The GOP's fiscal policies turned a natural disaster

into a man-made catastrophe
By Jason Leopold
Online Journal Contributing Writer
September 24, 2005—Republicans like to brag that, as a political party, they
are more fiscally responsible than their Democratic counterparts. Well,
thanks to President Bush's nearly five years in office that theory can now
take up residence in the urban legend department.

If anything, Bush's tenure as president proves that the Republican tax cuts
(which everyone knows truly benefits the wealthiest one percent), drastically
slashing funds in the federal budget for much needed improvements to the
country's aging infrastructure (a perfect example being the outdated power
grid), and trying to get away with launching wars on the cheap, have cost
taxpayers and their unborn grandchildren more money than anyone could
have ever imagined.

Simply put, since he became president, Bush has not invested the funds to
fix the cracks in the country's infrastructure, despite repeated warnings from
experts and intense lobbying efforts by state officials that ignoring the
problem will make it worse in the long run. Instead, the president pumped
tens of billions of dollars into an unnecessary war that, when it became
evident that attaining victory was tougher than the war planners imagined,
required tens of billions of dollars more just to continue the fighting.

Only when devastation and catastrophe struck the nation did the federal
government cough up the funds, but by then there wasn't much of choice and
as such a $1 billion restoration project before a devastating hurricane
touched down on the Gulf Coast has turned into a $200 billion reconstruction
effort and has now saddled taxpayers with economic woes that no tax cut
can relieve.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/092405Leopold/092405leopold.html

dp

Bush has been an anchor on Americas neck....

all reporters had to do was their f***ing jobs and this clown could never have been installed into the White House

She warned us this man is a FRAUD but the Sheep still went for the dude... Could happen only if enough are brainwashed....so it went...

back in 2000 I kept hearing, "Sure bush is not that smart but he is surrounded by good people." :puke:

He couldn't even pick um right.......

more years, four more years.

oddly enough, the bush extravaganza couldn't happen to a more deserving people (see diane ibbottson bush spokewoman, john gibson of foxnews and les blitzer of cnnt etc...) then the american people, but....but.....but...
there's a old wornout theoretical chestnut from the conspiracy files that says that the post 'new left' leftwingers ie william kristol, norquist, harowitz, the goldbergs, richard perle, wolfowitz (?) etc saw an opening in the republican party back about goldwater's time and thought that there's more then one way to skin a cat (and make israel the strongest military power in the mid east at the same time) using the racism and denseness of the mass of rightwingers ...can anyone seriously consider ronald reagan as usa president w/out relentless pigmedia backing? and now junior bush! omfg....excuse my english

The current administration -- belatedly awaking to the reality that the government has obligations to Americans, too -- is seeking $200 billion in budget cuts to contribute to the Katrina relief effort. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) already has rejected the repeal of 6,000 pet projects (e.g. pork) worth $24 billion. Included among them is a $500 million Hastert-sponsored transportation project to widen roads in his suburban Chicago district and to fund a bicycle path and a sidewalk.

Such misplaced priorities are not surprising. For the current administration, the real tragedy of Katrina was not the staggering loss of life or the creation of tens of thousands of American "refugees" -- it was the interference with the Congressional agenda. The week Katrina hit, the Senate was to consider legislation to make repeal of the estate tax permanent. The measure (H.R. 8) already passed the House on April 13, 2005.

Remarkably, however, "omplete repeal of the estate tax would reduce federal revenues by $290 billion over the first five years, according to one of Congress's most conservative estimates."

"The estate tax, the most progressive American tax, is paid only by the very wealthy. The top 5% of taxpayers pay almost 99% of estate taxes, and the top tenth of 1% of taxpayers pay more than 33%. The vast majority of Americans are already exempt from the estate tax. As a result, they will receive no benefit at all from making the repeal permanent."

So why do republicans continue to insist on the repeal of a tax that affects just 5% of the most wealthy members of society and generates 33% more revenue than is being sought for the Katrina relief effort?

Greed.

According to the Fact Sheet issued by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Ca), the President, Vice President, and the Cabinet are estimated to receive a total tax benefit of between $91 million and $344 million if the estate tax repeal is made permanent.

W, whose estimated worth is between $3 million and $12.9 million, will save between $787,193 and $6.2 million. Cheney, whose estimated worth is between $23.9 million and $111.3 million (ticker symbol: HAL), will save between $12.6 million and $60.7 million.

To be fair, the current administration is showing some concern for those whose lives were destroyed by Katrina. The conservative Heritage Foundation, which has been helping Karl Rove develop the administration's recovery plan, wants to exempt from the estate tax anyone killed by Katrina with a net worth of $1.5 million or more. Not surprisingly, so far they haven't been able to find anyone who fits that description...

http://happyfriday2008.blogspot.com/