Friday, September 24, 2004
Dishonesty as Policy
Last night Congress passed a fabulously dishonest bill extending $146 billion in middle-class tax cuts. Because the bill included no program cuts or revenue enhancements, what the bill does, in essence, is add another $146 billion to some future tab that somebody someday is going to have to pay. (It's as if Congress said, "But screw them, whoever they are. If they don't like it, let them get in a time machine and come back to kick our asses.") The reason the extension needed to be passed at all is that in order to get the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts passed in the first place, the Republican majority in Congress agreed to let some of them expire relatively quickly. The action kept the bottom-line number from being too high at the time of passage, thus bringing Republican moderates and Democrats on board. The leadership did this knowing full well they'd go for a renewal of the cuts at some future point--and the future point happened to be with less than 40 days to go until an election. Thus the package passed by wide, bipartisan margins, even though there's not a red cent in the till to pay for them, because no Democrat wanted to go home and campaign for reelection having failed to "protect the middle class."
Some country we got here. But we're working on it. You might want to head over to Howard Dean's organization, Democracy for America, and throw a vote to your favorite progressive candidate for the Senate. The candidate receiving the most votes will be the beneficiary of a special e-mail campaign by the DFA organization--and perhaps a bit of the ol' Deaniac fundraising magic. It can be somebody in your state, or somebody else if you like them better.
Happy Days: Ask a woman to name the happiest day of her life and she can generally do it--especially if she's married. Ask a guy and he's likely to shrug his shoulders and say he would have to think about it. Not me. Today is the 20th anniversary of the happiest day of my life. On this night in 1984, the Chicago Cubs won their first pennant since 1945 by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates and wrapping up the National League Eastern Division championship. Yeah, they would lose in painful fashion later on in the playoffs to the San Diego Padres, but on this night, that was yet to come. The Cubs weren't supposed to be contenders in 1984, but a late March trade brought veterans Gary Matthews and Bob Dernier to the team, and a summer deal brought in pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, who was as dominant for the Cubs in 84--going 16-and-1 after coming to town--as any athlete has ever been in any sport. Ryne Sandberg had an MVP year, Harry Caray was in top form in the broadcast booth, and the result was the best summer ever to be a Cubs fan. The Cubs have been back to the playoffs, my beloved Packers have won a Super Bowl, and my Wisconsin football Badgers have won three Rose Bowls since the '84 Cubs shocked the world, but the day they did it remains the happiest day of my life.
New on The Hits Just Keep On Comin': Sheena Is a Girl We Never Met.
Last night Congress passed a fabulously dishonest bill extending $146 billion in middle-class tax cuts. Because the bill included no program cuts or revenue enhancements, what the bill does, in essence, is add another $146 billion to some future tab that somebody someday is going to have to pay. (It's as if Congress said, "But screw them, whoever they are. If they don't like it, let them get in a time machine and come back to kick our asses.") The reason the extension needed to be passed at all is that in order to get the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts passed in the first place, the Republican majority in Congress agreed to let some of them expire relatively quickly. The action kept the bottom-line number from being too high at the time of passage, thus bringing Republican moderates and Democrats on board. The leadership did this knowing full well they'd go for a renewal of the cuts at some future point--and the future point happened to be with less than 40 days to go until an election. Thus the package passed by wide, bipartisan margins, even though there's not a red cent in the till to pay for them, because no Democrat wanted to go home and campaign for reelection having failed to "protect the middle class."
Some country we got here. But we're working on it. You might want to head over to Howard Dean's organization, Democracy for America, and throw a vote to your favorite progressive candidate for the Senate. The candidate receiving the most votes will be the beneficiary of a special e-mail campaign by the DFA organization--and perhaps a bit of the ol' Deaniac fundraising magic. It can be somebody in your state, or somebody else if you like them better.
Happy Days: Ask a woman to name the happiest day of her life and she can generally do it--especially if she's married. Ask a guy and he's likely to shrug his shoulders and say he would have to think about it. Not me. Today is the 20th anniversary of the happiest day of my life. On this night in 1984, the Chicago Cubs won their first pennant since 1945 by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates and wrapping up the National League Eastern Division championship. Yeah, they would lose in painful fashion later on in the playoffs to the San Diego Padres, but on this night, that was yet to come. The Cubs weren't supposed to be contenders in 1984, but a late March trade brought veterans Gary Matthews and Bob Dernier to the team, and a summer deal brought in pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, who was as dominant for the Cubs in 84--going 16-and-1 after coming to town--as any athlete has ever been in any sport. Ryne Sandberg had an MVP year, Harry Caray was in top form in the broadcast booth, and the result was the best summer ever to be a Cubs fan. The Cubs have been back to the playoffs, my beloved Packers have won a Super Bowl, and my Wisconsin football Badgers have won three Rose Bowls since the '84 Cubs shocked the world, but the day they did it remains the happiest day of my life.
New on The Hits Just Keep On Comin': Sheena Is a Girl We Never Met.
