I heard this great
NPR report this morning about the 2001 Bush tax cut legacy 10 years later.
Maya MacGuineas, who heads the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, says within a year of that 2001 tax cut, the federal government was back to borrowing money, and it's been running in the red ever since.
"This is one of those 'you can't count your chickens before they've hatched' moments," MacGuineas says.
To be sure, the tax cut wasn't the only blow to the government's bottom line. The recession took a toll, and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, there were new expenses for homeland security and fighting Al-Qaida. Instead of paying more to cover these costs, Americans were paying less.
Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center says wealthy families saw the biggest jump in their take-home pay, but everyone who paid income taxes got a break.
"Everybody got something," he says, "because one of the things the 2001 act did was create a 10 percent tax bracket, which lowered taxes even for people at the bottom of distribution. It doubled the child tax credit from $500 to $1000, so for families with children, it was a big boon."
Good for families with children. Not so good for the government's coffers.
Conservatives often promote tax cuts as a way to stimulate economic growth, but the years after 2001 were marked by the slowest growth since World War II.
10 years later, with the Republicans controlling the body of Congress (the House) that initiates fiscal legislation, NPR has been the majority party's targets for budget cuts! Can you imagine this kind of reporting that points out the sad truth about the Bush disastrous economic policy in any of the corporate media? Hell no! The MSNBC shows (
including Cenk's) did legacy reports, but not
NBC Nightly News. Nothing on ABC or CBS either...the networks had to focus on Anthony Weiner's perversions and Sarah Palin's narcissism.