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Letters to the Editors

From: Analyst
Subject: Just Point Your Finger and Laugh

Recently, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) said "We will fight for tax relief for working Americans"

REALLY?

Then why have the Republicans proposed:

• Lowering the top income tax bracket down from 39.6% for those with incomes above $250,000
• Reducing the capital-gains tax rate on stocks from 20 percent to 10 percent, even though a recent Federal Reserve report stated that 60% of American households own NO stocks, either directly, or indirectly through their pension accounts, and only a small percentage of the other 40% have significant stock holdings outside of their pension accounts
• Eliminating the estate or "death" tax, even though only 1.7% of estates pay any tax annually, and eliminating it would allow vast fortunes of accrued capital gains income to go untaxed
• Abolishing the alternative minimum tax, even though that would allow large numbers of extremely wealthy families to pay NO TAX whatsoever
• Cutting corporate taxes, even though corporate profits are at a 45 year high, and corporate income tax revenues, which accounted for 33% of the federal government's general fund collections more than 5 decades ago, account for only 15% of the federal government's general fund collections today
• Eliminating the so-called "Marriage Penalty", despite the fact that the overwhelming number of married couples actually receive a tax preference because they pay less tax than if they were single and filing separately. Even the minority of affected dual high-income couples who do pay more tax because they are married, already have the available option to claim "Married but filing separately"

Should Americans trust the judgment of the right wing concerning tax and economic policy?

Well, let's check their track record. After President Clinton's economic and budget-reduction package became law in 1993, notwithstanding that every Republican in the House and Senate voted AGAINST it, this is some of what those from the Right had to say:

• Stephen Moore, director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute , predicted that "Clinton's plan will torpedo the economy".
• "The tax increase will kill jobs and lead to a recession" said Newt Gingrich, "and the recession will force people off of work and onto unemployment and will actually increase the deficit."
• Sen. Phil "Mah Momma" Gramm (R-TX), an alleged economist, said "I want to predict here tonight, that if we adopt this bill the American economy is going to get weaker and not stronger, the deficit four years from today will be higher than it is today and not lower... When all is said and done, people will pay more taxes, the economy will create fewer jobs, the government will spend more money, and the American people will be worse off."
• Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), another self-proclaimed economist, labeled the Clinton economic plan "a job killer".
• Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), said "April Fool, America. This Clinton budget plan will not create jobs, will not grow the economy, and will not reduce the deficit."
• Another strident opponent of the President's economic proposals was Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), who said "This plan will not work…. If it was to work, then I'd have to become a Democrat..."

Contrary to right wing predictions, the economy grew much faster, tax revenues skyrocketed, the deficits shrank precipitously, business investment exploded, home ownership increased to an all-time high, employment rose to record levels, and unemployment fell to historic lows. The economic projections of the Clinton administration's OMB have been incredibly accurate, in each of the past 7 years -- more accurate than the CBO, and even more accurate than the blue-chip private sector projections!

President Clinton drove a stake through the heart of Reaganomics, and the right wing is hapless and incapable of providing an explanation for these remarkable results!

Now the Republicans are claiming that the President's Medicare Prescription Coverage proposal is too expensive!

Gee folks, did the Republicans consider for one moment that their proposal to cut the capital gains tax may be too expensive? Or that their proposal to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires may be too expensive? The Chairman of the Federal Reserve is already complaining that the national economy is overheated, and that large tax cuts would require even higher interest rates!

The lesson has been learned (by everyone except the right) is that tax cuts are not the panacea they are purported to be. The large deficit reduction accomplished by President Clinton and the Democrat Majority 103rd Congress -- and the resulting subsequent reduction in interest rates which has produced widespread loan refinancing -- has put far more money back into the pockets of the typical American family than ANY tax cut that has ever been proposed by the Republicans.

 So the next time you hear the Republicans make their waacky economic assertions, don't waste your breathe arguing with them or attempting to point out how perpetually wrong they have been in the past.

Instead -- just point your finger, and laugh!

Can you guys arrange to have Steve Forbes asked the following question:

If a man can afford to spend several million dollars of his own money on a futile presidential race, how can he possibly be in need of a tax break?

I know that if I could afford to act like Don Quixote to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, I would feel squeamish while I demanded a tax relief.

Also, I would like to point out that Wall Street is very happy if investors stand to make lots of money. The idea of the average employee possibly getting a pay raise scares the bejeesus out of them.  What do they think those poor working slobs are going to do with the extra money, spend it on European vacations or expensive foreign sports cars?  Maybe they would spend it on a multimillion dollar apartment in Manhattan?

Give me a break. Should the only standard of living that is rising be that of the already rich?

I've been really thinking about the hatred and bigotry so rampant in our beloved country.

After much contemplation, one thought kept creeping into my consciousness: "yin yang," the Chinese term for balance.  For every good there is an evil.  Of course that's a very simplified explanation, but in the interest of brevity, I'll leave that explanation there.

We have heard many ask why the Country seems to be declining into a swill of hatred. It hit me tonight -- if there seems to be a great swelling of vile hatred permeating our Country, could it be because as a nation we're moving towards more enlightenment? Think about the progress that we've made in the past 30 years. Go a step further and think of how much better off we are now compared with 6 years ago. With that great accomplishment of good and brotherhood, could it be that the amount of evil that we are becoming aware of be an indication of the huge transformation that this country has made?  If that is so, if we spend as much time (or more) concentrating on the good, then does evil fade?

We all have learned from the events of the past 2 years that when we as a nation stand together to make a difference, great things happen. When we stand up for good, evil may rear its ugly head  -- but in the end it is defeated when we stand together as one, refusing to be alienated from one another by allowing ourselves to be divided into many infighting groups.  Instead, we stand up as one group - "one nation, under G-D, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all."

Copyright © 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, American Politics Journal Publications.
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ISSN No. 1523-1690