Political Jackass

The Republican Road to Recovery must be some kind of sick joke. It includes a huge tax cut for the wealthy, reducing their taxes another 10% from what it is now, which had already been reduced 5% by Bush. Do these people not realize the tax cuts didn’t work during the past 8 years. What makes them think they will work this time? Especially such a drastic cut.

House Republican leaders called a press conference Thursday to unveil their “alternative budget.” While it was thin on specifics, it does include one major policy proposal: a huge tax cut for the wealthy.

Under the Republican plan, the top marginal tax rate would be slashed from 35 to 25 percent, facilitating a dramatic transfer of wealth up the economic scale. Anyone making more than a $100,000 would pay the top rate; those under would pay 10 percent. Source

How will the country run without all this tax revenue? Do the Republicans really want to see America crumble? It appears so.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the country can’t afford $3.3 trillion of tax cuts proposed by Republican presidential nominee John McCain without corresponding spending reductions.

Greenspan, a lifelong Republican and longtime friend of McCain, said today on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt” that “I’m not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money.”

McCain has said he would balance the cost of most of his tax cuts with budget reductions, while providing few details beyond eliminating earmarks and other pork-barrel spending, which have totaled about $171 billion since 2001. Democratic nominee Barack Obama is proposing fewer tax cuts and more ambitious spending programs.

Greenspan said he has “mixed feelings” about a second government economic-stimulus bill after the U.S. provided a $168 billion package in February. While such an action may increase the budget deficit at a time when spending on retirees’ medical benefits is about to cause “big” financial problems, it may also boost economic growth, he said.

Greenspan has said there’s at least a 50 percent chance the U.S. economy will slide into a recession.

“There is no infinite piggy bank here,” Greenspan said today. It’s “far more important” to use federal resources, if necessary, to shore up the financial system and end the credit crisis, as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson did in taking over mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, averting a possible run on the system, Greenspan said.  Read more

John McCain continues his streak of spreading lies by producing a new commercial criticizing Obama’s tax plan. FactCheck.org, an independent organization that investigates claims from both sides, finds that the ad by McCain is completely misleading and flat out lies. Don’t be fooled by McCain’s ad. Unless you are rich, you will not be seeing a great tax cut. Under Obama’s plan, you can expect a bigger tax cut if you are in the middle class, which most of America is. Most of McCain’s tax cuts go to the richest of the rich. We’ve seen what happens when this happens, just look at the last 8 years. Do we really want 4 more like this? Check out Fact Check’s findings on the ad here.

You can also check out this website to see a great side-by-side comparison of the tax proposals. As you can see, the tax cuts proposed by Obama favor the majority of citizens. Most of his tax cuts go to the groups that represent 60% of the American people. Mr. McCain’s, however, go to the wealthiest Americans. Trickle down does not work!