Susan Yetter recalls vividly the day in March 2001 when President George W. Bush came to Western Michigan University and declared that the U.S. budget surplus "is the people's money, and we ought to trust them with their own money."
Less than three months later, on June 7, 2001, Bush signed into law a 10-year, $1.6 trillion package of tax cuts making good on that promise. It buoyed businesses and consumers at the government's expense, creating private investment and jobs but contributing to future budget deficits.
Here in southwest Michigan, the tax cuts acted as a life preserver for an area beset with business flight and job loss. Companies such as Upjohn pharmaceuticals and General Motors, along with six paper mills, fled town at the end of the past century. But in the past seven years, about 40 start-ups have sprouted.
"I just don't think they would have existed otherwise," says Ron Kitchens, chief executive officer of Southwest Michigan First, the local economic development agency.
For nearly a decade, the Bush tax cuts — including a second, $350 billion dose in 2003 — have fueled debate in Washington about the proper role of government. Should it give money back to taxpayers at all income levels to spur economic growth, at the risk of reducing programs serving the poor and middle class? Should it deny revenue to a government that's nearly $14 trillion in debt? Should it reward today's taxpayers at the possible expense of future generations?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-12-05-1ataxcuts_N.htm?loc=interstitialskipThe skids are being greased, get ready for a sellout kiddies.
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