Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 39, Issue 8


Volume 39, Issue 8. Today is .

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Volume 39, Issue 8
January 15, 2002

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Tax cuts taxing to Americans
BY Justin Lambright
Mesa Legend

In a time when every American is concerned about the psuedo War in Afghanistan, it is easy for real politics to go about its evil bidding with little or no notice from the American public.

Remember the controversial tax cuts Bush made shortly after becoming the leader of the free world?

That’s right, tax cuts. Those $7 checks you almost didn’t cash until you were tight on cash one week and needed a pack of cigarettes and some Burger King. . . now, do you remember the tax cuts?

The bills that Bush pushed through Congress were not friendly for those of us getting the $7 checks. The tax cuts greatly benefited large corporations and the most affluent individuals. The largest checks cut to us normal folk were somewhere around $600.

The stupidity of this tax cut is so profound that it started to run the economy into the ground in less than one year.

Bush, who is about as quick with his wit as an armadillo in a tar pit, says that the effects aren’t showing positive results because he warned us (the American public) that should the United States be in a war, a recession, or a state of national emergency, the positive effects would be delayed. Lucky for him, we are in all three.

Calling the action in Afghanistan a "war on terrorism," the "threat" of further terrorist attacks a "national emergency," and calling our recession a recession (his 0.333 average is better than some baseball players’ batting averages) he has the perfect scapegoat to take the blame off his own shoulders.

The fact of the matter is that Bush’s tax cuts were a blindly stupid decision on his part so that he could gain quick popularity in the eyes of the American public. Essentially, they were bribes.

"Vote for me and I’ll cut two things, taxes, then a check to you," Bush should have said instead of whatever rigmarole he dribbled past his lips during the debates.

I’ve stated it before and I stand by my statements - Bush the Second is a bad president. He is a terrible leader who is riding on the coattails of his father.

I’m sorry if I’m sounding bitter, which, trust me, I’m not. But if my father’s name was used in Japan as a synonym for vomiting, I don’t think I’d want to be just like him.

Bush the Elder was only slightly better than Reagan, and for those of you who are of average college age, Reagan was president back when A Flock Of Seagulls was considered "cool." (Talk about a state of national emergency.) Reagan was also the guy responsible for making ketchup a vegetable in school lunches. And he was immensely popular.

Scary

And now we have Bush II running the country.

Scary

Bush II is not the sharpest cookie in the crayon box. Plain and simple.

He was given an oil company to manage in Texas. He ran it into the ground.

Now we hand him our country? Our home is his company. And you don’t expect him to run that into the ground?

I don’t know who is less intelligent... the village idiot, or those who vote for the village idiot.

I don’t want my statements to get misconstrued (as they often are) so I will elaborate: I don’t like paying taxes in the first place but I have no choice. I pay a lot of taxes. Everything I buy I pay taxes on. Sales tax, sin tax, income tax. I do not like them Sam I Am, but I have no choice. And when my livelihood depends on the economy, I understand that regardless of whether or not I like them, taxes are good.

Taxes are what balance the national economy, the budget all the talking heads on ABC News and CSPAN drone on and on about come tax time. That’s good.

I can balance a budget. You (hopefully) can balance a budget. It’s not that difficult.

But when you take a voluntary paycut at work, then two weeks after the paycut takes effect, you move into a nicer apartment that is 25 percent more expensive rent and upgrade from basic cable to digital cable, then go to Liquid Carma and get three piercings all before your next paycheck. Things will be amiss.

If he can run an oil company into the ground, he can run the richest country in the world into the ground.

And we, as a nation, voted for him.

Scary.

Justin Lambright is Opinions Editor for the Mesa Legend and a Journalism major at MCC