more for the rich, courtesy of the house

The one thing the Washington GOP establishment is good at is passing tax cuts. The House has just passed another round of cuts totalling over $90 billion. Of course, a month ago the House passed a bill slashing $50 billion in spending as an alleged act of fiscal discipline. Huh? Is the House bipolar or something?

No -- this is quite consistent behavior. The benefits of the $90 billion tax cut will go overwhelmingly to the wealthy and upper-middle class. About $150 million of that will help our soldiers in Iraq qualify for Earned Income Credit (that shows how little we pay our troops), so the House can wave the flag and hug a veteran when describing their newest tax cuts. But the overwhelming bulk of the cuts will be to wealthy investors. The $50 billion in spending cuts will come at the expense of recipients of Medicaid, food stamps rolls, and student loans. And it will cut federal child support enforcement, making it easier for dads to be deadbeat dads. Yes, this is your family-friendly GOP in action.

From the article:

"By cutting taxes, you grow the economy, and you generate an enhanced flow of revenues to the Treasury," said Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Uh no, that is not true. It wasn't true under Reagan and it ain't true now, and no reputable economist whose paycheck isn't signed by the GOP believes that.

Also from the Post:

"Our economic policies have done the trick," said Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio). "We are in the middle of one of the strongest economies this country has ever seen."

Also not true. The de facto Bush Administration GOP crows over 200,000 jobs being created in a month. Job creation was much stronger under Clinton -- that would not have been a number to be proud of. In any case, consumer confidence and other indicators belie the alleged strength of the economy, to say nothing of the rapidly growing economic disparity in America, reaching levels normally seen in banana republics. As the article noted:

The liberal watchdog group Citizens for Tax Justice says that the richest 1 percent of Americans, with an average income of almost $1.3 million in 2009, would enjoy 53 percent of the value of the extension that year, while 78 percent would receive no benefit.

The House did all this yesterday using rules designed for non-controversial bills to ram them thru quickly. Because for Tom DeLay's House of Representatives, fleecing the middle classes and the poor to the benefit of the rich isn't controversial. It's the standard operating procedure.