Pass the bullshit detector along with the Payroll Tax 'holiday'?

The GOP deficit hawks are at it again. Declaring that the country will be plunged into an economic dark age if we “DON’T STOP THE SPENDING, AND STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”, but right out the gate, they’re hunky-dory with adding $120 billion to the national debt in a mis-guided attempt at economic stimulus using the payroll tax mechanism.

H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y ?

The only part of this thing that makes any sense - and it’s far outweighed by the uh, very stinky downsides - is that the accounting would be easier. As in ‘smoke and mirrors’ accounting. The way I understand it, although workers won’t be required to pay the full amount in during 2011, they will still be credited with the same amount as though they had. Only they haven’t. It’s a big IOU going forward, for a Social Security system that detractors are already telling us - inaccurately - that is under enormous stress.

So, that makes sense? Right? Steal from a system under ‘stress’?

It also fails to extend the stimulus effects to all the workers in the country - some 5.7 million - that aren’t covered under Social Security. What did they do to piss off Congress? Yup, that’s right … firefighters, state and local public employees and the like won’t get this stimulus ‘tax holiday’.

Downstream, when it comes time to re-up the payroll tax rate to what it was/shoulda been, the ALMIGHTY SELF-RIGHTEOUS GOP can declare that it’s a ‘tax increase’ and therefore shouldn’t be allowed. Uh, making it self-fulfilling prophecy that Social Security will actually become unstable. Remember, it isn’t … yet. Unless the GOP gets it’s way.

Promises to the contrary are cold comfort to those of us who’ve been paying attention to Republican/TeaBag attempts to kill off Social Security and Medicare. This kind of bullshit end-run game is exactly what Grover Norquist meant by “starve the beast”.

Now, the ‘Making Work Pay’ stimulus that Obama passed - which as simply accomplished through reduced withholding - is more straightforwardly ‘transparent’ in it’s goals, doesn’t mess with bogus double-counting within the Social Security Trust Fund books, and accomplishes the same thing more effectively - stimulus.

Take a look here at a side-by-side comparison of the Making Work Pay tax credit vs the proposed 2% payroll tax cut. I’ve verified their findings on several other sites, with other analysts, and I keep reading/hearing that these numbers are accurate.

Finally, what really grinds my gizzard is that Al Franken and Harry Reid can embrace smoke and mirrors accounting like this.

However, I applaud Reid’s staff for putting out the following HYPOCRISY ALERT on the Senators Thune and Conryn “OMG! Earmarks! Evil! Evil!” gotcha moment. Apparently, there are still some journalists in Washington D.C. with spines, and they held mirrors up to Conyn and Thune - two of biggest whiners about the evils of ‘earmarks’ - and caught them out. The press conference was brought to an abrupt end, when both Thune and Conryn turned and walked rather than answer the tough questions.

Here’s what Reid’s office has sent out:

This morning, Senators John Cornyn and John Thune held a press conference decrying earmarks – but found themselves having to defend the millions in earmarks that they have requested. Confused? So are we. Let’s take a closer look at the transcript from today’s press conference.

Question: “Senator Thune, I was just looking at the list of earmark requests that you requested this year and it adds up to over a hundred million dollars.”

Thune: “I support those projects, but I don’t support this bill.”

FACT CHECK: Thune Requests Millions In Earmarks For FY2011. [Senator Thune FY2011 Appropriations Requests]

Question: “Going through this bill, there is earmark after earmark from the both of you, millions of dollars in earmarks…Why do you have any credibility on this?”

Cornyn: “Because we’re going to vote against the bill.”

Question: “It appears like you’re saying one thing and doing another.”

Cornyn: “Not at all.”

FACT CHECK: Cornyn Requests Millions In Earmarks For FY2011. [Senator Cornyn FY2011 Appropriations Requests]

Question: “Were you wrong when you put these earmarks in?”

Cornyn: “You’re missing the story if you think it’s just about earmarks.”

Question: “Is that an acknowledgement that it was wrong to put the earmarks in in the first place?”

Cornyn: “You’ve asked the question about five times and I’ve tried to answer it to the best of my ability.”

FACT CHECK: Republican Senators have made a habit of criticizing earmarks, while continuing to request them.   

 

BRAVO!

-maven

Friday Fish Wrap: March 13, 2009

Updated on Friday, March 13, 2009 at 10:14 by mavenandmeddler

Whoa, where did this week go to? I’ve got another fine day of skiing intoday - tomorrow I should probably get some things done around the house, but who knows.

The dirty rotten scoundrel Bernie Madoff is going to spend the night, not in his $7 million Manhattan apartment tonight, but in a detention cell at the jail. Good!

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