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May 23, 2013
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 The Budget Speaks Louder Than PanderingPosted on Feb 6, 2007By Marie Cocco Although President Bush recently feigned interest in income inequality and the deficit, his whopper of a budget makes it clear that his heart is still with his base: the haves and the have-mores. WASHINGTON—Somebody should get the president back into his white tie and tails. It’s always a kick when President Bush goes to New York City, where the man from Crawford can sometimes look as out of place as he does on those rare occasions when he visits his family’s summer home in Kennebunkport. Last week Bush showed up on Wall Street, where year-end bonuses totaled an estimated $23.9 billion—up 17 percent from 2005, according to the New York state comptroller’s office—and the average payout topped $137,580. For the first time, Bush uttered two words—“income inequality”—that are the hallmarks of our economic era. The assembled movers and shakers fell as silent as a Southampton sidewalk in February. But not to worry. On Monday, Bush proposed a federal budget for the coming year that preserves his cherished tax cuts—the ones that help keep Wall Streeters’ wallets as pumped up as their egos—while hacking away at healthcare and other safety-net spending for the poorest citizens, including and especially poor children. Advertisement And the president took pains to point out that income inequality just isn’t his fault. Broad economic trends such as globalization and technological change that began more than three decades ago are the culprits. Which is true, to a point. But that is the point where the white tie and tails come in. Think back to the 2000 presidential campaign, when candidate Bush ventured to New York for the annual Alfred E. Smith charity dinner and political roast and seemed entirely at home. “This is an impressive crowd—the haves and the have-mores,” said the candidate, resplendent in his white tie. “Some people call you the elite; I call you my base.’’ Now, after six years of the Bush presidency, if there is one thing we know for certain it is that Bush governs on behalf of his political base. Usually this is commented upon only when he uses the power of the White House to pander to Christian conservatives, as he did in vetoing legislation on stem cell research, or wholeheartedly joining in the bizarre spectacle of the Terri Schiavo case. But there has been no greater pander than the one Bush has delivered to the have-mores: the tax cuts that, by any measure, have lavished far more benefits on the wealthy than on Americans of average means. One of the more rigorous analyses of the tax cuts’ effect, by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, shows that they’ll raise the after-tax income of those with incomes of $1 million or more by 6 percent this year. That’s nearly three times the gain in after-tax income to be felt by those roughly in the middle of the income spectrum. Looked at another way, people at the top are to get a tax cut worth $119,517 in 2007—while those in the middle are to receive about $1,163. It’s awfully hard to imagine something less likely to reduce income inequality than a tax policy that consciously and consistently bestows its greatest rewards on those at the top. This is especially true now that Bush has discovered another cause he has heretofore ignored, reducing the deficit. In order to preserve all his tax cuts and extend them in perpetuity, finance two wars and boost Pentagon spending to levels Ronald Reagan could only dream about, Bush’s budget envisions slashing what’s left. That is, domestic programs in general and health insurance in particular—especially Medicare and Medicaid, on which the elderly and the poor rely. Bush often gives lip service to public concerns—remember when he declared last year that America is addicted to oil?—then abandons the topic as suddenly as he brought it up. Now he has acknowledged “income inequality.” And he’s given us a budget of the sort he always promised: It is written by, and for, the men in white tie and tails. Marie Cocco’s e-mail address is mariecocco(at symbol)washpost.com. Copyright 2007, Washington Post Writers Group  TAGS:
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By DennisD, February 6, 2007 at 9:11 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Bu$h should have just given the Gorden Gecko speech and cut to the chase. Wall St. was truly LOL.
Report thisBy Bert, February 6, 2007 at 9:00 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Bush wants to continue the war. Big surprise, there. Congress, at least in theory, has the capacity to shut the lights off on the war machine, but it remains to be seen if they’ve got the collective unity of purpose and moral willpower to get the job done. I think the pro-war advocates are betting against that outcome…
Report thisBy TAO Walker, February 6, 2007 at 6:45 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Welcome, allAmericans, to the world o’ hurt you have up to now profited so much in by inflicting it first on others. You’re home-grown economic predator class has finally found their easiest pickings right here in “the homeland,” and they’re pretty sure the thoroughly cowed populace here, addicted to entertainment and in-the-hole way over their heads, will go mostly meekly into both the meat-grinder of perpetual war and the crock-pot of permanent wage/debt slavery.
The last thing thing they expect you all to do is to voluntarily make the very real material sacrifices and basic attitudinal changes that offer you a chance of breaking free of the institutionalized degradation that has already seriously undermined your humanity and is intended to obliterate it altogether. The only hope for the 99% of you who qualify as “ordinary people” is to let go of your crazy illusions of individual self-sufficiency and devote your lives to helping not your own silly doomed selves, but rather one another.
This ol’ Indian has said it before, but maybe this latest lien your wannabe owners have taken out against your and your great grandchildren’s very lives will open up your ears and eyes a little. The bait IS the trap!
HokaHey!
Report thisBy Dale Headley, February 6, 2007 at 6:09 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
What George Bush’s cynical budget does - is intended to do, in fact - is finance tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the elderly, the poor, and much of the middle class. So what else is new?
Report thisBy Sharkie, February 6, 2007 at 4:48 pm Link to this comment
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Our democratically controlled congress should allow Bush his $2.9 trillion budget, permanent tax cuts and all, with one logical condition. He should for once be made to pay for his tax cuts and war by across the board spending cuts in the current budget. This will produce two much needed results. The first one would enable todays adults to begin paying for the policy mistakes of an administration they have twice elected. Rather than simply charging up the national credit card and letting the grandchildren we hold in such high esteem pay it off, we could accept full responsibility today for continued policy blunders. This inevitably would shine a bright light on war profiteering and waste. Second, pay as you go would make an entire nation pay more attention to their elected leaders. Real sacrifice at home during a war of choice would make re-election campaigns endure a rigorous vetting process unseen today. The truth about growing any government 35% and adding $3 trillion to its national debt is real and immediate consequences that are non-existent today.
Report thisLet the democrats preside over a much postponed economic contraction that surely will follow a past-due bill made immediately payable. And to America who finds itself fully loaded with all the niceties and consumer driven consumption ever experienced by a single war starved nation, we can begin to experience the full responsibility of our leaders actions versus letting the next generation inherit it. Those who have felt shame will be uplifted.
By dick, February 6, 2007 at 3:42 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The war on Iran will require much. It will be paid for by future generations. Meanwhile the power elite get richer and richer through war profitering. Needed services and benefits for those who would be the most worthy recipients will not be met. The squeeze is going to get worse.
Report thisBy GW=MCHammered, February 6, 2007 at 10:45 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Working life in America is a scam:
the red/white/blue conditioning holds and our submissive denial rules. But make no mistake about it, Bush is NOT the Devil here. He IS only the Devil’s whore. So until the tart’s influence is worn, we shall follow the rule in all probability heard in the White House:
“Shut up and go to work like you’re told to Doormats!”
Report thisBy George S Semsel, February 6, 2007 at 6:57 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Marie’s observations of the Bush budget study is correct. There’s nothing new about his stealing from the poor to feed the rich. The problem is that the Democrats, those we so eagerly elected expecting them to act on our behalf, have already made clear they will do nothing about it, or anything else, for that matter. Our votes have been wasted on a sorry, inept, bunch of whimps.
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