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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mighty_Mezz who wrote (1850)	2/18/2001 6:09:25 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 93284

Bush's tax cut and surplus Following is an excerpt by By PAUL KRUGMAN "Here's the arithmetic: the Congressional Budget Office has projected a 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion. (I don't believe it, but never mind.) Take the Social Security and Medicare surpluses off the table, however, and you are left with only $2.7 trillion. That may sound like a lot, but the projected cost of Mr. Bush's tax cut has also grown, for reasons that are important but too boring to explain. It would now use up around $2 trillion of that surplus. And what's left depends on the totally unrealistic assumption that federal spending, including defense spending, will not grow at all over the next decade, despite a growing population and a growing economy. Give the military what it says it needs, and we're already well into deficit — and that doesn't include missile defense, not to mention prescription drug coverage, new education programs and all that. Oh, and what about the trillion dollars of Social Security money that Mr. Bush has proposed to spend twice? Nonetheless, Congress is about to go into a tax-cut feeding frenzy, adding huge tax breaks for corporations to Mr. Bush's proposal. The spectacle will be distressing, but it will be over quickly. Pretty soon, quite possibly as soon as this summer, we'll be worrying about deficits, not surpluses." Above excerpt is from an article, " Guns and Bitterness" in column, RECKONINGS which was published in The New York Times on February 4, 2001 By PAUL KRUGMAN nytimes.com ..............................................************************..................................................... An excerpt from a New York Times* editorial about the surplus, tax cuts and how they will benefit wealthy Americans. " Democrats, while remaining open to cooperation, must not let Mr. Bush's charm offensive create an aura of legislative inevitability around his excessive tax cut. New estimates by the Congressional Budget Office put the 10-year surplus at $5.6 trillion, but that means only $2.7 trillion is really available if you assume, as most in Congress do, that the Medicare and Social Security surpluses are off- limits As Democrats pointed out last week, the true cost of Mr. Bush's proposed tax cut plan is $2.3 trillion, and that does not count the inevitable add- ons for the corporate sector that are almost certain to be included in a final bill. No matter how agreeably he behaves, Mr. Bush simply cannot increase defense spending and education aid — and also privatize Social Security — without throwing the budget back toward the huge deficits created by the Reagan tax cuts. In the palmy atmosphere he has created in Washington, it is probably hard for him to realize that the tax cut and budget issues could determine the success of his presidency. As Representative Richard Gephardt, the House Democratic leader, pointed out to Mr. Bush in their meeting last week, both the president's father and Mr. Clinton had to raise taxes to close that deficit, and they paid for it dearly. The biggest mistake Mr. Bush could make is for him to talk bipartisanship and then try to pick off conservative Democrats to push through a tax cut that gives 43 percent of the benefits to the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers". This editorial was published on Feburary 4, 2001 nytimes.com