"Don't make me do 'something' about it... You Don't Want to Go There"

Along with unemployment hitting a 2-year high of 5%, the credit crunch and the housing slump are all indicators a recession is a near certainty we are told regardless if President Bush does anything about it.

“Jobless rate up as Bush considers rescue plan” was the headline in yesterday’s U-T and it struck panic in our hearts as we envisioned Bush doing something retarded like opening up the Federal oil reserves or similar.

Congressional leaders like Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) certainly think something needs to be done… Frank: “… public policy response is needed to help the economy recover more quickly.” Some impressive Socialist wonk-speak, there.

And Chucky: “If there were ever a shot across the bow to this administration to get off its laissez-faire boat and start helping the economy, this is it.” What… no further lame analogies like “bailing water out the boat” or the “sinking boat” or “a faster-paddling public policy response”…? So many gems left at the ummm… pier.

For his part Bush, is considering a recovery package, the center-piece of which will be…. You got it… Tax cuts! This is so great. The silver lining in this economic downturn is there is now an economic situation by which to put Congress on the spot… a Congress that has already effectively raised our taxes by refusing to extend the Bush tax cuts of ’01 and ‘03 that are set to expire starting within the next calendar year.

As with us, Bush believes tax cuts are the right thing to do but as with us also, we imagine Bush relishing a fight with Congress…. Afterall, they are demanding he do “something”, so here it is. What say ye, Congress?

We look forward to seeing how this will play out, especially with respect to its impact on the Presidential races.

Thanks to B-Daddy for simultaneously posting while we were at Tequila Club AND quelling a near-riot situation at his house last night.

You're Just not Feeling Enough of His Pain.

As alluded to in the previous post, it frustrates us to no end, that it takes the Democrats to define what the Republicans should be standing for. David Obey (D – Wisconsin) chairman of the House Appropriations Committee is tired of getting jerked around by the Administration and the Republicans over the war in Iraq…. and he’s not going to take it anymore! Obey (a perfect name for a liberal, we believe) thinks that you should be paying for the war… well, since we already are, perhaps he is thinking that we should be paying for even more of it via a surtax. Read about it here.

And it must've have taken all the earthly and divine powers that could be summoned for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to fight their Pavlovian impulses to raise taxes by steering clear of this sure loser. For their part, they are not down with this plan… even if it meant taxing the rich.

But here is the depressing part. White House spokeswoman (spokeswoman? Will Bush get any credit for this - another first in the most minority-friendly Administration in history? Yeah, you’re right, probably not) had this to say about the surtax:

"On this idea of raising taxes on the American people right now to fund a war, well, does that sunset? Do they wait for Al Qaeda to wave a white flag and then those taxes are going to go away? Does anyone seriously believe that the Democrats are going to end these new taxes that they're asking the American people to pay at a time when it's not necessary to pay them? I just think it's completely fiscally irresponsible, and the president won't go along with it,"

She’s right by the way, and the “sunset” term she used is in reference to the Bush tax cuts that have an expiration date or a sunset. We want to turn this question back around on the Bush Administration and the Republican lawmakers… “Yeah, what about those tax cuts that will soon expire? What about those tax cuts that as much as any other factor lifted us out of the 'worst economy since the Great Depression' in the wake of the dot.com bubble burst, the accounting scandals and 9-11?”

Tax cuts: More money in your pockets and less money in the government’s. This is a good thing. No, really. It is. Trust us on this one.

We’re fully cognizant of the fact that the Republicans through their own ineptness don’t have control of either House so initiating legislation to extend or make permanent these tax cuts is nigh impossible, but last we checked a Republican, the same Republican who authored and evangelized for these tax cuts is still in the Oval Office. So…? What say ye, President Bush?

At least he gave Social Security Reform a half-assed attempt. He was cut-off at the knees by members of his own party from the geriatric havens of Pennsylvania and West Virginia that wanted no part of it. We have yet to hear anything from his bully pulpit, though, on these tax cuts. And we don’t want to hear anything about him being a lame-duck. For crying out loud, he’s still got almost a year and a half to call-out the Democrats for their inaction on this matter because the Democrats simply doing nothing is essentially an act of commission in raising your taxes.

What is there to lose in spending these next 16 or so months, nagging and hectoring the Democrats on this issue? Nothing… besides it would be fun and informative. Make them squirm and come clean to the American public about who they really are and what their true motives are.

We ain’t holding our breath, though.

Carrying their water because they won’t….