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Of Tax Cuts and
Cheese Doodles
March 27,
2001
By Donna McCray
I am confused by Bush’s approach to pitching his $1.6 trillion
tax cut for the rich. During the campaign, he said the country’s
unprecedented economic growth and the expected humongous surpluses
made his tax cut more than reasonable. Next, it was the opposite.
Because we are on “the front edge of a recession,” the tax
cut is vital as an economic stimulus. Then, stories about
alarming consumer debt levels hit the press so Bush said we
need his tax cut to pay down our credit cards.
Here’s my question: if it suddenly became known that Americans
have stopped buying Cheese Doodles, would Bush use this as
justification for his tax cut on the grounds that hard working
people have a right to buy junk food? One can safely assume
it would make sense to whoever is plotting Bush’s tax cut
sales routine.
Everybody knows that Bush’s tax cut is designed to help him
(a) best Reagan’s efforts to dismantle the federal government,
and (b) pay back the corporate executives who financed his
installation. Why doesn’t he just say so and be done with
it?
But this tax cut two-stepping is different from the regime’s
usual nonsensical game playing. In fact, it indicates something
extremely frightening. The sequence of Bush’s tax cut excuses
actually reflect what’s going on in the country, they're connected
to reality, if ambivalently. And this can only mean one thing:
Someone in the White House compound is getting their news
from someplace other than Fox. This is a matter of grave concern.
I’m not saying there are a whole bunch of credible news sources
in our nation. Our “news” media is a corporate-owned right-wing
disgrace. But Fox is special because it’s the very worst and
it’s the junta’s very favorite. Think about it – of all the
rotten news outlets in the US, we want the coup crew
getting every bit of its news from Rupy Murdoch’s waste of
channel space.
The longer the junta watches Fox, the farther away they get
from real Americans, most of whom have no time or inclination
to watch a bunch of rabid right lunatics spewing and raving
about things that don’t mean much in their lives. And if people
do have down time, there are too many other channels offering
better entertainment options.
I have no doubt that Fox is euphorically pitching Bush’s
tax cut for the rich as the best thing to happen to this country
since Reagan chose James Watt as Interior Secretary. But I
am afraid that the general public’s skepticism is seeping
into coverage by other so-called news outlets because of the
negotiating going on in the Senate. Seems Bush ain’t gettin’
$1.6 trillion so fast. And he ain’t gettin’ sich a blatant
weighting toward the rich so fast, either. So, just days ago,
Bush started backing off his adamant stand – we aren’t hearing
his “$1.6 trillion is exactly right” mantra anymore.
This is a shame. It would have been so exciting, so gratifying,
so thrilling if Bush kept insisting on $1.6 trillion and then
gotten his bacon burned by the Senate. Oh well. No doubt Fox
will bring down whatever informative quality may remain at
the other corporate-owned "news" outfits. And we on the left
better get about our business - gearing up to deny Bush’s
inevitable claim that the tax cut is a victory for him, much
less for average Americans. The few hundred bucks we average
Americans will see from this tax cut might not be enough to
pay down our credit cards, but it’ll help keep us in Cheese
Doodles.
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