The beauty of Trent Lott's idea is that given how the market is going, not many people will be paying capital gains tax for a while. :-) In general I am for complete elimination of the capital gains tax and inheritance tax with no gradual decrease or anything to delay the elimination of the taxes. But I am not a Senator and thus don't have to deal with political reality -Trent Lott is and does, so WHAT IS HE THINKING? There is no way that a capital gains cut will fly in this budget, so it can only make Lott look bad. But then again, Lott is well used to the ham-handed approach.


I am all for any cut in the Social Security tax, because I think the whole "trust fund" approach is a sham. And we're seeing it with this disappearance of the surplus. I think eventually we will see the Social Security tax just goes to current benefits, so anytime we can get a decrease in the tax I am happy. Even though I like regressive taxes because the poor use more services and thus should pay their fair share for them. (kidding, just kidding)


There was an interesting article in Salon.com yesterday that spoke of the failure of the Republicans to take a stand against pork barrel projects. For the first time ever I agreed with that epitome of a pseudo-conservative John McCain. He has been trying to cut some of the ridiculous spending, like 2 million to go fix the statue of Vulcan somewhere in Alabama, and other hideous, wasteful programs. And McCain has had no success getting conservatives on board. Given the economic climate, I think this is idiotic strategy on the part of Republicans. They should be willing to pound the podium to cut spending in order to deflect any blame from the tax cut. They could get so many laughs exposing wasteful spending they might look OK. But maybe they are worried because some Republican Senators have been very effective at getting pork barrel projects for their states. I just don't see they have any strategy, but that is nothing new for Trent Lott and the rest of the Republican leadership. It's not so easy to be a Republican when you have to watch political blunders worthy of some Boone County Commissioner.


Daschle's position is stupid in reality, but much shrewder politically. He's in a no-lose position really, and a lot of people will believe that Bush instantly created this recession all by himself. Look for Democrats to win a lot of seats in 2002 if this continues.