Never in the history of the United States has a president favored the wealthy with as little shame as Bush.
Bush signed a $350 billion tax cut into law last week. Of course, he would hate to hear us call it that; the president prefers to refer to his plan as a "jobs bill" -- exactly the same name Republicans gave Bush's $1.3 trillion tax cut in 2001.
The White House claimed that cut would "help create 80,000 jobs by the end of 2002." As students looking for summer work may have noticed, things didn't work out quite that way.
Instead, the economy has remained in a perpetual nose-dive. Half a million Americans have lost their jobs in the past three months alone, according to CNN.com.
So, Bush decided to try another tax cut.
According to popular wisdom, insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.
Nevertheless, some Republicans insist the cuts will work this time, saying that the rich, many of whom own businesses, will invest their rebates in hiring more workers to produce more goods. This would provide a significant economic boost.
So why didn't it work the first time?
Because the wealthy refuse to throw their money away. Why would they spend their huge government checks to produce more goods that no one can afford to buy?
Since the tax cuts don't benefit most Americans significantly, consumers can't afford to buy any more goods after the cuts than they could before. So instead, the rich will save their rebates, and other Americans will continue searching for work.
Besides being unwise, the cuts are unfair; despite White House rhetoric, the tax cuts will benefit the wealthy vastly more than average Americans.
Under Bush's original proposal, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld would have pocketed an additional $181,000, according to the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employers. Treasury Secretary John Snow would have enjoyed a $275,000 windfall.
Other rich Americans are being taken care of too; the bill passed by the House would have awarded 67.8 percent of the total rebate to people making more than $200,000 per year. That same income group pays only 32.7 percent of the total federal taxes, according to a study by the Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Taxation.
The Senate tried to correct this bias somewhat; their version of the tax cut set aside $3.5 billion -- 1 percent of the total tax cut -- to give rebates to 12 million low-income families with children. This proposal was removed from the final bill approved by both houses; apparently, the poor must get nothing so the rich can get 1 percent more.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury is heading for disaster. According to a study the White House left out of its annual budget report, we face a future of federal budget deficits totaling $44 trillion.
At the same time, American schools, fire departments and police are in dire need of additional funding. Senior citizens can't afford prescription drugs, and middle class families are piling on debt to send their children to college.
So where does this leave us? Bush has sponsored and signed a tax-cut bill the government can't afford, and that history tells us won't promote economic growth. The only growth the president seems concerned with is in the bank accounts of the wealthy.
Write to Stephen at stevehj@mac.com
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
