begin with Alan Greenspan, the craggy gravel-voiced former Fed chairman who told the Meet the Press audience that extending the cuts would be, well.. disastrous. Coming from a power peddler who once defended that Bush giveaway, that would border on heresy if not a common political flip flop. In short, Greenspan now insists the deficit cannot take a major hit like that.

Then there is House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, the Virginia Rrepublican just half a shadow behind John Boehner, who said he always likes the sound of tax cuts, but admitted that "Certainly you're a going to dig the hole deeper" into the deficit.

Now comes David Stockman, Reagan's budget director, who wrote in the New York Times:"If there were such a thing as Chapter 11 for politicians, the Republican push to extend the unaffordable Bush tax cuts would amount to a bankruptcy filing." So there!

On the other hand, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the senate minority leader, went into denial with second-grade arithmetic even before the other guys showed up. "There's no evidence whatsoever " he soared, " that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy."

With that lofty misstatement, maybe we can get him to give us the solution to pi.









flttroug

4 comments:

PJJinOregon said...

Nice piece, but I'm still in denial. Greenspan and Stockman have the freedom to speak their mind rather than the party line; they don't vote. Much to my surprise, I like what these godzillas of the past say about the Bush43 bonuses to the wealthy. Cantor's comment suggests he wants something. Boehner should watch his back. I'm comforted to see that McConnell has risen to the second grade in math.

ChrisChristieFan84 said...

Do you guys honestly believe that raising taxes on businesses during a recession is a smart thing to do? The goal is to CREATE jobs, not destroy them. And it is not just Republicans who oppose these tax increases, many moderate Democrats like Evan Bayh do as well.

Come on people, let's start to think rationally.....

Grumpy Abe said...

Thanks for including Eric Cantor, Alan Greenspan and David Stockman as loony lefties on the tax question. I'm sure that you could hold your own in a debate with any of them. You deep thinkers must leap over every five words in a blog post to reach the conclusion that satisfies your preconceived notions derived from Reaganomics. Want to meditate on the size of his budget-busting? As far as Evan Bayh is concerned, there aren't many progressive ideas that he's supported over the years unless it's an earmark for Indiana. Come on people, to quote somebody you might know, let's start to think rationally...

Joe Hill said...

Wing nuts like fawner84 are unable to act in any cognizant manner. They dismiss facts that might upset their tidy little world. Rationality is not present for those who suffer from cognitive dissonance and the fawner's drivel only reinforces this point.